I decided to do Bivvy a Month in order to get me out under the tarp / tent in a range of weathers, in a range of locations and, in keeping with my overall plan for this year, to take it easy and do some good riding.
Weatherwise I've been absurdly lucky with barely a sprinkle of rain or snow to contend with. In fact I only really did two damp bivvies, one in a Bothy in August and one whereby the rain only fell overnight, in November. Not bad going seen as all but one of my bivvies was in Scotland. I suppose this then is my only failing i.e. I had visions of pitching tarps in wind and rain, a skill I wanted to improve upon, so in the event I missed out on this. My two favourites were also the ones in the company of others so I need to be more sociable next year...
I've done a few local ones, a fair few in the cairngorms area and fair few in new places. I've ridden some ace trails in the process and also become a dab hand at site selection.
Overall I spent 17 nights out this year, under the tarp for 14 and in bothies for three. Not huge numbers in the grand scheme of things but more than ever before in a year for me, and none of them involved paying!
So in no particular order....
Best spot - Bynack Lodge
Most remote spot - Corrour Old Lodge (also highest bivvy at 540m)
Poshest bivvy - Falkland woodland craft space
Windiest Bivvy - Loch Rannoch
Best banter - Culbin Forest with R&I (and lowest bivvy at about 5mAOD)
Best bothy - Flittingford (and only bivvy south of the border)
Coldest bivvy (-4)
Best trail - Old road to the Isles
Best morning view - Blackwater res and Glencoe munroes
Best overall view - Cairngorms from the south
Longest day prior to a bivvy - 115 miles (Shortest day after a bivvy - 3 miles!)
I'm in again next year and hope to improve in a few key areas:-
More bad weather bivvies
More beer drunk
More socialising....
The last one nearly didn't happen thanks to a man flu induced cop out of the Scottish winter bivvy. Secretly I was pleased as the weather was pretty horrible so I at least missed out on a snowy drive up the A9. That said I also apparently missed out on a fine night of drink and drink. And some bike riding.
So my only option was to try and grab a night out on the way down to the parents for Christmas. This would also mean a winter solstice bivvy neatly counterpointing my (nearly) summer solstice bivvy back in July. The plan was to stop off on the way down to Durham, ride my bike, sleep, ride me bike, finish journey to parents - easy.
Kielder was the obvious option being only a bit off route so Saturday saw me take a leisurely cruise down the road finishing at Newcastleton in the borders early afternoon. From Newcastleton its an easy pedal via various trails and forest tracks over to Kielder Resevoir. Newcastleton is a strange place owing its existence to the vast forestry planted in the 50's and 60's but now seeming like the land that time forgot given that the forestry industry is largely mechanised.
Newcastleton forest is one of the 7 stanes trail centres and since I last visited, they have spent a lot of dosh putting in a new bridge and trail to link the town up to the woods. I never know what to think of all of this as the trail centre is as dull as ditch water and it all smacks of a missed opportunity given the vastness of the forestry around here and the opportunities to create a large network of trails linking Newcastleton, Kershope, Wark and Kielder Forests. All down to dosh of course and proof that for all the furore of mountain biking, investment is still very small.....
In a way the network is there in the form of miles of fire roads, as used by the Dirty Reiver 200, and great for gravel bashing if that's your thing. I was on the Jones having said that as I fancied some comfort at this time of the year. My route took me up past Kershope Bothy but the river was up so a crossing to check it out wasn't favourable. Instead I carried on over the hill and down a long descent to the Kielder lakeside trail in the growing dark.
The lights went on the lakeside path which I followed to Kielder Village. It would have been rude to cycle past the Anglers Arms without stopping so I went in for a jar which turned into 2 jars, a curry and rhubarb crumble. Suitably fortified I continued on the lakeside path stopping off to check out the various sculptures......
Spooky head sculpture - one of several dotted around the lakeside path. You could bivvy in this at a push...
Freyrs Hut offered a further opportunity to doss in an art installation but I elected to push on to Flittingford Bothy. This is a new MBA one opened last year and located in the woods North East of Kielder dam. A bit of careful navigation got me to it fairly easily and unsurprisingly it was empty, given the time of year.
Flittingford Bothy - small and perfectly formed.
There was plenty of firewood so I spent a pleasant evening sat in front of the fire reading and eating. The next morning I was up sharp to backtrack down to the Dam
The illuminated building is the res outlet tower. Still dark at 7.45am, the joys of the winter solstice.
Thereafter it was back round the south shore path, past Leaplish water park which seemed to have been turned into a brown version of Lapland (Reindeer, Santa claus, lots of lights and no snow) and finally back over the hill to Newcastleton.
Picnic area (and future bivvy spot) at the border. Maybe they will have to put a wall across here post Brexit / Scottish Independence....
Kielder is a good option for a bivvy as there are plenty of places to put a tarp / tent up, several Bothies and a few opportunities for some cheeky bivvies in various bird hides and art installations.
Bam 2018 complete!
