Sunday 31 January 2021

2021 Bivvy a Month

 Another year and another BAM. No specific goals this year other than to get out and bivvy. As everything is still up in the air I'm not even making any firm plans for the Summer at present. I've lots of ideas and all being well I'll be doing the Highland Trail in some shape or form. Other than that it will be my usual mix of opportunism and optimism.

So to January. I'd meant to go out last weekend but my beloved Ochills were plastered in snow so skiing was the order of the day. I had two days that can only be described as Alpine. In fact the winter so far has been decidedly Alpine - discreet days of snow (falling vertically!) mixed up in some stunning clear and still days. Its very rare we get such weather in Scotland - Only the winters of 2009/10 and 11 spring to mind. Usually we get more arctic weather and the inevitable Atlantic storms so this was very welcome. Of course I can't get anywhere near real mountains which is monumentally frustrating given that the March '20 lock down wrote off one of the best spring skiing seasons in years. All minor worries in the grand scheme of things just now but that's a consequence of living on your own and not getting out very much. Your perspective narrows to your own little world....


Ski where you want. I've never seen so many skiiers in my local hills - there was a skin track right across the plateau. The black dot just below and to the left of the pointy hill is my January 2020 bivvy spot.

So it was this weekend or bust but as it happened a forecasted change to milder and wet weather didn't happen and more cold temps were on the way. I ruminated on a destination but went for Devilla again as per last December and February. As noted in my washup of last year I won't be doing any back garden bivvies again. Living on my own allows me to form an extended household with friends or family which I last did at Christmas. So for this weekend I joined up with my old friend, the forest. 


Departure was at 6 but I should have left it for another hour. The trails were starting to firm up but there was still plenty of mud around. I took it very easy through this as spraying the bike in mud would turn it into a block of ice the following morning. I followed a varied route of trails and cycleway and headed for a spot that I'd scoped out last year. Its more open than my December spot but the dropping wind meant this wouldn't be an issue. It was -1 as I threw up the Deschutes and snuggled into my winter bag. Last January I was under my tree in the Ochills. I'd visited it last weekend and could have dug a snow hole in the drift behind it; but getting there would have been a labour of postholing through knee deep windslab. So instead I was in the lee of yet another isolated spruce on the edge of a denser plantation in the far reaches of Devilla, well off the beaten trail. Another pleasant evening followed heating and eating food, drinking a couple of cans and finishing off with a dram or three to ensure a good nights sleep.

Morning sun (its just visible behind the trees). I'd actually been woken up at 6 by the nearby silica sand quarry. Starting this early on a Sunday seems a bit keen, especially just now, so maybe the world still needs glass. Anyway distant clanking of machines, reversing horns and various other noises; as well as a helicopter flying past a couple of times; meant I wasn't getting any more sleep. So I lay back listening to owls, geese and other birdies, eventually making breakfast at 7.30, packed up and away before 9.

More trails and cycleway to Dollar and then up the hill and through Glen Quey. This confirmed that the hills would be off limits on the fatty for now. Below 300m there was barely a dusting but above there was around 6" of frozen crusty snow which would have been a 1psi job if it wasn't for a trampled slot over which I flew. Cheating, I know, but the final steep and off camber trails which had only been trampled by a few folk were challenge enough. Home for a late lunch and an afternoon snooze. Looks like there is plenty more winter to come so I suspect February will be a cold and snowy one as well. Now where's my snow shovel?

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