A bivvy Adventure

On my to do list has been to go bivvying, I have a bivvy bag but I had yet to use it. So when Kate mentioned that her Chris and Simon were going to ride out to the peaks for a bivvy and did I fancy joining them I jumped at the chance! I was working over in Whalley Range till about 1:30pm so I got everything packed on thursday and then took half of it out! Still my bag weighed a ton! Then I rode over to the school with all my kit. I was back on my way and hitting Didsbury where I went off-road onto the trans-pennine trail for 2pm. From there is was mainly transpennine trails, with a few detours, steps fully-loaded were interesting! Before coming out near Glossop and dropping down to Tesco for some last minute supplies. My ride over had been punctuated with stops for the rain - heavy enough to mean my jacket was on and off! Just as I reached Glossop the hailstones started, I began to wonder how good an idea this sleeping outside was! After picking up my milk for breakfast and Alcohol for the evening I set off over snake pass, I had decided that it made more sense to stick to the road from Glossop as the alternative looked like Hayfield->Jacobs Ladder -> Edale -> Jaggers Clough -> The Beast which would have taken me all night. At this point I realised that my bottom bracket had given up working as well, which was no good. But at this point I was so close so I wasn't stopping.

Snake pass was hard, ideal for my first attempt at the hill use a singlespeed and wear a big rucksac!!!! I got to the ladybower inn about 7:10pm, the others had hoped to be there at 6pm, a quick phonecall and it turned out they were still 90minutes away. At this point the rainbow got me all excited about the adventure again! In the pub and it seemed rude not to eat, so a nice burger and chips and a couple of drinks, by the time they arrived I was wobbling up the hill to the bivvy spot! Due to my indecision about alcohol, the suggestion of whiskey didn't suit I amused everyone with my choice of a mini bottle of champagne! Which I enjoyed as they cooked, due to my giant meal in the pub even though I had carried food and cooking stuff I was way too full to eat anything!

It wasn't long before we were getting in our bivvy bags, all four of us had the same bag! They suggested I tried my mat inside my bag but then I couldn't get in! I definetly need a smaller mat, something like this would be perfect! So the mat went outside and I got nice and snug, I was impressed I wasn't cold at all!

The next morning I woke up suprised that I seem to have slept well, we really did have a comfy spot. After breakfast and all the faff of me packing we were off again! We dropped down to the pub again and enjoyed some coffee, tea, hot chocolate before heading our seperate ways.

I headed off to hope, got some new batteries for the camera and then it was off to castleton and up the broken road. Somewhere from here I lost my pump :-( Then Rushups Edge and Roych Clough. By this point I was more and more concerned about the bottom bracket, it made riding hard and the noises were scary. So I got on the Sett Valley Trail at Hayfield and arranged to meet Ali at Disley for a lift home. She got stuck in traffic so I had a sandwich and smoothie while waiting.

It was a shame not to ride home, but my bottom bracket is in such a bad way, the nice boys at cooksons will be getting a visit on monday so my bike is race ready on sunday.

Total for the two days:

81.42 miles

2400m ascent

Thanks to Ali, the present she got me last year came in useful, all my stuff fitted it!