Right, washing done and kit now drying out. I don’t think anything escaped getting wet to some extent.
Overall, a good weekend. Not the best nights sleep I’ve ever had, but it did give me lots of time to contemplate improvements to my kit which wouldn’t have presented themselves if the weather had been fine. In many ways, this bivi was harder on kit and self than the Winter one was in December.
All the pics are linked here[/url], but here’s a summary:
You don’t get the sense of strong headwind in this picture, but the going was hard:
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Up and into the wind[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr
My tarp set up worked well considering the conditions:
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My tarp setup[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr
Flatfish’s tarp just before he twiddled it round to keep the wind out:
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Flatfish’s initial tarp set up[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr
Dinner time – Saag aloo and mullagatawny noodles went down a real treat.
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Dinner time[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr
Morning brew and Flatfish’s wind-reconfigured tarp…:
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Morning brew[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr
Leaving no trace:
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Breaking camp in the rain[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr
So, anyway. The trails were soft and the going very hard. The frozen ground I experienced on this route two weeks ago had gone – trails were very soft indeed. There was a headwind. At 5pm we were still about an hour away from the camp, but we pressed on anyway, negotiating the army checkpoint on the way. We did one of the descents in the dark, but the last one down to the camp was too tricky to ride. The rain didn’t start until about 9pm, though it was still windy when we set up the tarps. The wind and rain was persistant throughout most of the night, which took a greater toll on flatfish’s tarp than mine, though mine needed some adjustment part way through the night. We broke camp pretty early and enjoyed the tail wind home. Kit was tested to it’s limit, which was good to see how far you can take stuff and what you need to do to improve it for next time.