Pack light and wise and

there are few limits to

your MTB escapades

Adventure biking Words & photos: Andy McCandlish

Don’t let the fading light
put an end to your MTB
exploits, simply camp out
under the stars

Time for one last

Take some time to relax brew before bed
before jumping back
on your bike

Cook up a storm – or a dehydrated

meal – to keep you going

58 July July 59
Lightweight tents
Snugpak Stratosphere £85
★★★★★
Somewhere between a tent and a bivvy
bag, the Stratosphere does an excellent
job of keeping the material off your
head to encourage a good night’s sleep.
A very welcome midge net in the zip-up
doorway is partially protected by a peg
out roof, allowing ventilation and
muggy air to escape even in bad
weather. Weight: 1096g
www.snugpak.com
The North Face Meso 2
£260
★★★★★
A cracking little tent with just enough
room to squeeze two good friends and
a limited amount of lightweight kit
under the flysheet. There isn’t a lot of
room for cooking outside the inner, but
with that weight you can’t ask for a
whole lot more. We also liked the
discreet olive green colour ours came
in. Weight: 2110g
www.thenorthface.com
MSR Carbon Reflex 2 £400
★★★★★
With a truly featherweight 1.4kg weight
that you can easily share between two
of you, taking a tent all of a sudden
starts to make a lot of sense. There is
even space for some gear in the
vestibule and to cook and sit up. You
also have the option of leaving the inner
at home, bringing the weight down to
under 1kg. Weight: 1404g
www.cascadedesigns.com
60 July
T
Above: Leave the his feature should come
busier trails
behind as you
with a warning. Read
it, act on it and you will
embark on your forever more have a
adventure
reluctance to turn your back on
the failing light of the day. You’ll
see glorious nights indoors as
missed opportunities for being
high on a crag with a cup of tea,
waiting for the stars to spark up.
At the start of our adventure, we
gritted our teeth and poked our
heads out from the back door of
the van, and were immediately
greeted with a wet shower of
snowflakes. The weather forecast
didn’t say this.
Our companions, Euan and
Mark, were already tooled up and
ready to go, champing at the bit to
disappear for a few days into the
Cairngorms where we could ride
the trails, catch a sunset and relax
with a hip flask of whisky under
the stars in our bivvy bags.
Well, that’s what we had in
mind. Reality sometimes has a
way of ignoring these daydreams
and coming in below the belt with
a sly one. This time it was the
weather. With it looking especially
ropey we packed a tarp to keep
the rain or snow off our heads –
usually a luxury – and took off for
the trees and freedom.
We’d kitted ourselves out with
lightweight packs, sleeping mats,
bivvy bags, sleeping bags, cooking
gear and not a whole lot else.
As we threaded our way up
through the pine forest we
nodded a greeting to the walkers
coming off the hill at the tail
end of the afternoon, probably
all wondering where we thought
we were heading at this time of
day. One of the good things about
travelling light is not advertising
your intentions to camp out.
Small packs don’t suggest a tent
or overnight gear, so no one
bats an eyelid. We just grinned
and headed on up the sandy fire
road into the depths of the hills,
counting the kilometres away
from civilisation. By the time
we had reached the 10km mark
after 7pm, there was no one left
in the area. There is a certain
satisfaction in this, but there is
so much more to these types
of trip.
The Cairngorms’ pine tree
forests make a great backdrop
for the trails to cut through
Need to Know – Wild Camping
Top tips whether you’re camping out for one night or many more
The main aim of a lightweight Choose a spot out of the wind if
campsite, indeed any campsite, is there are no midges, or in the
for no trace to be left when you breeze if there are. You only need
leave. That usually means picking about a 5mph wind to keep them
your campsite carefully where at bay. Make sure that you are not
you won’t have to disrupt the in a bog, or in a flood area in case
surroundings to make yourself the rain gets torrential through
comfortable. A flat spot with a the night.
water source is preferable, but Choose your spot as far away
sometimes if you are at the top of from civilisation as you can. Don’t
a mountain that isn’t always throw your bivvy bag down near a
available, so make the best of what path or you risk getting disturbed
is on offer, you’re only going to be by early morning walkers, and
there one night anyway. don’t camp within sight of a road
or house or you
Pick your spot carefully, you could get a rude
awakening if
don’t want a rude awakening
someone takes
or to scare off other trail users!
offence at you
being there.
The beauty of a
bivvy bag is its
flexibility, so make
the most of it.
Assuming you
are going to camp
this way you
shouldn’t have any
problems, but it is
worth knowing the legalities. In
Scotland there is no law against
wild camping more than 100m
from a public road, but the rest of
mainland Britain is different. In
England and Wales there is no
right to wild camp and permission
should be sought, strictly
speaking. This isn’t always
practical – who owns this land,
where are they, do I need to get a
bus to go and speak to them? So, it
comes back to keeping your head
down and leaving no trace.
Wherever you are use common
sense, arrive late and leave early
and you should be fine. If you are
challenged always be prepared to
move on with no argument and
maximum politeness, or suffer
the consequences.
If you are thinking of staying
out for more than one night, it’s
worth considering finding shelter
every second night, ie for every
open country bivvy try and find a
shelter like a bothy or B&B for the
next. You will be glad of this plan if
the weather is bad.
Bivvy bags
Polythene Survival Bag
£5 approx
★★★★★
For bivvying on a budget start with one
of these survival bags, but don’t expect
a comfortable or dry night’s sleep,
whatever the weather outside. Arrange
yourself so the condensation runs out
of the entrance rather than pooling at
your sleeping bag. Keep a large opening
to breath out of and you will survive
though. Weight: 400g
Your nearest outdoor shop
VALUE
Alpkit Hunka £30
★★★★★
For the money this bivvy bag really
can’t be beaten. Breathable enough to
give a reasonably dry night’s sleep if
you keep your head out, but waterproof
if the weather turns bad. The small pack
size and built-in stuff sack are a very
welcome bonus. Weight: 410g
www.alpkit.com
Rab Alpine Lite £165
★★★★★
A top of the line bag, reflected in its
minute pack size and impressive
weight. eVent fabric keeps the rain out
while breathing around 2.5 times as
much water vapour as the Alpkit. A zip
over the top of the bag can seal you in if
things turn really nasty. Weight: 422g
www.equipuk.com
July 61
 18
more packs
tested from
p90
Camping stoves Snow on the mountains is Sleeping mats and packs
a reminder that temperatures
MSR Pocket will be low when your ride finally
Rocket £30 comes to an end
★★★★★
A compact and
lightweight little
gas burner, that’s
very easy to stow in
your pack or pot
ready for action.
You do have to 2.5 stars pls
be careful not
to knock the Pod Lux 25 £70
pan over as the Snugpak Travelmat 2.5 ★★★★★
reach of the pot £25
support is With a bladder pocket good for three
necessarily ★★★★★ litres and enough space to pack
small, but once A great example of what money saving everything you should need in one large
used to it you can on the inflatable mat will cost you in compartment, the Pod is a good option.
take full advantage terms of bulk. It works fine on the The extra weight comes from a more
of the great flame ground, but you will need to get substantial harness system and stiff back
adjustment and high power. creative with packing unless you’re plate. This is removable, but useful for
Weight: 114g (in case) pulling a trailer or strapping it to a rack. protecting your back (and as a chopping
www.cascadedesigns.com Weight: 1004g www.snugpak.com board!) Weight: 840g www.equipuk.com

VALUE
Alpkit Numo £40 Exped Waterproof Drypac
Whitebox Stove £16 approx ★★★★★ VALUE Pro 25 £25
inc postage from USA ★★★★★
Another superb value for
★★★★★ money offering from Alpkit. The Numo Based on Exped’s successful roll top dry
A superbly light and powerful little stows into a very packable long and thin bags, this rucksack is simply a dry bag
meths stove once it gets going, but you shaped bag, perfect for sliding down with shoulder straps and some bungee
need to get the hang of fuel amounts as the side of your hydration pack, and is cord. The cord allows some overspill to
it is tricky to extinguish and empty if more than comfortable once inflated. be strapped on, or wet outerwear when
you overfill. There is no control over Hollow fibre adds to the insulation, and the rain goes off, meaning it doesn’t
power either, but that is the price you we used it down to 0°C to great effect. A soak what’s inside. Pack wisely as items
pay for the weight saving. Weight: 30g behind and called back that it looked great option. Weight: 508g can dig through the back. Weight: 300g
promising, so we all jumped off in
www.whiteboxstoves.com
the failing light and hopped over to burning issue www.alpkit.com info@lyon.co.uk
investigate. We were greeted by Follow the rules to having a fire
Jetboil Flash Euan lying on his selected area of
£80 pine needle-covered dirt, stretched Some people are of the opinion Either carry a lightweight fire
★★★★★ out like a body in a mortuary. that to truly leave no trace of your blanket and pile soil on top to
overnight stay you shouldn’t have house your fire, or cut sod out to a
Everything you need “This bit’s mine… Lovely,” he a campfire. While it is true that depth of 3 or 4in and replace it
is packed into this sighed and looked like he was falling you stand more chance of leaving once the fire has burnt out. Avoid
very efficient asleep on the spot. “Just build the a mark if you light a fire, a fire on or near rocks as they will
canister – burner, pot tarp over me and that will be fine.” sometimes the weather dictates blacken. Keep the fire small, burn
and lighter. The pot A short episode of body dragging, that a fire will make all the only downed and dead wood,
difference to your trip. spread any ashes or unburnt
clips to the burner one ankle each, brought him back to However, if you are very sticks as far apart and discreetly
via a heat exchanger, earth and we were soon all pitching careful in both picking your as you can when it is safely out.
which is the key to its in to get the camp ship shape. The remote camp spot and lighting When you leave your camp spot,
unbelievably fast tarp was strung over the flat area of your fire, that impact should be generally spread the surroundings Thermarest NeoAir £125
boiling time – about Above: Compact With the weather deteriorating ground and everyone soon had their practically invisible. back into place.
Finally, if there are ★★★★★ Camelbak Octane 24 £85
2 minutes after stoves are ideal we decided to can the rest of the gear rolled out. By the time darkness
pressing the ignition for making a ride and find a sheltered spot in had taken over we had down jackets signs up requesting no If you want the smallest and lightest ★★★★★
If made sensibly and sensitively, fires, or you know you
gets a full pot of post-ride cuppa the trees after only around 15km, on, head torches lit and a few pots of a fire can make a huge difference available inflatable mat, you have just With enough room for all the items you
are in a sensitive area, found it. Around the size of a can of
water boiling. leaving the rest of the ride for dehydrated food heating on our to your night under the stars don’t do it. Drink more need on a trip, the Camelbak still
Handily there is a coke once rolled up, it is still very warm manages to fit in a 3-litre bladder and
the morning. No rush, we were stoves. The fact we didn’t have a lot whisky instead!
and extremely comfortable on the stay very stable on your back when
drinking spout in the exactly where we wanted to be. of gear meant the campsite was far
lid so you can use it ground. The lightweight fabric appears riding. Hip belt pockets are useful for
from sprawling, with each person’s
Pitch perfect
as a mug too. fragile but we haven’t had a puncture regularly accessed trail items like bars
Weight: kit being used, sat on or bunched in yet, although you might want to keep a or gels and, most importantly, the
400g the hood of bivvy bags. repair kit handy. Weight: 420g weight has been kept low. Weight: 488g
www.jetboil.com Euan dropped his bike and trotted With the banter flying and www.cascadedesigns.com (without bladder). www.zyro.co.uk
over to a fallen tree we could shelter dinner calling nobody noticed

62 July July 63
Sleeping bags
VALUE
Snugpak Travelpak
Extreme £50
★★★★★
A top-notch budget sleeping bag from
one of the last UK manufacturers. The
Travelpak range has a midge net built
into the hood, which helps but we know
from experience that anything that
presses against it will be bitten through.
2°C comfort range and 17x17cm pack
size make it an acceptable option for
chillier nights. Weight: 1100g
www.snugpak.com
The North Face Lynx £100
★★★★★
With a very respectable weight to
warmth ration, the Lynx has to be top of
your list for a lightweight warm
weather tour. Its synthetic filling means
you don’t have to worry too much about
getting it wet, while a comfort rating of
-4°C is more than enough for most
spring to autumn trips, especially with
extra clothes on. Weight: 790g
www.thenorthface.com
Rab Neutrino 400 £285
★★★★★
As we were testing over the winter we
asked for this bag from the middle of
Rab’s lightweight range. It comes with a
roll top mini dry bag and is amazingly
compact for the warmth. Packable
Pertex Quantum fabric filled with down
makes for a bag that goes down to 2°C
comfortably, lower in a bivvy bag.
Weight: 932g www.equipuk.com
64 July
66
“As we left, we’d
transformed
instantly back
into day-trippers”
Above: The the moon. Mark wandered out of our
Cairngorms are a pool of light later on and called back:
perfect place for “Wow, look at the sky!”
these types of trip Through the silhouette of a great
Caledonian pine, there it was,
glowing with stars. It was then we
noticed the wind had dropped, and
the surrounding countryside was
bathed in a silvery moonlight. The
river burbled 10ft away, reflecting
Below: Sleeping bag,
mat, bivvy bag, the moon in its tumbling water and
cooking pot/mug and all was completely at peace with not
some easy to cook an artificial light to be seen.
meals will see you With the cold setting in under a
right overnight clear sky we faced two options: get
into our sleeping bags at 10pm, or
get a small fire going to warm up by
and fuel some more chat.
Fire starter
Fires are a controversial subject:
some say you should never have a
fire outdoors, in case you leave a
mark, start a bigger blaze or maybe
even have some fun. This opinion
possibly reflects a removal from the
real world. Man has, after all, been
having fires for thousands of years in
the outdoors to stay alive. If you can
have a controlled fire and remove all
trace of your visit, then why not?
On numerous occasions a fire has
saved a trip from disaster through
cold or sheer misery, focusing the
mind and warming the toes at the
same time. Just don’t leave a burn
mark ringed by stones in your
abandoned campsite.
We cleared an area we could
recover in the morning and lit
10 great places to stay
Popular UK locations for a bivvy biking trip
Bivvy biking can be done
anywhere you like, either straight
out of your back door with a ‘back
tomorrow morning for work,
love!’ over your shoulder, or an
extended expedition at the
opposite end of the country to
explore new areas without the
expense of a B&B. Keep it low key,
don’t leave a trace and no one will
ever be bothered.
1 The Cairngorms
With dry, sandy soils, never-ending
natural Caledonian pine forests
and remote hill locations, the
Cairngorms are a perfect place to
try your hand.
2 Tweed Valley
After riding some of the manmade
trails during the day, why not sling
your (small) rucksack on and head
into the hills for a sunset and
sunrise experience.
3 The Scottish Islands
Keep ferry costs down by leaving
the car behind; pull your rucksack
on and commit to a ferry into the
unknown. Camp on a beach and
watch the sun go down.
4 The West Highland Way
Break up this fantastic journey
with a fly bivvy on a hilltop, or
down by a lochside. Yes, you could
ride it in a day, but think about
what you’d miss!
5 The Lake District
Busy in the summer months,
but the fells soon clear come
dinner time so you should have the
place to yourself.
6 The Pennines
Disappear into these remote hills
and extend your range with an
overnight stop by one of the
sheltered streams.
7 The North York Moors
Take on a crossing of the moor
and tuck yourself in behind a dry
stone wall when the light begins to
fade. Make sure to bivvy up facing
the sunset!
8 Snowdonia
Great possibilities for mountain
top bivvies, with views that will
stick in your memory.
9 South Downs Way
Break up this great trail with an
overnight stop on the top.
10 Dartmoor
The only location in England where
you are legally allowed to wild
camp, so make the most of it.
Cooking pots, head torches and lights
MSR Quick Solo System
£45
★★★★★
A small pot and insulated mug
combination with fold out handle that
could easily be stretched to cater for
two as there is a mug and pot in the kit.
The mug is of an insulated steel
construction – great for keeping your
tea warm for more than 10 seconds if
the evening is chilly. Weight: 328g
www.cascadedesigns.com
VALUE
Trangia mini mess tin £7
★★★★★
Cheap as chips but strong and light,
with a folding handle to allow you to
store lots of goodies for the trip ahead.
Useful on the stove or for poking into
fire embers for that last cup of tea of
the evening. The long slim shape also
makes it ideal for slipping down into a
rucksack. Weight: 160g
www.amg-group.co.uk
Alpkit MytiMug £25
★★★★★
You can do just about everything with
this mug – cook in it, eat out of it and
drink from it. Now that is space saving!
Slide in your Whitebox stove for
travelling and you have the makings of
a tiny cooking and eating outfit.
Weight: 110g
www.alpkit.com
Outwell Taurus LED £6.50
★★★★★
Amazingly cheap little light with elastic
headband and one power setting. Not
mega powerful, the Taurus is still bright
enough for close in work like eating,
getting into your tent and reading.
Basically all you should need in the
summer months. Lithium button
batteries store for years too.
Weight: 40g www.outwell.com
Petzl Tikka XP2 £45
★★★★★
A very compact but powerful head
torch, good enough for lighting up your
tent and longer range tasks. A sliding
diffuser pops in front of the lens to give
a pleasant soft light for reading and
close in work. Without it the beam is
more focused, and you could even ride
slowly with it if necessary. Weight: 90g
info@lyon.co.uk
Exposure Joystick with
beacon diffuser £165 + £3
for beacon
★★★★★
The Joystick has constantly received
rave reviews as a night riding light, with
its powerful beam and impressive run
times for a tiny size. Exposure has
recently introduced some handy lens
diffusers too, making it a superb tent
and camp light once hung from a tree
or stood on its end. Weight: 96g
www.exposurelights.com
July 65
 Tarpaulin adds a
bit of ‘luxury’ to
your campsite
Extra bivvying essentials Extra bivvying essentials

Pack’n’Go dehydrated
Wayfayrer wet meals meals from £4
from £4 ★★★★★
★★★★★ It has been a while since we’ve eaten
Heavier than the Pack’n’Go dehydrated dehydrated meals for camping, so we
meals, the Wayfayrers come ready were pleasantly surprised to taste the
hydrated so you don’t have to cook Pack’n’Go Thai Chicken meal we got
them for too long. This makes them sent. It was tasty, not at all processed
quicker to prepare – you can eat them tasting and satisfying. The lightweight
cold if the weather precludes cooking in and slim pack means you could cram a
your bivvy. Weight: around 320g few days’ worth into your pack if
www.wayfayrer.co.uk necessary too. Weight: around 170g
www.bewellexpeditionfoods.com

“We were lucky that On one trip you can watch the
sun go down from an airy ledge
the dry, cover up the fire area and
sweep the pine needles back over
Above: When the sun
shines it’s time to

night, waking to a grey of a remote hillside, a pleasant

breeze keeping the midges at bay
to remove all traces of our stay.
Satisfied, Mark led the way out of
concentrate on
the ride

but dry morning” as you brew up dinner and lie

our fire, using broken and dead
branches from the fallen tree
Rab Microlight Alpine behind. With the flames dancing in
our faces, Mark remembered his
down jacket £140 hip flask, which was passed round
★★★★★ as the low chat kept going into
Essential wear for when you stop the night.
sweating and start to cool down. When the time finally came to
Packing down to almost nothing it turn in, we were all glad that we
should be kept dry during the day as were in bivvy bags. With a clear sky
the down packs into a useless mess
when wet. Rab offers a synthetic
version that doesn’t pack quite so small,
overhead it would have been a real
wrench to zip ourselves away for the
night, leaving the atmospheric
but is less susceptible to water. campsite for a nylon cave. The fire
Weight: 316g www.equipuk.com
was put out – you don’t want sparks
from a dying fire burning neat holes
in your bivvy bag as you sleep – and
Sleeping mat and bivvy
bag are basic but
essential bits of kit
everyone zipped themselves in,
leaving our heads exposed to the
night air.
Good times
Don’t go into this with rose-tinted
spectacles; you have to take the
good with the bad. As someone once
said, they are the best of nights, they
are the worst of nights.
back on your bed of dry grass. The
next you could be soaked to the
skin, wind whipping off everything
you own unless it’s pinned down,
with precious little time to peel
off waterproofs and get into the
bag relatively dry, only to face the
reverse into wet gear the following
morning with no shelter to cook in
and no prospect of a warm cuppa.
The good always outweighs the bad
though – when you get that perfect
night watching a sunset turn to stars
above your nose, you would happily
trade 100 nights in the rain to be
where you are at that moment.
We were lucky that night, waking
to a grey but dry morning. This
allowed us to quickly pack up in
the site and back on to the trail. As
we left, we’d transformed instantly
back into day-trippers with small
rucksacks. No one could keep a tent
in that tiny pack, after all. WMB
VALUE
Light My Fire spork £2
★★★★★
With a serrated knife edge, fork prongs
and a spoon all in one place you really
don’t need anything else in your
rucksack for eating. Probably one of the
most useful bits of kit for the price and
weight. There is a titanium option too,
but it isn’t non-stick friendly.
Weight: 10g
Pack light so you’re ready www.nordicoutdoor.co.uk
to tackle your next
big adventure