Winter solstice 2014 I met up with 2 strangers I'd met via twitter, and headed to the Southeastern coast for a night bivviing in the sand dunes.
As I lay there staring up at the stars I set myself the challenge of fifteen nights of wild camping in 2015. The idea was to encourage myself to get out more and over come some of my fears and worries about wild camping.
It's now solstice 2015, 1 year has passed, and I've completed my fifteen nights. Mission accomplished.
It's been an amazing year, I've bivvi'd in four countries (Spain, Luxembourg, Netherlands and UK). I've been visited by dogs, wild boar and on my final trip at the weekend, a slug tried to crawl across my sleeping bag. I've bivvied in rain, in high winds and in clear skys. Using three different bivvi bags, 2 different tarps. Travelled on foot, by bike & Kayak.
The most memorable nights are both in Luxembourg. In April I lay in my bivvi bag, watching the ISS fly over in the clear skies, waking in the night to find my bivvi bag crisp with frost. In August I drifted off to sleep staring up at the sky able to see the Milky Way with the naked eye. A wonderful experience.
Fifteen nights of bivvi'ing has given me more confidence wild camping, and choosing campsites. This should make it easier when I want to start longer more ambitious trips.
Building on the success of this years challenge I've set myself the task of learning [thread=136432]sixteen bushcraft skills in 2016[/thread].
A few photo hilights of the year:
- First bivvi trip in January, it reached -3° during the night.
- The view I woke to in Luxembourg in April.
- View from my bivvi bag on post pub kayak trip in June.
- The plough over Knieff (highest point of Luxembourg), on my August trip.
- The view from my bivvi bag that night. If you look carefully, to the left of centre you can see the trace of a Persied meteor. I watched the ISS fly over twice this night, as well as watching the Persieds display.
- Montserrat on the walk out from the bivvi where I was visited by a dog and wild boar.
- My final bivvi of the challenge, using the natural shelter I found to keep the wind out.
J
As I lay there staring up at the stars I set myself the challenge of fifteen nights of wild camping in 2015. The idea was to encourage myself to get out more and over come some of my fears and worries about wild camping.
It's now solstice 2015, 1 year has passed, and I've completed my fifteen nights. Mission accomplished.
It's been an amazing year, I've bivvi'd in four countries (Spain, Luxembourg, Netherlands and UK). I've been visited by dogs, wild boar and on my final trip at the weekend, a slug tried to crawl across my sleeping bag. I've bivvied in rain, in high winds and in clear skys. Using three different bivvi bags, 2 different tarps. Travelled on foot, by bike & Kayak.
The most memorable nights are both in Luxembourg. In April I lay in my bivvi bag, watching the ISS fly over in the clear skies, waking in the night to find my bivvi bag crisp with frost. In August I drifted off to sleep staring up at the sky able to see the Milky Way with the naked eye. A wonderful experience.
Fifteen nights of bivvi'ing has given me more confidence wild camping, and choosing campsites. This should make it easier when I want to start longer more ambitious trips.
Building on the success of this years challenge I've set myself the task of learning [thread=136432]sixteen bushcraft skills in 2016[/thread].
A few photo hilights of the year:
J
