A weather warning for heavy rain across the whole weekend didn't fill me with much enthusiasm for this trip. Memories of last years effort where only Jimmy made it to our bothy after an epic hike through deep snow loomed large in my mind. A quick message round to get contact numbers in case people couldn't make it (and leave someone on their own) and to convince ourselves it would be fine, got me motivated. The venue for this year was another Borders bothy - Greenskes at the southern edge of Craik forest. One I'd not visited before and would mean a dry night in front of a fire rather than cowering under a tarp.
In the event, come Saturday morning the weather looked a lot dryer, for the afternoon and evening at least. So I packed up the bike, threw it in the car and had an easy run down to Moffat. By the time I'd had a snack and got myself organised the rain was a light drizzle and actually made for a pleasant run down quiet roads to Wamphray and the climb over to Boreland. The bike felt somewhat heavy, given I was carrying two fire logs and a few cans of beer. I was in no hurry so plodded up at low speed, the drizzle coming and going.
Deja vu as I passed through Boreland thinking of last years December bivvy in Dryfehead in remarkably similar weather... That said by the time I'd got up the climb and was contemplating Craik and Castle O'er forests the rain had gone off completely and there was even a hint of blue sky.
Darkness fell as I passed the monastery at Eskdalemuir, looking even more out of place than usual on a damp December evening.... Then into the woods on a route I'd plugged into the GPS to avoid too much nav faffing. That said, I can no longer read the screen without my reading glasses - I think I need a bigger screen...
The first few k had been well tracked by timber wagons and was rather mucky but I was quite happy, despite the lack of views and dark woods all around. At one point I passed a house all on it's own, right in the middle of the forest. The noise of the generator must surely detract from living in such a quiet spot. I looked in the window as I trundled past and noticed a bloke sitting by a fire with headphones on! After this the track improved for the last miles and finally I descended down to the bothy. At one point I spied red lights ahead which I couldn't fathom. Finally I twigged - they were navigation warning lights on distant wind turbines and not a gaggle of cyclists up ahead! As usual I wondered what the reception at the bothy would be - nobody, just Justin (hopefully) or a gang of numpties... Lights were on and as well as Justin from the BB forum in one room, three lads from Newcastle were in the other but like us were bothy regulars. Justin had the fire going and the kettle on so I had a hot brew and then un-packed.
Annoyingly one my cans of beer had burst, soaking spare gloves and tarp plus my rear light had gone AWOL. Funnily enough the same happened last year - I need to sort out a proper beer carrier!
Anyway much chat followed. Justin has a bamboo bike he made himself from a kit supplied by the Bamboo Bicycle Club in London. I have to say I'm mightily tempted by one of these, especially as they can be set up singlespeed! Dave appeared soon after, heroically bringing some coal which got the fire going much better. Then Jimmy appeared with another fire log and some dry wood so we had a merry blaze and much chat, drink and good cheer until we all crashed out just before 12.
It was dry the next morning as we got our selves together. Justin scooted off early to get his train and I left after a leisurely breakfast. At the gate up the hill a pick up truck was just passing through. The driver hailed me as he was the bothy maintenance manager and wanted to know if the bothy was OK. I let him know all was well and off they went. This is good stuff as I've heard of a few problems with neds occupying and trashing the borders bothies, given how accessible they are, so nice to see it getting this level of attention. As I climbed back up the hill, a few spots of rain came on, only for me to remember that my overtrousers were still hanging up in the bothy!
Teeth grinding followed but I really needed them and there was no guarantee the others would find them. So back we go and sure enough, there they were. After a second goodbye to Jimmy and Dave I was off again. Then, just after the first bend, I spied my rear light lying right in the middle of the track! I'd missed it the first time up the climb so me forgetting my waterproofs was fortuitous.
This also enabled me to go back to my original plan to ride out to Jamestown and down to the lower reaches of the Esk. This was a much nicer track than the forest route and there then followed some fine back roads to Eskdalemuir and a retracing of my route of the previous day from there.
The drizzle had been on and off all morning but on the last miles it got steadily heavier until it reached full on downpour status when I got back to the car. So all in all a successful trip and a fine completion of BAM 2023.
