Sure it was a tent not a B+B? 😉

Defo slummed it in a tent, mind you, it was bigger than the b&b in Rhayader.

I have for a while been a wannabe bivvy-er who, I suspect like many on this forum, had read of the adventures of others, gradually assembled a passable collection of suitable kit, but who realistically was unlikely to ever give it a go. That was until Nuit de Bivvy Internationale appeared on the STW calendar on my office wall. The blurry prospect of a night under the stars came sharply into focus, depending upon the forecast nearer the time of course. A call to arms assembled just three brave souls who were willing to take on the 'wilderness*' of the Chilterns on a Friday night. Maps were pored over – the most difficult task being to locate a suitably isolated spot on which to bed down out of sight of wealthy landowners, their gamekeepers and the local dogging fraternity. Our individual kit lists ranged from 'all the [Alaskan adventure] gear' to 'a few extra clothes and a bivvy bag strapped to the frame' so it was probably a good job the weather was set fair. With planning complete we set off in Matt’s florist’s van on our adventure just as everyone else was returning from work to begin their weekends with a curry and a pint. A circle on a map left with my wife indicated the rough location where three bodies might be found enshrouded in breathable but waterproof fabric should things go horribly wrong.

I'd never ridden off-road carrying more than a large lunch, tools and a waterproof, so the additional weight of my overnight kit took a little getting used to on the first bit of singletrack. Trails we'd ridden many times before offered up a different prospect, with the bike behaving unusually with an altered centre of balance. Carrying extra weight the descents were faster, but we battled on the climbs to keep the front end down and bike going uphill. The trails were empty but for barn owls, red kites and rabbits.

We reached our pre-identified spot as the sun disappeared below the treetops and hunted down a suitable location with the assistance of around 3,000 lumens.

In the end we settled on an area beneath the beech trees carpeted with leaves, and far enough off the trail to avoid early morning confrontations with red-socked ramblers. After rolling out our gear we cooked up a storm with a critical ‘come dine with me’ style assessment of each other’s efforts, before settling down in front of a fire in the best traditions of ‘scouting for boys’, armed with hip flasks and marshmallows. That was until Adam, fearing a repeat of the infamous ‘singed gap year fleece in Vancouver incident 1999’ (don’t ask but it wasn’t hot rocked, right), extinguished every last ember, and we retired to the comfort of our bags.

I fell asleep, while trying not to think about the harvestmen crawling all over the ground, looking up into a moon-lit sky through the trees and slept surprisingly well, waking to the sound of distant barking deer, cooing wood pigeons, and not so distant snoring, with a morning mist hovering over the wood. After the essential morning coffee was made, we packed and hit the trail, leaving no trace we'd ever been there.

The Chilterns is usually pretty busy on a weekend, but at this time in the morning we shared the trails with no-one. My pack was lighter after the consumption of food, water and spirits, so the riding felt no harder despite having spent the night 'sleeping in a ditch'. We fairly flew down the first fantastic singletrack descent before the inevitable climb bought back memories (and almost more) of the whisky and chilli. We arrived back at the van at 9:30, earlier than we'd normally start biking most weekends, with 6 hours of riding under our belts and a new sense of liberation. My advice to any other wannabe bivvy-ers – don't wait for the Nuit de Bivvy Internationale 2011, get out there and do it in 2010 before the winter properly starts.

*I know you can't get much less wild but you have to start somewhere and some of the landowners round these parts have big dogs and shotguns!

Aye … get some practice in for the 2011 Welsh Ride Thing! 😀

Nice one 😉

so just three bivys then ?

any more for any more ?

Not on friday but a few days before.
Absolutely hoofed it down with rain. Bivy bags and a bothy shelter supported by two bikes.

And breakfast under a bridge the next day.

proper ghetto.

I think the 'Nuit de bivvy Internationale ' should be extensed to the end of August, that way everyones got LOADS of time to plan and get out there..??

Ah ha, just worked out how to post bigger pictures so here are some of those from above again in slightly more detail!

Nuit de Bivvy Internationale is surely known across the world as the 4th Friday of July (or there abouts)? Of course I had an excuse as it's on my STW calendar. You can bivvy on other nights too so I am led to believe 😉

Nice pics, much better with bigger ones.. Shame all my riding buddy's think the whole Bivi idea is a bit on the sad side, I cant understand it and the thought of going on my own doesnt flow…. I think a massive STW Bivi adventure would be good, a massive group of like minded Bivi adventurers??

I'm not convinced mass bivvying is the way forward! A few mates and a rough plan is the way to go (in my limited experience).

Sad some may say but I loved it, and riding the trails when most people were tucked up added to the charm.

While I'm on a roll here's the others in BIGGER format,

(There are hills in there honest!)

Chilli 1 or Chilli 2?

ok – so I didn't have any excuse (ST calendar is right in front of my desk) clearly marked for the bivvy night. Ah well.

Unfortunately we seem to be in a pattern of July and August being pretty wet, but I guess I've got to get used to toughing it out (instead of my usual check that it's going to be dry and sunny before heading out).

Nice to see some good nights were had. I've enjoyed the s24o article in this month's ST too. I wish everything around here wasn't farmland – some proper wilderness (with clean running water) would be nice.

After travelling the swcp for almost 4 mths, with at a guess 3 of those months being wild camping, but without a tent or Bivvi back, i thought i might of missed the occasion, however a night on a roll matt under a partially open ended Marquee tent at Newnam was as close as i could get and one of the more comfortable places i've stayed this summer.

Bigface0_0 if your riding buddies think it's sad I suggest you get some new, slightly more robust ones who think it's less scarey … I mean sad 😉

yeah I think your right, roughing it for them is a B&B… 🙄

So who's won the 'stuff' then??!

Prizes for first, second and third then??

Doesn't that just mean that everyone's a winner in this competition?!

Plumber, TrailRat and Dr Bakes email me your addresses and I'll send a preciousl thing to each of you.

It'll be a fortnight though cos I'm off to France later tonight.

Dave@singletrackworld.com

Well done chaps, Look forward to seein the pics of you with your prizes… 🙄

Well its a bit late, but I found myself at a loose end last night so I popped out for a bike bivvy

Cycled down to a little informal site on the spey and set the tarp up

The view out in the morning

thats the spey, sunday morning

coffee and breakfast

packed and ready to ride home.

well that was better than getting pissed in front of the telly 🙂

Nice one Sweepy. Your kit looks very well managed/packaged.
Looks like a nice spot too.

still waiting for my prize – 8~>

i had forgotten plumber – bivying here would be 5 star hotel – we have ants in the kitchen – broken everything , we had to clean our room out as it smelled foul

its very very cold in the rooms to stop malaria too

looking forward to a good bivy up on the hills when i get home !

what tarp is that sweepy?

gracias my man – Mrs TR tells me im the proud owner of a Singletrack hip flask

itll keep my cockles warm next time i go bivy 😀

Thats a decathlon tarp, 20 squids and it comes with super strong steel poles to leave at home. Seems ok for the money.
Sorry i didnt reply sooner, thought this thread had disappeared so didnt see the question.