Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more

General => Meets, places, trips and reviews => Topic started by: Scribble on December 17, 2010

Title: bloody bridge bivvi
Post by: Scribble on December 17, 2010
done a quick bivvi last night and frank from Bloody Bridge campsite let me park at his house for a small fee, was planning on staying the night at mourne wall but chickened out due to the strong gusts and the fact i knew the snow was on its way,i set up camp at the quarry and climbed into my bivvi bag and got ready .
i will try and add somemore info laters like how i was well impressed with my alpkit headtorch (cheers suspectmonkey) and played with the green and red lights as i walked in snow

some photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/dougiewilson/sets/72157625618030992/
Title: Re: bloody bridge bivvi
Post by: twentyclicks on December 17, 2010
Cool - nicely done.
I'm going for a back-garden bivi tonight to test my new sleeping bag.  It should hit its limit so will be a good test!
Title: Re: bloody bridge bivvi
Post by: RedLeader on December 17, 2010
Looks awesome, very jealous. Haven't had a proper snow bivvy yet.
Title: Re: bloody bridge bivvi
Post by: ChuckMcB on December 17, 2010
Nice.
Title: Re: bloody bridge bivvi
Post by: MG1 on December 17, 2010
Fair play mate looks cool.
Title: Re: bloody bridge bivvi
Post by: suspectmonkey on December 18, 2010
Nice one Andy, looks like a pretty awesome bivvy, respect for heading up!

How did you find the sleep mat?  I see you had it under the bivvy in one of your photos, did you sleep with it like that?  If you are using the standard Alpkit Hunka bivvy I don't think it will fit inside, although it might fit in the Hunka XL.  Mind you, I've discovered that I just can't sleep inside a bivvy with the mat on the inside.  Feel far too restricted, so prefer to sleep with the mat on the outside.
Title: Re: bloody bridge bivvi
Post by: Scribble on December 18, 2010
Hi suspect  ;D I used the mat underneath as I used Dowsers idea and put a tescos mummy sleeping bag inside my vango supernova 3000 for extra warmth which I think I could of done with out as I had to strip off my top layers as I was too warm , I was super cautious and went and bought an outwell foam mat to put under the alpkit mat which again I reckon I could of done with out as I never felt the cold and I was really pleased at how comfy I was so much so I was a sleep before 11 , my bivvi I used was a Rab ranger and I was taught a very good lesson shake before opening as I got a face full off snow that also soaked my bag so I decided to pack up and head home about 4 , I think this was a sign from above as it took me 2hrs to get home to banbridge as the roads where a nightmare , I was very happy with mat but the headtorch kept me entertained with it's green and red beam in the snow , if your having another clearout pm me as I am sure I won't be disappointed  ;D thanks again

Andy
Title: Re: bloody bridge bivvi
Post by: RedLeader on December 18, 2010
Definitely the comfiest sleep I've had has been on a self inflating mat on a foam mat. Definitely worth the few hundred extra grams.

Was the snow not really deep on the walk back down considering how much fell at sea level?
Title: Re: bloody bridge bivvi
Post by: LennyJ1 on December 18, 2010
this is me taking off my hat to you sir  ;D
Title: Re: bloody bridge bivvi
Post by: Scribble on December 18, 2010
Cheers Lenny :)

Redleader the snow was not too bad but trying to drive home I was hitting drifts but thankfully the hedges kept me going in the tight direction