A Bivouac a month – January

Overwhelmed by the inspirational air that flows about around the time of New Year, and underwhelmed by becoming fat, lazy and uninspired, I exclaimed I would complete a bivouac a month for the year.

A Bivouac is described by google as : a temporary camp without tents or cover, used especially by soldiers or mountaineers. (Bivi for shortness, I don’t have time for that extra syllable).

Not particularly challenging for someone who spends a good deal of the year sleeping outside BUT we have an added FLARE to the Bivi. Winnie’s coming too.

For those of you who haven’t heard (probably all of you, 3 readers) we have acquired a dog. But not just any dog. A really, really good one.

Initially I thought she’d just be a bit of fun over Christmas, and that when the novelty had worn off we could give her back. But, it turns out the novelty lasted a great deal longer than expected and we’ve hung onto her, for the time being. She’s called Winnie. Short for Winnipeg.

If she is to become an adventuredog,  which, she most certainly has no choice in but is going to, she must be bivi ready. If she can bivi at 3 months, in January,  then she can tent anywhere, forever. She’s a good lad.

We picked a horrible, wet , windy night and agreed that, to be fair to Winnie we should start easy, in the garden so that if she (or , more likely I) can’t cope, ‘inside’ is a mere meter away.

The reason we picked this horrible blustery wet evening, was because it was January 31st and I realised I had no other choice in January. Well done me.

We set the tarp up, because, rain; and prepared a hot water bottle each (yes Winnie too). The advantage of the rain? Cleaning Winnie’s wee off the ground sheet while setting up.

The kit was pretty straightforward for this one :

• Also:
• A Hot water bottle – Nalgene water bottles double up as hot water bottles, and last for hours
• All the clothes I own
• Headtorch – any will do and not strictly necessary in ones garden
• A Pillow – From my bed, though of course inflatable ones will be used in February when not in the garden

Winnie’s kit is still evolving as you’ll see when we move through the months and get further from home. I’m anticipating too much money is about to be spent.

Winnie had:
– Bed
– Large woolen blanket
– Hot water bottle

My biggest concern, naturally, her not dying. I spent most of the night waking to the slightest movement or sound, fearing she was hating it, hating me, unable to sleep, and or freezing to death.

It took me a long time to relax enough to fall asleep. Winnie , placed in her bed and wrapped in her blanket, didn’t move a lot. She’s very maliable. I woke at 2am, with a start, as I’d fallen asleep and Winnie easily could be: a)> Gone or b)> Dead since I last checked her, I looked over into her bed, she was pretty much doing this :

I removed her hot water bottle immediately from fear that she was too warm.

At 3AM she woke up and nestled in-between Snake Legs and I. And that was about as eventful as it got.

I think I had 3 hours sleep. Winnie had many more.

We both went to work feeling totally exhausted and wondering why on earth we decided to sleep outside our lovely house on a wet, windy evening in January.

Next one, February,  can’t wait.