Yes you read that right, I've managed two bivvies this month, thanks to attendance at the Scottish BB Spring Thing and also an impromptu trip to avoid the Dirty Reiver.
The spring thing was local to me so an easy option to bag my April BAM. The weather forecast was finally heading towards spring and the trails were looking more brown than white so it was off towards the Lomonds via Cleish, Loch Leven and Benarty hill. I'd had a leisurely start thanks to another works night out, a need to rescue my car and also to drag the Jones out and make sure it was functional, having hardly ridden it this year so far.
I caught up with fellow BB'ers Blair and Jamie at the pub (hurrah) after chasing them down on our planned route. Beers were drank and food was eaten (I had the worlds hottest chilli) then it was off to the Fife 5 star bivvy spot as per my January BAM. After a bit of persuasion the fire was lit in the stove and we settled in for a night of chat and whisky drinking followed by a fairly restful sleep. Sunday saw us heading back over the Lomonds, down past Glenrothes to the Fife Coastal Path at West Weymmss. There then followed a leisurely ride along the FCP fuelled by coffee and cakes courtesy of the café at the Harbourmasters house in Dysart.
BAM 2 was not planned. Planned was the Dirty Reiver gravel race in Kielder forest. I'd entered this in November last year in a fit of enthusiasm for an event that was well organised and shared with others. This enthusiasm waned somewhat having had to shell out 60 quid for this privilege and waned further when I realised that despite the hype it was 200k of forest roads and Sitka spruce trees, not the gravel highways of the Midwest of the USA. The final straw was the realisation that there was nearly 1000 people in for this. I go cycling to get away from people not to fight my way through them...
Hmm. No chance of a refund so I guess I had to turn up? In the event a crap week at work, an enforced late Friday finish and a total enthusiasm and sense of humour failure meant an easy decision - stuff it I was not going. I'd hoped that the ever reliable weather would come to my rescue as there was no way I was schlepping round 200k of forest tracks in the rain but even this let me down with a forecasted heatwave.
So its going to be dry and sunny and I have a choice - spend a day riding around a vast Sitka spruce plantation or go in search of mountains. Yup - its a no brainer. I was a bit miffed at writing off £60 but I could no longer be bothered with all the furore of this event. No criticism intended, this is just not for me.
So on went the bags, bike into car and 45mins of easy driving (better than 2 hrs 30 of M74 white line fever) saw me in Dunkeld for a late start at 8pm. An hour and half later I was at the top of Grandtully hill having pedalled up through the woods of Craigvinean and Griffin Windfarm hunting for a bivvy spot. A raised and dryish level area beside the track fitted the bill just as darkness was falling.
My nights sleep featured dreams of being cold and trying to get to sleep, punctuated by waking periods of being cold and trying to get to sleep..... I gave up at 5 am, had a leisurely breakfast and got going fast to get some heat into my chilled bones. So much for spring but I'd ended up at 450m so little wonder it was cold. I resisted the temptation to head straight back to the car and instead had a fine day pedalling various easy trails over to Aberfeldy, Up Glen Lyon and then over to Loch Rannoch and east to the Tummel valley. Thereafter it was the fine trail down to Pitlochry and then an easy cruise along NCN 7 / 77 to Dunkeld.
No pics I'm afraid, I was travelling light!
Saturday, 21 April 2018
Sunday, 1 April 2018
March BAM
My parting comment of my February Bivvy a Month post was something like 'hopefully next months BAM will be warmer, drier and with more daylight'. Well 1 out of 3 ain't bad is it?
I was meant to head out last weekend for a 3 dayer in the Borders which would have been three days of spring weather and sunshine. Instead I ended up on a last minute skiing holiday which left me with no option but to squeeze a trip in right on the last day of the month. Cue crap weather forecast for this weekend making 3/3 in the cold, rain and (a bit of) snow.
I Departed the house at about 4 into a decidely uninspiring afternoon. I was heading due west to the Trossachs with a stiff tailwind and a mix of sleet, snow and rain encouraging me onward. It did clear up later apart from one parting shot of a shower so I actually ended up having a pleasant ride via various trails, cycleways and back roads to Alloa, Stirling then Callander.
One of many good cycleways around Clackmannanshire, Dummayat in the background and 1 million gallons of whisky in the sheds just visible behind the trees
Callander provided food for breakfast and the next day as well as fish and chips for tea. Sitting on the riverside eating them highlighted how chilly it was. I'd debated which sleeping bag to bring given the forecasted sub-zero temps and in the end had gone with my winter bag as there is nothing worse than trying to sleep when you are cold.
Leaving Callander I headed along the south side of Loch Venechar via the excellent cycleway - this is a wee twisty gravel path which is a hoot. I'd planned to bivvy here but a group of youths (with the inevitable fire) had beaten me to the first spot and it was a bit early anyway. The national park have extended the managed camping zone to this area for this year. There were numerous fisherman camps along the road with fires and litter everywhere. Another excellent idea I don't think...
After the venechar cycleway you follow the forest drive up a steady climb past a couple of lochs. Annoyingly they have permitted campervans to stop overnight here (they do at least have to pay) and they were everywhere, it being easter. This lead me to pass several more good bivvy spots as I wanted to keep as far away from these numpties as possible - generators, loud music and, of course, fires. The cycleway leaves the forest drive for the final climb over to Aberfoyle and as the light was failing the hunt was on for a suitable spot to pitch up. This turned into a model of bivvy spot finding as I passed and discounted several sites in the quest for that perfect spot (which ususally ends up as being an anthill, bog, back garden or minefield). To be fair I ended up in a reasonable place with a view and shelter, albeit a bit lumpy. The tarp went up and I snuggled in for a cosy night. It snowed a bit later on but not to any degree so I had a reasonable night and woke up to the forecasted nice day, in a break with tradition.
I packed up after a leisurely breakfast feeling suitably smug that all I would leave was an imprint of my body in the dead bracken. I noted that even here there was the remains of some old tent poles and another former fire site which I'd missed the night before. I guess that is the price of being close to civilisation, but you'd think that anyone who had the nous to get to this fairly remote spot in the forest would be the sort to make sure they left no trace....
In view of the sun, I opted for an extened route through the Queen Elizabeth forest (I passed numerous excellent bivvy spots well away from civilisation) followed by a lap of Loch Katrine and then back home by my outward route. This was meant as a bit of a training ride for the forthcoming Dirty Reiver 200. The Straggler proved itself well capable of dealing with a variety of paths and tracks even with the bags on so it looks like this is going to be the bike I use. My fitness isn't all it should be thanks to a lot of skiing this winter but I'm fairly confident I should be able to stagger round the DR route in reasonable order.
I was meant to head out last weekend for a 3 dayer in the Borders which would have been three days of spring weather and sunshine. Instead I ended up on a last minute skiing holiday which left me with no option but to squeeze a trip in right on the last day of the month. Cue crap weather forecast for this weekend making 3/3 in the cold, rain and (a bit of) snow.
I Departed the house at about 4 into a decidely uninspiring afternoon. I was heading due west to the Trossachs with a stiff tailwind and a mix of sleet, snow and rain encouraging me onward. It did clear up later apart from one parting shot of a shower so I actually ended up having a pleasant ride via various trails, cycleways and back roads to Alloa, Stirling then Callander.
One of many good cycleways around Clackmannanshire, Dummayat in the background and 1 million gallons of whisky in the sheds just visible behind the trees
Callander provided food for breakfast and the next day as well as fish and chips for tea. Sitting on the riverside eating them highlighted how chilly it was. I'd debated which sleeping bag to bring given the forecasted sub-zero temps and in the end had gone with my winter bag as there is nothing worse than trying to sleep when you are cold.
Leaving Callander I headed along the south side of Loch Venechar via the excellent cycleway - this is a wee twisty gravel path which is a hoot. I'd planned to bivvy here but a group of youths (with the inevitable fire) had beaten me to the first spot and it was a bit early anyway. The national park have extended the managed camping zone to this area for this year. There were numerous fisherman camps along the road with fires and litter everywhere. Another excellent idea I don't think...
After the venechar cycleway you follow the forest drive up a steady climb past a couple of lochs. Annoyingly they have permitted campervans to stop overnight here (they do at least have to pay) and they were everywhere, it being easter. This lead me to pass several more good bivvy spots as I wanted to keep as far away from these numpties as possible - generators, loud music and, of course, fires. The cycleway leaves the forest drive for the final climb over to Aberfoyle and as the light was failing the hunt was on for a suitable spot to pitch up. This turned into a model of bivvy spot finding as I passed and discounted several sites in the quest for that perfect spot (which ususally ends up as being an anthill, bog, back garden or minefield). To be fair I ended up in a reasonable place with a view and shelter, albeit a bit lumpy. The tarp went up and I snuggled in for a cosy night. It snowed a bit later on but not to any degree so I had a reasonable night and woke up to the forecasted nice day, in a break with tradition.
I packed up after a leisurely breakfast feeling suitably smug that all I would leave was an imprint of my body in the dead bracken. I noted that even here there was the remains of some old tent poles and another former fire site which I'd missed the night before. I guess that is the price of being close to civilisation, but you'd think that anyone who had the nous to get to this fairly remote spot in the forest would be the sort to make sure they left no trace....
In view of the sun, I opted for an extened route through the Queen Elizabeth forest (I passed numerous excellent bivvy spots well away from civilisation) followed by a lap of Loch Katrine and then back home by my outward route. This was meant as a bit of a training ride for the forthcoming Dirty Reiver 200. The Straggler proved itself well capable of dealing with a variety of paths and tracks even with the bags on so it looks like this is going to be the bike I use. My fitness isn't all it should be thanks to a lot of skiing this winter but I'm fairly confident I should be able to stagger round the DR route in reasonable order.
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