That ended up being a good one! This weekend was my only chance for March, for various reasons, and as expected the forecast looked like the nice weather was going to last right up until I knocked off on the Friday, and then it was going to wazz it down, all weekend..... A further complication was a colleagues retirement do which I really wanted to be at on the Friday. Saturday looked to be horrible so a wet bivvy was in the offing.
Then Friday evening started looking better. Pitching up in the dry is always a good thing so plan B was engaged - I would use the auto to get to the leaving do, lay off the ale, get back sharpish and head out. Which I did, departing the house at 8 and pedaling for all of 13k to Devilla forest. I'd done one of my adventurous commutes home over the Lomonds earlier in the week and everything was bone dry so it was nice to bag a few more dry trails, ahead of the inevitable return to bogdom.
I headed to a spot I've used before (as usual...) only to find it a mess of fallen and felled trees! The monster Douglas fir I've kipped (and sat) under a few times before was now alone and surrounded by debris. It was also quite breezy, thanks to the felled trees, so I headed into an adjacent block of younger trees and found a fine spot next to a fallen fir.
Rain was due overnight but it remained dry as I lay back sipping an ale or three listening to lots of cracks and creaks from various partially fallen trees around me. Relaxation was complete and I was please to have got out. The rain came eventually, getting quite heavy at one point but then receding to a steady light rain. I listened to it for a while, always a good thing when you are in a tent, then bunged in the ear plugs and crashed out.
It had actually stopped by the time I surfaced. I do alike a first day of Spring bivvy as the dawn chorus always seems to be particularly enthusiastic.
It was damp all around and quite misty but by the time I departed, the sun was starting to break through the mist and murk, plus it was warm! I'd only had my 150 quilt and had bundled up inside it, only to wake feeling too warm. Spring indeed.
The remains of a nice piece of woodland. I appreciate it was planted for timber but it seems a shame to drop a load of very fine Dougie firs. I hope they re-plant with the same and not more bloody sitka!
Anyway, I weaved my way round various trails to Dollar, grabbed a pie, double biscuit and tea form Stevens and sat out in the now warm sunshine. More fine trails followed, still fairly dry despite the rain last night. There was some mist about so no views but by the time I got home I was roasting!
So, another winter bites the dust. It was a bit better than last year in that I did a fair few snowy fat bike rides, but skiing was limited to one evening and one fine day skinny skiing in the Ochills. Great stuff but I've not used my big skis since 2022!
