Bivvying, short for ‘bivouacking’, is a bit of an art form. It’s a bit ‘niche’, one notch up from wild camping, and often seen as the emergency option if you’re caught out in a storm for the night. But is it really all that bad? Is it something to be endured, or can it also maybe become something to be enjoyed?

Time to find out.

Yesterday afternoon, I drove up to the Lake District, purposefully to arrive there around the time I’d usually be coming off the hillside. It felt a bit strange to be kitting up at 8pm and heading off, in the opposite direction to all the other walkers. From New Dungeon Ghyll, I made my way up the left side of the river and cascade system, and the headed left again from Stickle Tarn.

Best practice with doing any overnight activity in the mountains is to stay as high as possible, certainly well above the last walls and farmers fields. I noticed loads of tents gathered around Stickle Tarn, groups of wild campers just off the path. No real problem with that, but they would have been better going further from the path, or higher up. I guess they were waiting for a sunrise breakfast in an incredible location.

I’ve recently purchased some new bivvy kit as I plan to spend longer amounts of time in the mountains this summer. Carrying a tent with all the trimmings into the hills can be surprisingly arduous, so bivvying is the next natural contender for consideration if you want a vaguely comfortable time and a backpack that doesn’t threaten to topple you over.

I had my fair share of mishaps last night. My new head torch gave up on me (luckily I had a spare); then a wind struck up directly where I wanted to pitch, forcing me to wrestle with a new (and slippery smooth) frenzy of tent fabric, cursing whoever’s stupid idea it was to be here in the first place…?!

But the stars and moon were out, and the landscape looked epic. I had planned a hot beverage but then found I was very low on water and couldn’t be bothered to hike half-way down the mountain to the nearest stream. It was also very cold after a while, despite a cosy new sleeping bag. I spent 6 hours resting (let’s not call it sleep just yet) and then got up to an overcast sky at dawn. Mission accomplished. Despite intense sleep deprivation.

With each new blog on this topic, I’m going to be bivvying in a different place in different conditions. I’m determined to get to the point where I’m a bivvy pro just because it will open up extended adventures in the mountains with a much lighter pack. I have a cunning plan to increase warmth and comfort for next time, without taking a different sleeping bag or even taking a stove! I’ll also include a full kit list and a video on how to pack it all. Sounds like the holy grail of adventure to me!

Until next time…