June 21st and the summer solstice luckily fell on a Friday, and luckily for me I finish work early on a Friday! YEAH!! The sun was shining, the forecast was good so a quick plan hatched to bivvy out for the night.
I’ve had my eye on this sheltered spot facing east for some time now and it looked great for a night under the stars in a bivvy bag. Instead of my usual set up of loading the Salsa Mukluk up with the Apidura bags I decided to take the Salsa Bucksaw and a few bits in my backpack.
The early evening sun was still quite warm which made a night in the bivvy look exciting. Surprisingly I had the hill to myself as I didn’t see anyone else. After just over an hour of mostly pushing I found my spot which was simply stunning.
After I cooked my steak and mushrooms I enjoyed the views as the sun cast a long shadow of the Carneddau mountain range over to the east.
The night sky slowly came in and with it a gazillion stars and the odd satellite too. And with that I only got a couple of hours sleep as the night sky was too good to miss. I woke early for the pre sunrise red sky at around 4am which was again truly amazing. I enjoyed my morning coffee watching the sunrise in my a ringside seat.
Instead of dropping back down to my van which would have taken about 25 minutes I decided to make the most of the stunning morning and headed further up the mountainside which I’ve done many times before.
The ISSI pedals are still a hit for me!
https://fat-bike.com/2018/04/issi-stomp-xl-review/
One of the summits I bagged was Foel Grach which stands at 3200 feet and has a refuge hut near the summit. I stayed here back in 2014 as part of my bivvy a month challenge.
https://fat-bike.com/2014/10/fat-video-tuesday-%e2%99%a6-september-welsh-bivvy/
From here it was downhill for a few miles where the north Wales coast opened up before me.
Beer time…
