I'm not a football fan (I've tried, but it leaves me cold) so rather than stay in and watch England lose I decided that an overnight bivi would be in order. So after Sunday's dig day (I do volunteering at the Roaches once a month, path maintenance with Peak District MTB) and once I'd had tea (lasagne!) I loaded the bike and set out, aiming to arrive at my spot as the light fades.
My chosen site was on a ridge, not too far from home, surrounded by moorland. Once there the stove went on as I set up camp. Which as you would expect, didn't take long.
Once I turned in it started raining, nothing too bad just light drizzle. This did keep me awake for a while, its difficult to ignore rain on Goretex when the roof is inches above your head. The rain kept the wildlife subdued, I was expecting and looking forward to hearing grouse make their odd night-time calls but all was pretty quiet.
I didn't sleep as well as I could anyway for some reason. I think I'm just haven't camped enough for a few years. But, I was warm enough, too warm in fact, as I've finally bought myself a new sleeping bag. Its and Alpkit Pipedream 400 3 season bag, a very nice but very expensive down bag.
Morning came, as it always does, so on went the stove whilst I broke camp. An Aldi porridge pot and a cup of tea is my usual camp breakfast, nice and easy as both just need hot water. An owl flew over my site as I ate.
With the bike loaded I headed home;
The only trace of my stopping was a patch of dry, flattened grass;
On the way home I met a chap parked on a UCR with a very large lens fitted to his camera. It turned out that he was trying to photograph short eared owls, and we spotted one in the distance as we chatted. I told him of the one that I'd seen, and mentioned that lapwings nested nearby. He told me that the owls were probably after lapwing chicks.
A small but worthwhile adventure
Paul.
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