Saturday, March 2, 2013

First solo bivvy

I've been spending a bit of time lately perusing the forum over at bearbones.co.uk, it's amazing to see some of the adventures people have been having in the world of bikepacking, and some of the gear folks have been making for themselves. One post that caught my eye was the 'bivvy a month' thread. As I had missed January, I was trying desperately to fit one in for February.

So, on the 27th (leaving it late as usual!) I headed off at six pm in a freezing fog, unbelievable after the beautiful clear day it had been. First rule of bikepacking. Make sure your camera batteries are fully charged. I failed on this one, riding out of st quivox, I came across a truly inspiring site. Almost up out of the fog, the sky was a gorgeous range of colour, from pure blue, down through pink and yellow of the setting sun, into the grey of the fog. Dancing delightfully over a flooded field, was a juvenile bat, oblivious to my presence, dipping down to the water to drink. Bloody camera batteries.

So, on I went, through Auchincruive and enterkine estates onto stair, a picturesque wee enclave on the banks of the river Ayr. I managed to find a nice wee spot in the woods behind the stair inn (handy, eh?) to bed down. So, tarp and sleep system set up for the night, I managed a couple of pints of blonde bombshell before bed. Once bedded down, I managed to sleep not too badly at all, the only issue being slightly cold tootsies, but I'll sort that for next month.

The recently made coke can stove, courtesy of Andy 'mears' Gourlay, worked a treat in the morning, boiling me more than enough water for my tea and porridge. So, at about 8am, packed up rode home, tired but happy. Roll on next months night under the stars....

 

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