November BAM

This weekend saw me complete my 11th consecutive month of wild camping. Yes indeed, only 1 month to go and my Bivy-A-Month (BAM) challenge will be complete. The Phantom and Rob dog joined me on this wild camping jolly.

Phantom chose our secret camp spot the night before and we planned on camping at dampen.overjoyed.bubble (see what3words), however, we did not. We actually found a frightening awesome camp spot about 300m away from the planned spot. This spot was really awesome.

We were neither up or down a hill, but positioned about half-way from the bottom and top. This spot was slightly flattened and enclosed by trees in front and back and to the left side and a wonderful view point was to the right. Provided great shelter from the wind and a perfect view of the night sky with the many stars shining and a near full moon.

It was a cold and wet night. We had to bike-a-hike for a spell before reaching our spot and the bikes were covered in mud. I think these were the reasons we were slightly whacked and retired to bed relatively early. Of course, we still had some sausage and chilli-cheese baps before bad and a nip of JD (or similar). During the night, we heard the hoots of an owl and realised we were sharing this camp spot with a bird.

For the first time in like forever, I didn't awake early in need of an emergency wee. In fact, I didn't climb out of my bivy until 7 a.m. which was a real lie in for me. It got cold in the night, however, I was relatively warm and snug throughout. On waking it was super cold (about -1 C) and I was real pleased I had taken my 2 sleeping bags with me on this trip.

Great thing about the morning was that we saw the sun rise and the mist slowly disappear and letting great views appear. Lovely colours this time of year. Better yet, Phantom and Rob dog both started cooking breakfast. We had more sausages, cheese, bacon and baps. Delicious!

No breakfast is complete without a hot cuppa. My job was to make the lovely jasmine green tea. Washed the breakfast down just a treat.

Rob dog and I saw the owl from the night before when morning came. As Rob dog went for a comfort break, Oliver owl flew right past him. How excellent this camp spot proved to be.

We took a lot of food with us on this occasion. So much so, we were able to have seconds. Even after that, I considered eating my bro...

As we left camp it was beautiful looking around and taking in God's fantastic creation. The colours. The shapes. The beauty of it all.

We took a different exit out to the way we entered in. Getting out was much simpler and we were on familiar tracks. We're sure to camp here again and next time, our way out will be our way in!

Already looking forward to December. Will we  actually camp here or there? Y'know, I'm happy to camp anywhere!

Stink Tank / Brum 200

On Wednesday this week, the wife and I took our little bloods to Birmingham 'Think Tank' aka Stink Tank. It was a whole bunch of fun. Better yet, we had free tickets for agreeing to take part in a study.

Hard to believe that there were children with a bigger mouth than Lunar's!

Quite disturbing that the computer screens were asking whether they should let me die by stopping my food and water.

We all knew that our family was hot stuff. Here's the proof!

When Lunar was in control, we had much to worry about.

Pleased to report Lunar cooled down.

Am sure Lunar (and our family as a whole) would be happy to participate in further scientific research. Especially if it's as much fun as this was.

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This week also saw me complete the Brum 200 permanent audax event. I had originally entered the calendar event but was unable to participate as it clashed with another event I was doing over the weekend. No bother, the organiser ‘Paolo’ allowed me to change my entry for the X-Rated Loop version later in the year. Was unable to complete the X-Rated Loop as my dear wife SJ, had gotten us tickets to holiday in Portugal. Louy Beasley was aware that I wanted to ride this event and invited me to ride it with her this week. I invited a whole bunch of mates and Toll signed up for the challenge!

This was my 139^th completed audax to date but my very first ‘validate via GPX’. The event started in the dark on a wet morning. Toll rocked up to mine and then we met Louy at Tesco’s in Studley. From the start this felt like a fast paced ride. Louy was like a little rocket with Toll and I following. We were all using relatively new bikes too, this being the first 200 for my new machine. I think this was Tolls fist 200 this year.

 

My new horse 'Rainbow Dash'

Being a ‘validate via GPX’ ride, I didn’t pay too much attention to the route and didn’t know where the control points were. I knew I didn’t have to worry because I could just follow my GPX track and knew Louy had ridden this event before. I guess it’s kinda nice having the freedom to stop whenever and wherever we like. Well, our first stop didn’t occur until we had cycled some 90k! We stopped at Cannock Chase visitor centre and boy we were all soaked and wet through to the skin.

Didn’t take as long to get to our second stop in Ironbridge. The weather improved somewhat and the sun even showed his face for a spell. Ironbridge was a relative pretty place and it was nice to cycle over the bridge once we had fed our faces. I opted for an Ironbridge pasty which looked like a Cornish Pasty but didn’t quite have the same magic.

 

Ironbridge, of course.

From Ironbridge our route became more lumpy. The more lumps we cycled the hotter we got. It felt refreshing to move some layers and continue cycling. Much of the scenery was quite splendid and it was great to see black, dark and evil clouds some distance away knowing they were not going to shower upon us imminently. We cycled through Bewdley (which made me think of dad) and stopped at a garage forecourt in Stourport.

Our (almost) final leg took us near home and very close to Callow Hill. Crazy to consider that out cycle had taken us through five counties – West Midlands, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. By the time we had gotten close to Callow Hill it was now dark and our lights were shining bright. At this point we (Toll and I) said our goodbye’s to Louy as we all headed back to where we started.

Brum 200 (214k)

Final leg had just one mean hill to climb and then much descent. Before too long we were back in the village of Studley. A few more K’s and we were home. Woo hoo, completed the Brum 200 at last. May well ride the 2020 version (different route) next year on the basis of this being pretty fab.

Following event, Louy messaged stating what a great ride she had. I very much liked cycling alongside Louy and Toll. Toll messaged to say he was ‘knackered!!! Just brought up my Ironbridge pasty, my alcohol levels must be getting low'. Ha!

October PAM

October's ParkRun was more of a swim than a run. Yup, the weather was the pants. The course was flooded and everyone got very, very wet. Hey, who cares? - Only 2 runs left and my ParkRun-A-Month (PAM) challenge will be complete.

The puddle of doom

Park Swim

Usually, following a ParkRun, results are emailed to each participant detailing lots of information and facts. For whatever reason, I wasn't emailed following this event. Maybe the weather was to blame?! Anyways, I finished 62/285 and my time was 23:52.

SIKA 2019

On a real wet and windy October, Ron, myself and our lovely wives (SJ and Deb) headed to beautiful Bournemouth for the 2019 SIKA cycle event. Woo hoo! Ron and I (and Deb) had such a wonderful time last year 'up North' at the 2018 SIKA cycle event, we just had to ride this years edition. So nice having SJ with me this time around.

The wives - SJ and Deb

The Loons - Ron and Doo

Our accommodation was the lovely Highcliff Marriott Hotel. I'll try not to brag but the luxury was neat, the food delicious and the never ending supply of free beer quite awesome. We had to take the good with the bad - the weather was awful.

The actual cycling event was relatively easy. We (that's Ron and I) opted to cycle the 60 mile route option. Our wives went shopping. Cycling took us firstly along a bike path close to the sea. The menace winds and rain had driven much sand upon this bike path and cycling was slippery, hazardous and frightening. About 3k further on and we had left the 'beach' and were cycling nicer roads.

Much of the new forest was cycled through and this was just beautiful. We saw lots of wild creatures including horses, donkeys and pigs. I thought the wild pigs were particularly amazing. The wildest creature we saw was an angry motorist who first tried to drive Ron off the road and then told me I was very close to death in a threatening manner. Hmmm.

Thankful to report that the angry motorist didn't kill either of us and we happily cycled away with a whole bunch of others cycling the same event. The mean weather never gave up being a torment and we felt slight torture having to cycle 70k before our first break point (goodness knows what happened to the planned earlier stop).

Angry motorist not far from here

Do we look fazed?

Nice to stop and have a cuppa tea and some soup at the 70k rest spot. Would have been nice to dry out but not much chance of that. I think we ate a bap of some sort here too.

Back in the rain and just a short 30k or so cycle to the finish. The ride was undulating in nature but no real menace hills were encountered. We avoided the sandy section on our return choosing to cycle slightly higher roads instead.

At the finish line we received claps and were welcomed back with the sound of a cow bell. A quick change of clothes and then we celebrated further with the never ending supply of food and drink. Cycling finished early but the event continued all day and well into the night.

The evening program included some top nosh. David Millar was a guest speaker and spoke about his racing history. Drugs are bad... Action for Kids was a charity that was sponsored by this event and they collected more money than their target which was great. After such a full on day and night, it was nice to retire to our big comfy beds.

When (Sunday) morning came we had a further full English breakfast. Sadly, this is where the party ended - ha! Our bikes didn't look too healthy, they were covered in sand and grime, rusting here and there and creaking. As I took my bike apart, I reflected on what a great machine she'd been over the years and what a great event for her to finish on (as I plan to replace my road bike). 

(Last pic of my hat, which sadly went AWOL after the event)

Top event. Cheer's Ron, Deb and SJ. Nice one SIKA. Hope to ride next years event in Ireland!

October BAM

Early October and I'm pleased to report that I have completed my 10th consecutive calendar month wild camp! Only 2 further wild camps to go and I will have completed my Bivy-A-Month (BAM) challenge. How cool is that?!

October BAM

My brother 'Rob dog' and my other blood 'Jamie' joined me on this particular camp. We decided to camp in Stafford, not far from Rob dog's abode. The not-so secret coordinates were pops.differ.hospitals.

It was dark when we headed for the woods. I think we cycled an almost complete circle (well hike-a-biked really) through lots of bracken before we found a nice flat(ish) spot to camp. This was a little clearing littered with lots of interesting fungi and bright stars shining right above.

Jamie and his new Rap bivy

Jamie and I set about pitching our bivy's almost straight away. Jamie was pitching his brand-new Rab (ridge raider) bivy. The Rab bivy looked really smart, with a wide entrance well supported by a pole and guide ropes.

Meanwhile, Rob dog set about cooking. Sausage was on tonights menu. Along with cheese. Delicious.

Easy to chill out once fed. Just like the fungi, we were 3 fun guys (see what I did there)? We chatted, told stories, shared jokes and drank fermenting liquids before we settled down to a relatively early night.

We all slept pretty fine. Before we dropped off though we heard the sound of a bee buzzing and owls hooting. Jamie and Rob dog reported hearing foxes bark too. Surprised I heard no snoring.

When morning light came, it was great to see how awesome our camp spot was. My bivy blended superbly with the close surroundings. Top spot!

Jamie was first to rouse, followed by me. Jamie was leaving camp early as he had to return home and attend to his son. Not surprised Rob dog was last to surface - he had auricular acupuncture just prior to heading out last night. (Better yet, it was me who pinned his ears. I had just attended day 1 of my acupuncture course and he was a willing volunteer). Jamie's new bivy performed great - no menace condensation, 'dry as a bone'. Maybe I'll swap my Outdoor Research bivy for a Rab?!

Rob dog and I celebrated the completion of this wild camp by eating further sausage and cheese. This was washed down with a lovely cup of jasmine green tea. Already looking forward to November's camp!

Who on Earth would camp here?!