I'll struggle to do my usual yearly review of bivvies as they have all been pretty mundane, all in all. Not to say it's not been enjoyable, it has. Plus I've done some nice bike riding, but...
No sub zero bivvies
No snowy bivvies
No hot bivvies
No high bivvies (highest 330m)
No really bad weather (November was the worst but not that bad really)
Which isn't to say it's been a bad year, just not quite the bonanza of the last few years. I've been out 15 times, no hotels, no official bothies, no B&B's, no paying nights. September stands out in the ace spot near NCN 7 in the woods south of Killin after a fab days ride in the sun. Also my night out on the Cairngorms tour back in April.
My Dad's health has been the defining influence of 2024 and it's been hard seeing my once active Father reduced to a pale shadow of his former self. It's also been hard watching Mum burn herself out trying to ensure the best for him. I've spent the year helping Mum as much as possible and trying to give Dad at least some interest in his life. It's not been easy...
Bike riding has, once again in hard times, kept me on the straight and narrow. Mileage has been good in that I've managed 6288 miles, in spite of the above. But it's mainly been on gravel and road. My hours are down significantly from last year, indicative of how much hard riding that year involved (HT, NYM, BB) but overall I'm happy with what I've done, under the circumstances.
Best trail on a bivvy:
Got to be the Cairngorms Tour, back in April. The weather was stunning, the trails were dry and I hammered the lot. This was in the middle of a particularly full on period in my working life (up against some stiff competition) as well as stressing over how Dad was, or wasn't, recovering from a knee replacement. I know the route so well, there is no adventure, it was just a case of grab the best riding I could get too easily. In the event it was one of a few full bore thrashes round some ace bike riding that I saw this year.
Best bothy:
No official ones, but grabbed a couple of shed nights on my ride north and on my Moray tour.
Most sociable bivvy:
The SWB, obviously, but a bit too social in that I drank far too much (without really realising it, damned whisky)
Thanks to the weird weather I could have used my Cumulus 150 quilt for every bivvy, if I'd timed things right. In the event, it's been the overall warmest year since I started with the heavy quilt only used 4 times, 2 of which I could have avoided!
Other than the bivvies, it's been a year of gravel biking with a lot of my miles on the Stragg and then the Stormy. All good stuff, including my second double century, but next year it's going to be one for the mountainbikes.
Gravel-tastic on my West of Scotland burn up.
That said, I've definitely re-engaged with the Kramp this year, mainly when the trails have been somewhat soggy. In contrast, my Lowside, which I rode a lot last year, has only been out three times. Likewise the Steamroller has been somewhat neglected this year - a major downside of having dry weather only bikes...
The stormy was the bike I wasn't going to buy this year but it ended up being one of three additions to my stable, the other two having engines. I've enjoyed it though and look forward to more crazy rides next year. This one was fairly tame in comparison doing a usual circuit from my parents place - The Tanhill Inn emerging from the fog.
The winter this year was terrible, after a promising start with snow on new years day and much cold temps for the first two weeks of the year. Then two weeks of plus temps wrecked it. Thereafter was a fair bit of snow fall but the wildly variable / warm temps between dumps meant there was none of the usual build up so skiing was none existent. So this was one of only two snowy rides, on my birthday. Looking to the coming winter there was some promise earlier this month with good dumps of snow and very low temps but over Christmas it was back to double figures and it all disappeared. Of course variable snow has always been a feature of Scotland's winters but 2024 was well out of normal parameters...
So, another year beckons. I'm in for the HT again, I intend to do the NYM and also the BB. I've given up on the other routes in the UK as they are too much hassle. All being well I'll do a trad Cairngorms loop ride plus maybe another shot of the LLTL300 but we'll see. And of course, every month I'll make sure I'm sleeping out at least once. No plans, goals or aims, just take it as it comes....
