[Closed] Camping: Just sleep in bivvy bag at this time of year?

I did coast and castles last week and slept on the verge of too warm in a 1 man tent using a pipedream 250 as a quilt...
I dropped on with the weather though, whether only not I'd have been OK with just a bivvy and mat I don't know.

Having said that, I would have paid good money to have known I wouldn't need my wet weather gear and spare layers that I had to carry whilst touring on a compact double...!

Haha, good luck in the weather we're having this year! At least the midges will enjoy the feast. When I did the off road coast to coast a couple of years ago we camped and were glad of a good night's sleep every night cos we were so knackered

I guess I could go sleep in the garden and see. Well, I don't have a garden but I'm sure some random person wouldn't mind if pitched up in theirs.

We did coast to coast last weekend (tarp and bivvy) and used a sleeping bag. It was needed in the night however, 3 season was overkill. Can't you take a thin one or a liner maybe?

We had a real mixed bag of weather and used all the kit we took (wet and dry clothes).

That sounds grim.

At least use a liner.

Even then id have an eye on the forecast. Rain and wind and itll be a cold night. Where as with a 600gram pipedream youll be happy come what may in this country.

To be fair, it's only a backup if there is a) no space in the bothy and b) it's raining/cold

I do have a silk liner, forgot about that

Last weekend I bivvied out with this kit:

SOL Escape Bivy
Klymit X-Frame inflatable mat
PHD ultra light down vest
long sleeved thermal
short thermal trousers

Plenty warm enough. Could have used a silk liner but the thermal top and vest can be used at other times. Total weight of the above (plus dry bag) was just under 1Kg and about 4 litres in volume. Fitted easily in my seat harness.

I'm now feeling proper wimpy having brought a tent with me to Italy on the 30°C heat...

Rachel

I did this many summers ago, was excellent weather all weekend, so thought I'd be fine. Had an Ex Military Goretex bivi (so pretty thick material). Four of us in a three man tent, so snug. Almost certainly would have had my 3/4 length Thermarest as well. In the UK, even in summer, clear blue skies during the day often still means a cool evening and night, anyway, I was freezing cold. Borrowed a sleeping bag liner off a mate, but was still freezing and didn't sleep much. Got up very early the next morning and ran the 2hr walk back to the car to get my sleeping bag for the next night. I still get the mick about it when we reminisce over stupid stuff we've all done as a group over the years.

Some sort of down jacket / vest might be enough tho for your core (as per whitestone^), that's still often what I do even in winter, a super lightweight down sleeping bag and down jacket (or in summer just the down jacket).

I spent 2 nights in a bivvi last weekend in and around Brecon.

Army gore Tex bivvi, mat and silk liner and that was borderline too cold. The others without bags said the same as well.

Midges everywhere as well.

Tarp, midge net, neo air mat, silk liner, down jacket. Job done.

I've done it in a bird hide before, it was borderline, but I didn't take a mat either, just a bivi bag, some ronhills and a spare jersey.

I reckon I'd take at least a 1 season bag, it wouldn't take much rain to make it a very uncomfortable night.

A plain bivy bag of any description while it may keep you dry is basically just a plastic/nylon bag so won't do very much for insulation. If it rains then the material will be pressed against you and you will cool to the external temperature - you'll be dry but cool/cold. Imagine wearing just a waterproof top when it rains - that's effectively what you are doing.

Similarly regarding a sleeping mat: 80-100Kg of flesh vs several trillion, trillion tonnes of rock and earth isn't a fair contest. A sleeping mat of some description goes some way to lowering the heat loss via that channel, in fact gramme for gramme they are more effective than a sleeping bag. The modern inflatable mats are effective, light and compact when packed away. The X-frame is 240g and about a litre volume when packed but sod all R-value, something like the Exped Winterlite is 400g, only a little bigger and has an R-value of 6.

Getting in to something dry before getting in to the bivy bag helps as well - hence the thermals and down vest. Try and get bedded down whilst your body is warm but not sweaty (a micro-fibre towel to dry you down is also a good idea) so you aren't having to warm everything up once you are tucked in. Thermals or silk liner, both do the same job but the thermals can be used in other situations so for me that's a win.

No one right answer, one night you could be fine and pleasant the next you could be miserable.

Spoke to a pal and getting a loan of a vango ultralight.

Thanks for the info guys!

Sleeping in a bivi bag without a sleeping bag is the kind of thing you only do once. Unless you are very lucky or very hard.