The plan, such as it was, was to head out on the last weekend in March - basically depart the house on Friday evening after work and head north-ish, returning by the Sunday evening. This was premised on being away every other weekend in March. The long range forecast looked promising and it was all looking good.
The ski holiday I'd meant to be going on the previous week was the first thing to fall by the wayside. A relief really as getting stranded abroad (or confined to a hotel for a week) is my idea of hell, not holiday. So in fact I could have done the bivvy sooner, and in hindsight should have. Me and two friends substituted Austrian Skiing for Scottish Skiing for a few days and managed a final pub night before the restrictions started coming in earnest. I still could have grabbed a night out that final weekend but I was toying with heading south to visit parents and by the time it was clear this would be a bad idea it was too late to get out. Then came the lockdown.....
Like everyone else whose into disappearing into the wilderness I had plenty of thoughts and options to get a proper bivvy done but it didn't feel right. Like as not if I did head out I'd be so worried I'd not sleep and end up having a crap time. I hemmed and hawed but then Stuart on the Bearbones forum changed the BAM rules given the emergency. Back gardens were in. The bivvy was on.
I decided to do it properly. The Ice Cream Truck was dragged out, bags strapped on and stuff put in bags. It was due to be a cold one - around zero - so in went the winter bag and the soto muka stove. Also in were a few beers and food for the night.
My 'departure' was timed for last light. For forms sake I did a lap of the garden (front and back) and then pitched up in a nice sheltered spot (on my back lawn next to one of my sheds)
Tricky rock section thanks to some earlier gardening
Must cut the grass next week
Apart from a vague concern that this would confirm to my neighbours that I was bonkers, it felt right. In fact it was a laugh. I tried a different method of putting up the deschutes which avoided laying it on the grass (if its raining this immediately gets the inside of the tarp wet - not ideal when you then get in yourself), laid out the bivvy bag, got into my PJ's and into my bag. It was only 8pm but what the hey, I had nothing else on. So I heated up a couple of boil in the bag meals, had a few beers, read my book and listened to the night sounds. Living in a small village surrounded by countryside means this is a rewarding pastime - owls, distant far animals and passing cars (oh well can't have everything)
Tea up!
I eventually turned in and....went out like a light. I'd not slept well all week, largely down to various worries indirectly relating to the crisis, and had visions of lying awake for a few hours before giving up in disgust. In the event the next thing I knew it was dawn accompanied by a cacophany of singing birds. I've never experienced anything quite like it. My many bivvies of 2018 and the few I've done since all seemed to be in places away from your typical small bird habitats so the dawn chorus had been a fairly muted affair. Normally at home I have two layers of glass and walls between me and the birds so it rarely wakes me. What a joy. It went on for around 15 minutes and then I nodded off again. The next thing it was 9am and time for breakfast (technically 8am as the clocks had jumped forward). I had a cuppa then packed up and after one more lap of the back garden headed in for breakfast proper.
Morning view
So - my shortest ever ride to a bivvy but it was worth it. It got me out of the house - even if it was only by 12 feet. I got some valuable kit-sorting and tarp erecting time and it felt like an entirely appropriate thing to do.
Looking at the current situation its clear my April bivvy is also going to be in the back garden and unless there is a radical improvement in the crisis May's as well. Not what I'd thought when I started my 2020 BAM campaign but if there is one thing I've learned in this life you never take anything for granted. So I'll be back with another backyard bivvy soon enough but I'll be staring into the future for when we get back on track.
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