BAM for June done
Once again i left it till last minute. A chilled out pitch above Beddgelert Forest. A calm night followed by clagg and drizzle this morning. Left at 5:30am, 40 minute drive home, hung some kit up to dry, then left o0n the commuter bike in the rain as the wife needs the car for work. In work for 7:30

I had Alpkit fix 4 loops to the edges of the Tarpstar as its a bit mickey mouse with the slightest of breezes. It certainly done the trick and it now feels like a completely different tent. They should attach as standard.


Snowdon in the cloud




Morning brew

Well in Jeff, better late than never

Leerowe76 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 01, 2024 9:51 am Well in Jeff, better late than never

Yep nice move there Toppler. Frog and meself might well pass near that spot this weekend on Better [S]late Than Never 2 .

A fairly unremarkable BAM this month. Last Monday (24th) I headed east along coastal and woodland paths to Gullane in East Lothian (19 miles). The weather forecast was predicting warm, sunny conditions all day so I set off late morning intending to catch some rays on the beach before settling down somewhere secluded for the night.

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Possible future bivvy spot? by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Gullane Beach in the background by Jimmy G, on Flickr

In the event, the forecasters had got it wrong (again ). It was warm alright but windy and the sun only came out in fits and starts… until around 7 pm when clear blue skies finally arrived. Better later than never I suppose.

Aberlady Beach by Jimmy G, on Flickr

I got set up late in the evening but when the breeze suddenly dropped I was besieged by midges. Not as numerous or as voracious as their highland cousins to be fair but still a nuisance. Incidentally, I think that’’s the first time I’ve ever encountered midges on the East Lothian coast due to the almost ever-present breeze there. Anyway, I swiftly relocated to another spot higher up where there was just enough breeze to suspend midge flying operations.

Mac 'n' Greens by Jimmy G, on Flickr

By way of a change, I’d opted for a dehydrated meal from Firepot. I’m normally a simple but effective couscous/noodles and sardines/mackerel/mixed beans kind of guy but I’d got a batch of Firepot stuff half-price months ago on SportPursuit and I’ve been slowly working through them. Mac ’n’ Greens this time. Not bad at all but certainly not worth paying full price I'd say. Give me the cheap and cheerful alternative options any day.

Sunset over the Firth of Forth by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Sunrise over Gullane Beach by Jimmy G, on Flickr

After a good night’s sleep I had a quick breakfast of coffee and a Chia Charge bar before packing and heading homewards back along the coast. By the way, I got chatting with an early morning dog walker as I was packing up... and clean forgot to take a pic of my bivvy setup (sleeping bag, bivvy bag and Exped mat). A 'bike marks the spot' pic will have to suffice!

Bike marks the bivvy site by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Looking west towards Edinburgh by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Aberlady Nature Reserve by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Leaving Aberlady Nature Reserve by Jimmy G, on Flickr

In summary, that’s 6 from 6 in ’24 and 78 consecutive BAMS.

June bivvy: I actually did some proper riding! The way the riding went on this three dayer I stayed in two campsites, arrived late, left early and left no trace...or payment... I'm not 100% sure this counts for a BAM, but suddenly it was July, so it's the best I've got. I leave it to the powers that be to discuss and dish out banishment/punishment.

Apologies for lack of photos in post, Flickr isn't recognising my photos and direct post my file is too big, and they're already out there: https://www.instagram.com/p/C85TZHIsqp7 ... 5reGU1N2U4

Bristol Rally 2024: Three day gravel ride (21-23 June)

The biggest multi-day ride I've ever done, with 325km of beautiful route and scenery explored, taking in Cheddar Gorge, Wells Cathedral , Stonehenge, Salisbury Plains, Avebury, the beautiful Savernake Forest, and many quiet lanes and bridleways besides. With amazing weather, pretty dry routes (not including the Priddy Bypass), a lovely bunch of nearly 50 riders to bump into along the route, it was amazing.

I like riding on my own, so having a route to follow but no pressure to ride with anyone worked really well for me. I bunny hopped some groups and they rode fast and stopped often, and I kept plodding on, I rode for miles with some, and on day three I only saw one other rider. The group stops made me itch to carry on pedalling, and there was no judgement at all when I said goodbye for now.

It wasn't all easy peasy, with some sections beyond my skill, ruts so deep in places my pedals couldn't turn, and I fell off my bike twice (no real injury to me or bike). Nicely challenging, and the tough bits were always followed by nice bits.

Well fuelled and hydrated throughout, with hot cross buns as my go to snack when it is hot and electrolytes to make up for the sweat.

I carried all my kit, bivvying each night. The kit was my honed ultra kit, with a few luxury items: baseball cap and flip flops. But sadly forgot my power bank, but happily got loaned one by a fellow rider. Overnight rain in the first night, and in the second temperatures dipped to lower than forecasted so I'm glad I took my down jacket. Daytime temperatures felt high, and had to take some shade time in after a couple of the climbs.

I'm so glad I completed the route, beat the doubts in my mind, and most importantly that I really enjoyed it!

Interesting one for the panel of judges.... campsite but no payment..... <checks Rulebook>.... obviously Rule #5 is "no paid for accom inc campsites or hostels"... but presumably if not paid for it's just like any other piece of land.... so.....

Nice one, Judith! I saw plenty of pics on the socials from the Bristol Rally, it looked like a good time had by all.

JudithG wrote: ↑Wed Jul 03, 2024 10:28 am June bivvy: I actually did some proper riding! The way the riding went on this three dayer I stayed in two campsites, arrived late, left early and left no trace...or payment... I'm not 100% sure this counts for a BAM, but suddenly it was July, so it's the best I've got. I leave it to the powers that be to discuss and dish out banishment/punishment.

I think that counts as a dodgy bivvy as you didn't pay
And speaking of which, there have been a few this quarter, and may other fine bivvies, but given that was spring, there has been some distinctly un-spring-like weather....
Anyway, at the halfway point I have the following doing 6 (or more) out of 6:

RIP
Muddypete
Mrs Polisherman
Blackhound
Raggedstone
Frog
Gecko76
NeilA
Sean_iow
Javatime
jimmy G
FBPhil
Doresetshirelad
Boab
vegancheese
JudithG
Bearlegged
Summittoppler
Leerowe76
GoneCaving

Quite an attrition rate as usual for the second quarter as real life gets in the way.

So some great bivvies on real adventures! (TM)
Special mention to Mrs Polisherman and Gone Caving for traipsing all the way to that America to avoid the bogs and Tussocks.
Only marginally less travelled, fair play to Sean for going to the other end of the country to find a decent shed.
Bivvy most likely to result in getting arrested, Leerowe
'Tramp' bivvy - Jimmy G in the salubrious Aviemore shopping centre
'Fly by night' JudithG for aforementioned free campsite night. JudithG's April expedition also shows what a real adventure is - lights? pah!
Frog continues with high class Bivvy breakfast expertise but JimmyG gets the overall Artisan breakfast score. There seems to be a lot of that in East Lothian
We were expecting tales of bears, wolves and mountain lions from Gone Caving and Mrs Polisherman but in the event, Gecko had the most dangerous wildlife encounter in Embra

So to summer..... the bugs are out in full force, likely bivvy spots are rammed with tourists, farmers are on the warpath for fly field camps and the weather is still rubbish.
But we are past half way! Keep 'em coming folks

Very kind folks, very kind! Thanks for letting my trip slide into BAM officialness. Loving the variety and write up of trips. Halfway!

JudithG wrote: ↑Wed Jul 03, 2024 12:26 pm Very kind folks, very kind! Thanks for letting my trip slide into BAM officialness. Loving the variety and write up of trips. Halfway!

You'll have to try harder than that to have it DQ'd! I mean, Reg kipped in Andy's house boat and it was still allowed...

Boab wrote: ↑Wed Jul 03, 2024 12:35 pm

JudithG wrote: ↑Wed Jul 03, 2024 12:26 pm Very kind folks, very kind! Thanks for letting my trip slide into BAM officialness. Loving the variety and write up of trips. Halfway!

You'll have to try harder than that to have it DQ'd! I mean, Reg kipped in Andy's house boat and it was still allowed...

I wasn't going to mention that, but seen as how you did...
Last year we allowed one slightly iffy bivvy per participant per year

Hah! Well I still reckon it was perfectly above board - no Rules broken, and it was basically a floating shed

Anyroad.. ahem... moving swiftly onwards .

I'm not trying to, er, rock the boat, 'cause I might still need to do this roller based BAM, that will see me kipping all of 6 - 7m from my back door! Genuinely on someone else's land though...

As per "Better Slate Than Never 2"

7/7, 7/12, 104/104

So here my belated start-again-from-June BAM write up, from Saturday night 29th June.

Just very local, and as you will see in a mo not exactly a glorious midsummer endless sunset followed by endless sunrise basking in warm summer sunshine kind of affair, but it felt good to manage to get out and do this again, I've missed it!!!

Just one more time to marvel at this again, the only noteable encounter on my ride up to the common:
IMG_20240629_233812 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

It was a funny thing really, I had sat in the garden for a nice al fresco dinner in the slowly setting sun, lovely. About twelve hours later, I was again sitting in the sun in the garden enjoying breakfast.

In between, I appear to have gone and bivvied inside the one rain cloud that was about that night - and if it wasn't for the mild temperature, although even that has happened before out of season, it might as well have been November. Or February.

As I set off, there was a bit of drizzle.

I headed for probably what is my firm favourite local spot, and climbed into my bivvy bag. Of course I hadn't brought any other shelter, it was the middle of summer!

It started drizzling a bit harder about midnight, then carried on persistently.

This was my view in the morning, can't remember, maybe 5? Enough daylight to make it respectfully count as a night spent outdoors, pack up and leave. Bivvy bag and everything sodden, though not sleeping bag thankfully, just around the neck a bit.

IMG_20240630_041258 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

I'm sure this looks a bit meh, but it really is a lovely lovely spot.
IMG_20240630_043125 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20240629_220230 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Home for coffee, and got some incredulous looks from my daughter, when, in blazing sunshine, I hung up my dripping wet things to dry

1/1

Verena wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2024 4:00 pm got some incredulous looks from my daughter, when, in blazing sunshine, I hung up my dripping wet things to dry

July BaM with Reg, in Criccieth, on the Slate tour.



7 of 7 for 2024. Now I think about it, it also fits in with my wild-flower linked bivvies. You can say we were in clover. Haha!

frogatthefarriers wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2024 9:02 pm July BaM with Reg, in Criccieth, on the Slate tour.



7 of 7 for 2024. Now I think about it, it also fits in with my wild-flower linked bivvies. You can say we were in clover. Haha!

That really is quite daring there...hidden in plain sight...

We like a bit of boundary pushing .

And, handily for us old codgers, it was conveniently next to the, er, conveniences

Hmm, that one didn't go quite according to plan.....
I figured on heading up to my local woods (again) but then spend a day or two pedaling around Perthshire on a long weekend. The weather was looking a bit iffy but nothing too horrible. The only minor fly in the ointment would be a high midge count....

Anyway, that went out the window when I arrived at my spot (third time this year, but it's a good 'un) and realised I was sans waterproof jacket. I did have overtrousers and gaiters however

I set up and got in the bag sharpish as there were a few midges about - nothing too horrendous with smidge applied but too bad to sit out and watch the sun go down. So a couple of beers helped pass the time, whilst reading Frankenstein. This got a bit too heavy going to I resorted to Pratchet for something a bit more light hearted.



Nice morning view though. Overnight it had cooled off enough for the midges to disappear and there was a bit of a breeze around so breakfast was a leisurely affair whilst I considered my options.



Breakfast was shared with an elderly robin - it had lots of grey feathers!



I also noticed this going on - this windfarm has been up a few years now but two have gone on fire, a few others have had a crane in attendance and this one looks like it's getting a new generator. They make a horrendous racket as well which smacks of duff bearings. Most have lots of rust stains around the generator!

The sky looked decidedly murky so I just headed home via a few nicely dry (dry!) trails. Of course the rain held off until later and Sunday was a scorcher. Hey ho.

Anyway, I might have another go next weekend for something a bit more exciting....

Appologies for posting late and lack of pictures. As I explain in the story, phone is out of action, so any connection to the internet is mildly inconvenient therefore I do it much less.

May was WRT hammocking and some cracking descents.

Here is June where I made a mundane cycle for transport trip more adventurous by deliberately limiting myself.

I was meeting some pals at a campsite in the Peak District and decided it would be interesting to travel there by bike. To make it more interesting my only method of navigation would be a compass taking the road most North.

A couple of months ago I was bombing downhill on a road bike, phone in jersey pocket, tucked tight. Unfortunately my phone tried a sketchy overtake and leaped out ahead of me. It hit the tarmac at some speed. Properly bashed up my convenient portal to the knowledge of all of civilisation and usual navigation aid.

Using my local knowledge, I successfully navigated under spaghetti junction and out of the urban sprawl. My goal for cycling for transport is to spend less on food than the train ticket would cost, this gave me £38 for the day, takeaways welcome. My first was a belter from one of those rural Chinese chippy crossovers. Egg fried rice chips with curry sauce. Warming fatty carbs, enjoyed in the drizzle. Second came in the form of pizza, just as the sun was setting and rain getting serious.

Made the call here to search for somewhere to sleep as everything is harder in the dark and the rain should stop by morning. Browsing google maps while waiting for my pizza I scoped out a tunnel going underneath the road. Nobody else would be out in this downpour so stealth could stuff it. (I did have a back up phone but it's battery is unable to last with navigation and charging port has to be just right)

Tunnel was indeed dry and flat as promised. I set up my bivi and set an alarm to avoid the dog walkers. Slept 23:00 til I stirred at 2:30. It wasn't raining so I took my opportunity for quiet roads with the idea of finding a quieter spot for a catch up nap after sunrise.

Kept heading vaguely North thanks to my glow in the dark pointer. Winding along these roads felt much more like an adventure as I explored, not knowing what was coming next. I did, of course take some dead end paths. One was a fantastic gravel descent which turned into a steep push as the old road became path, then grass. Eventually I got a view over a steep valley with a path almost in the right direction. Too steep to go direct, I made my way along the dry stone wall, hoping something connected. After just the right amount of wandering a gravel path towards the valley appeared. I simply had to get over a wall then down a slope steep enough to require 3 points of contact when you walk. Wheels perpendicular to the slope I traversed marginally down, then did a few switch backs.

Eventually I popped out by a yha and duly obliged to their offer of non-residents welcome. Cracking breakfast and got to hear the stories of other residents. They'd crossed France with little more than a bivi bag and a daily baguette, today they were taking a scenic route to another yha, credit card touring if we want to get into labels.

I will admit that I glanced at the map to confirm that the path I was likely to be drawn towards would take me where I wanted to go, then made some mental adjustments and noted villages to follow signs toward.

Deep into winding lanes of the Peak I spotted a flat field with an old building blocking line of sigh from the road. Ideal nap spot, in the sun.

Cafe density increased and my why not attitude did not hold me back. Rolled into the campsite just about in time to meet my pals for lunch at their mid walk pub. Unfortunately it started bucketing it down, so I had another nap instead.

"Go North young man". An excellent basis for a ride. Nice simple idea. Shades of "Two Degrees West".

£38 per day for food? Wow. Did the ten course tasting menu at Le Gourmet Paradiso not appeal? .

If it's any amount less than the train ticket price, the further you ride the more you're allowed to spend on food then. Imagine if you'd been meeting your mates in Edinburgh - caviar dusted with saffron and white truffle for dinner .

Something a bit different there, enjoyed reading it.

Aye, I like that, Ben.

Erm, it appears I'm ahead of myself for July, I'm not trying to fit in a trip in the final few days! So a mid-month entry this time.

Some photos and the public write up: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9k8bJau5NM ... Nobjcxbzdu

But a more interesting version for you:

Following on from a local gravel club evening ride and pub trip, once it got dark I went off to a bivvy spot I had in mind. It was pretty local, on a common, so I was looking to tuck behind some long grass. The common is alongside the city's ring road, but the elevation of my sleep spot meant I had a fence to sleep alongside.

Arrived at my intended area and saw a nice spot, tucked behind a bush, long grass between me and the path and the line light on the path couldn't reach me. Excellent. Set up the bivvy bag and climbed in.

All good til 1am when the local youths arrived. Just a couple of foot to start with who I think wanted to look at the view across to the urban expanse on the other side of the ring road. But from my perspective it looked like they'd spotted my bike laying on the ground and we're coming over to be nosey. So I said hi. I scared them good and proper! Their friend appeared just after with a motorbike and did a little spin round to see what was going on. I doubt he was old enough to ride the bike and had no helmet. But thought it best not to address such issues right then! They retreated to a spot just within hearing distance (thankfully the motorbike was only a brief appearance).

Other options locally seemed worse looking at Google maps (ridiculously high levels of activity, worth looking at the photo on Instagram!). I stuck it out til nearly 2:30, but they showed no signs of heading off, and even if they had gone I'm not sure I could have relaxed enough to sleep. So I headed home to finish the bivvy in the garden.

Thankfully I had the day off today zzz

Maybe somewhere further from the maddening crowd for August

Excellent stuff, Judith.