Description
Book SynopsisThey are the best of nights, they are the worst of nights… Bivvying offers a chance to experience a whole new level of immersion in the outdoors, with just a lightweight bag between you and the elements. The Book of the Bivvy provides an informed, humorous, instructive, wry insight into the world of the bivouac, drawing upon Ronald Turnbull's own extensive experience. The book is a half-and-half mix of how to do it and why to do it (or how not to do it and why not to do it). Accounts of bivvybag nights and expeditions, both nice and nasty, are interspersed with practical tips about types of membrane, sites, techniques and minimalist kit. There are stories and anecdotes from all over the UK, plus a few from abroad. The rich and colourful history of the bivvy is also explored in Ronald's own inimitable style, with descriptions of how Diogenes (the Cynic) bivvied under timber and how the Eigerwand was climbed only through improved bivvying technique. The Book of the Bivvy is a celebration of back-to-basic camping, the perfect antidote to our fast-paced, comfort-based modern life. Honest and entertaining, there is every chance it will inspire you to find a remote hilltop, roll out your bag and watch the sunset.
Table of ContentsMap key 1 Introduction Bag for life Bivvy night 1: Snowdon 2 Primitive bivvy Bivvy night 2: Peigne and suffering Problems of the polybag Plastic bag for pleasure purposes Polybag facts 3 Bivvy history Rude people enquire into futurity Nights on the Eiger Bivvy night 3: A walk on the Wye side Mr Brown's little green bag 4 Midlevel baggery Bivvy night 4: Fast asleep on the Berwickshire coast Cave behaviour Bivvy night 5: A bedroom in Borrowdale Fallback bag Bag and camera Bivvy night 6: Man management Bag shopping Poncho, basha, tarp - and the groovy group shelter 5 Time, things and Miguel Time Things Miguel 6 Sleeping on summits Bivvy night 7: Great Gable Walking on the wet side 7 The comfort zone Bivvy night 8: Up Base Brown in down Sleeping mats Dew process Route 1: Merrick two-day trip 8 But what if it rains? Bivvy night 9: Wet under thorns in Belfast Further suffering What if it rains? Look after your bivvy and your bivvy will look after you 9 Across Scotland by bag Wetness and weight: cross-Scotland constraints Route 2: Acharacle to Aberdeenshire 10 The art of lightweight long-distance Bag and baggage The fuel on the hill Fast food High cuisine Bivvy night 10: A peat-hole on Bowland The importance of water 11 Mountains under the moon Route 3: Coleridge's Helvellyn overnight crossing 12 Bivvybag routes Route 4 Lakeland all the way Route 5: Rannoch Moor: the beauty and the bog Bivvy night 11: Helm Crag 13 But that was in another country Foreign parts Route 6: Sierra Nevada: the Spanish 3000s Bivvy night 12: Cima Cadin 14 And in the end Sheltered housing for the elderly Appendix A Suppliers
