January BAM

As a way of making myself get out and camp / bivvy / bothy, I'm committed to doing the Bear Bones Bikepacking forum Bivvy A Month. Basically every month of the year you have to go out on your bike, and bivvy, camp or doss in a bothy. As long as its not in a paying campsite or other form of accommodation, anything goes. There is a cop out option of using friends back gardens but my intention was to aim to go out into the wilds for every month.

I'd meant to go out last weekend in the snow and the weather was certainly looking good for it but a day of ski-touring, on the back of some hard commutes in the snow meant I was just too knackered to even contemplate riding my bike on Saturday evening. That left this weekend and the weather was looking decidedly ropy.

It didn't help that I had a works night out on the Friday as this would have otherwise been a fine night to head out. Oh-well, I would just have to brave the elements. I'd made various plans to head for a bothy somewhere given the forecast but I couldn't be bothered driving. The easy option was my pals newly constructed cow shed on their farm near the village but this seemed like a cop out. In the event I headed for a place I'd bivvied in November, shown there by another BB forum member. 

Its an events / craft etc space owned by the Falkland Estate Trust and used for various group activities during the day. At night its gets less used and its generally accepted that anyone can use it provided they leave it tidy. Of particular interest to me were the teepees, large timber gazebo (with stove) and proximity to the house (25 miles of easy back roads and a few trails).

It felt odd leaving the house at 7pm on a Saturday evening when most people would either be in the pub or at least in a heated house watching telly. The ride went well as I had a monster tailwind. One brief splurge of rain threatened to spoil things but most of the trip was done under a clear sky and moon.

I arrived at 9, gratified that no-one else was in residence as the wind was getting up and the thought of pitching a tarp in a dark and windy woodland did not appeal. There was plenty of dry wood lying around so I soon had a good fire going in the stove and spent a pleasant couple of ours sat in front of it reading and sipping whisky.



Apart from the noise of the wind I had a good night. The temperature was around 5 degrees so I'd made do with my normal sleeping bag as a -12 rated bag would have boiled me alive. I woke up just after the dawn chorus at a decadent 8am. The wind had dropped completely so after a quick breakfast I packed up, swept up the remains of the twigs I'd collected for the fire and left. The ride home was rather wet but at least the forecasted gales didn't appear until I was sat in the house having my second breakfast.

Roll on February!