Shadowing Practice: Solo Bivvy Bag Wild Camp | Stealth Camp - Learn English Speaking with Video

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This is apparently the best bivy bag you can buy but we all know my luck with bivy bags.

I've read all the reviews and they all say the same thing.

It's breathable, waterproof and basically bomb proof.

But here's the catch, I've never even used it before.

So tonight is going to be the real test.

I'm going to be setting up camp right here and seeing whatever the hill has to throw at me.

That's a big spider!

If you're new here, I have a bivy bag curse.

Every bivy bag I've ever tried has turned into a swimming

pool at some point this one however apparently has everything i'm

gonna give it a go let's get the adventure started shall

we i'm just gonna head up this hill in front of

me it's only about 300 meters high just shy of that actually

but it's a very nice little spot to test out my

bivy bag i am 99 sure i've just seen two sheep

having a staring competition i am planning on walking all the way to the top of this hill

but this is such a cute little spot

if i don't find anything over

that side it's all limestone it's a bit of hard work to find a spot

because most of it is full limestone pavement if

that was grass right there i would have immediately put myself

there this is what i meant by full limestone pavement one of my favorite places honestly it's

so peaceful the forecast for tonight is looking pretty chill fingers

crossed i have cross -checked the forecast three different websites i've used including mountain forecast

so hopefully it's actually not gonna rain it says no rain

although i still i just don't know every time i get my normal bivy out it rains

so maybe this one i won't have a curse on

my backpack is actually

so light i feel like i'm flying up this hill i've

changed a few different things in my setup i'm very excited

about it i've got a new backpack it's just my old

one in a different color i ripped my old one i've

got a new sleeping bag a new sleeping mat i've not

got a new pillow i don't i just don't really care about my pillow

just over this ridge of limestone i should be able to see all the fells of the lake district

and it's one of my favorite views i mean they just stretch on for miles

whoa that's so cool it's like a hidden fairy hole i always like taking new paths

when i go somewhere that i've been before

because you find stuff like this there's the entrance you come

through you've got beautiful trees the sun's just filtering through big

rocks might have to come back here i reckon i could

make a whole house anyway back into the real world just

walking up here right i'm focused on the sheep in front

of me this little guy scared the life out of me

i just stormers pooed myself i was like what is

that i've made it to the top it is quite a

lot windier than i anticipated though i'm gonna have a look at the view

and then try

and find a flat oh that's such a pretty flower i've

got to be really careful not to step on any bluebells because it's illegal for very good reasons

I thought I liked this spot

but I've decided against it I'm pretty sure it might just be a sheet path

but I can see a faint line

and I don't want to be on a path I'm aiming

for something relatively flat good drainage just in case it does rain I want to be not on rock,

but close to a wall of rock, not a circular rock so the wind doesn't swirl around, but something that blocks the wind.

I don't mind that.

This might be a good one.

That looks pretty good.

Let's get this bad boy out, shall we?

This is the Outdoor Research Helium UL Bivvy.

Not sponsored, by the way, if you're bothered i've not even looked at it i opened it to check everything's in there

because i have had that before where i've bought something

and then i've gone to set up

and there's no pegs all i know is i've got some kind of pole situation i've got some pegs

and i've got a weird tubey thing i'm gonna figure it

out as i go actually first of all go on guess how much my backpack weighs with water food

everything i'll give you two more seconds it weighs in total 7 .3 kilos 511 grams of

that is my bivy bag now i think that's pretty impressive

but with lightweight comes a price tag as always

and the price tag i don't know i'll let you decide at the end

if it's actually worth it okay first of all it's red i know

that might be a little bit controversial but you know what I fancied a bit of a change.

I've got two green bivvies and a brown bivvy now.

So I thought I'd try red.

It's supposedly meant to be very helpful for mountain rescue.

We always want to help them out.

You know, if they ever need to find me, I don't think they're going to miss me.

What?

Look at that.

It's huge.

My Alpkit hunker I've got.

That's like half the size of this

and then I've got the Alp Kit Elan

which is a hooped bivvy this is a hooped bivvy as well I'm fitting in there definitely

oh I have inserted the pole it actually fastens into itself with like a velcro tab

which is different now I need to find where I'm putting the bivvy itself ow spiky bush think about here Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, there we go.

That is my brand new bivvy.

You know what?

It's got a lot of headroom.

I think the outkits probably to about here, which is a significant amount of headroom.

Not been in yet i seem to have vents on the sides as well that's pretty cool

wait oh my gosh this is a whole vent at the back it's

so you must get in like this just put my shoes inside my bivvy bag why have i done

that i'm getting excited shoes are coming back out that's how you get in

so you just slide in instead of opening a side zip i don't know

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if i think that's very practical actually because like all the wind

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and all the rain i suppose if you angled it differently it would work

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so there's two layers there's a full mesh layer

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if the weather's nicer

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and then there's the obviously waterproof layer do they fold back do they have toggles

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if this has a toggle i'm gonna be very oh it's

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got a toggle i'm very happy this is my new sleeping bag it's actually a quilt not a sleeping bag

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and it is comfort rated to minus zero i'm pretty sure minus zero degrees celsius it's comfort rated too

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and then a minus six degrees celsius limit my trusty pillow

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and my new but old mat it's new

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but i have had it for a couple of weeks now

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and i've probably used it about 10 times it is the

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nemo tensor i think it's r rated to about five

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or six roughly it's an all season sleeping mat it's very good first aid kit you've always got how big this is.

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That's awesome.

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It's just a question of whether or not it's actually going to work.

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But I do like the amount of space I've got.

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I think I'm going to fly off though.

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It's like a wind tunnel.

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Right.

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Sleeping that time.

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It's a bit windy.

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The wind is going to help me though i'm gonna use it to blow up my mat okay

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why does the wind stop as soon as i need it okay never mind

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well it's in there i reckon it would fit a lot nicer with a mummy shaped mat

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but i recently to change mine to a square it's not

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a square is it it's a rectangle katie oh oh my

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pegs come out stupid thing oh yeah it's definitely a lot more snug as you thought you were sleeping that in

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oh that's not bad this is it that's yeah that's your tour actually i need to get my pillow and My quilt.

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We need to have some dinner.

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this is the fluff dance if you couldn't already tell

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if you can i don't know if you can see through it on camera

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but you can see through oh there there you go you can see through the down

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so i'm shaking it so that i can fill in the cold patches

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hello we're doing the fluff dance the fluff dance yeah do you see the shape as well

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so this is my toe box where my little putzies go

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and then these wrap around my mat

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so i can't lose my sleeping bag quilt

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and then it just goes over me and then if i'm really cold i can clip it

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here and cinch it around my neck as well to keep the heating

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well there we go that's my quilting look at that i'm gonna have my dinner i've pre -cooked

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it might look a little bit revolting to be honest don't

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know about anyone else it's got some chicken in it's chicken mac and cheese and i've got a yogurt

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are you having a laugh not my spork i've bent my flipping spork backwards

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if i don't lose it i break it how am i gonna eat with

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that oh yeah nice to see you i'm just no okay

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it's very bendy i fixed it it's just got a massive crease in it

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that will snap off at some point

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but it's usable for now let's get cooking i have no oil to cook this with

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but i'm just gonna pour water in my pan

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and use it as a steamer i'm actually a little bit

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chilly today we've been having quite a lot of heat waves here in the uk at the moment

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and i've got very used to the heat and very quickly

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i built myself a little platform with my sit mat for my stove

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because it's very uneven here one of the cons of it

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being a beautiful ancient old tropical sea I mean all these limestone pavements the reason they're here is

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because all of this used to be under a shallow tropical sea

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so walking on all these little rocks you're like oh they're

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really pretty rocks it's got very cool history behind it and the geology I mean it's worth researching it is

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the grand reveal of dinner i promise you it's very tasty it's also leftovers

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so it tastes even better than last night don't drop it

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don't drop it don't drop it don't drop it yes it looks absolutely rank don't know

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if anyone that's outside of the uk will know that word

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but you do now basically means it's disgusting don't burn it

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don't burn it Katie don't burn it I always burn it smells lovely it's like piri -piri mac

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and cheese chicken it's got a good little cloud watching situation

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here this is definitely the best bit about a bivy bag

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you can say it's claustrophobic all you like I agree

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but I get to watch the clouds I get to look at the sunset

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and see the moon and I'm I'm still sat inside of my baby bag it's hand warming

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and taste test time oh that's very warm oh lovely warm

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though oh okay let's give it a go it's got steam coming off it

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which is always a good sign that's nice actually it's like

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smoky what is it smoked paprika i'll put loads of

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that in it's like well hello there this is a fun

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new angle it's now yogurt time i've eaten as much of the mac

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and cheese slop that i can possibly eat wash my spoon I've been on call to my mum and dad, and midway through my call,

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a tick was crawling on my sleeping mat.

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The texture of yoghurt makes me gag, but I like the flavour.

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It's actually pretty chilly.

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I've checked the forecast, and overnight it's meant to drop to about 12 degrees Celsius,

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which explains why I'm rather cold right now.

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I need to decide how I'm going to have my sleeping...

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system i can have the vent fully open or fully closed i'd probably have it open

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well my light has decided to just stop working but it's okay

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because i've got a head torch come on i swear

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if my head torch doesn't work right now really that's a

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big spider what were you doing on my finger sorry little guy i always feel bad about not liking spiders

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but they are weird looking i've got no light then both

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of my lights are dead they were both working they were

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fully charged this afternoon don't have clothes it is very damp though like this is

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soggy and it's not rained i can tell you that now

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but you can see my handprint on it

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so it must be quite damp quite humid right i'm gonna see

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if i want my vent or my full thing closed i'm gonna try both

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and then we'll see this is gonna be a true test

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of what it's actually like whoa i got loads more room than usual the holes are small enough

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so midges can't get through as well yes i'm gonna try

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full zip i'm pretty sure i'm not gonna like it as much

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but i've got to try it at least wow i definitely don't like it as much it's very dark

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hello

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well this is what it looks like on the inside i will say this bit is very saggy

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so i'm not putting my head there

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but also this pole the hooped bivvy bit is actually

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so much bigger than my other one see on my other

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one my head is it's like my nose is touching the

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pole this one seeing how much more room i've got that's

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loads better it's getting damp in here though it's wet it's literally wet

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it's getting darker and darker i'm definitely going to sleep with it vented

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but i think that condensation is going to be an issue anyway

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which considering it said it was really breathable it does come

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with guy line attachments for the vents on the sides no guy lines in sight which

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when i've paid as much as i have for it i

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would at least expect a couple of pieces of string put

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in there i think it's going to get rather damp in here

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well i'm really hoping that it actually is breathable it is waterproof i'm hoping

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that doesn't pour it down because i've had to leave this vent open

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because otherwise i would be waking up soaked i've inflated my pillow

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so it's about 10 past 10 right now it's still a

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little bit light out hopefully i can get some good sleep

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but i will see you all in the morning to give you a rundown

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and let you know how expensive this bivvy bag actually was

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and then we can decide whether it was worth it or not right night

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good morning it's about 7am i think right now i tell

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you what i slept half decently i didn't sleep amazing

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because it started raining at one point

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and i had to like really quickly pull this flap down

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so i was fiddling outside the tent to get it down

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because well i didn't like it when it started raining on my face

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but in terms of waterproofing i mean you can see all

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on here it's beaded inside of my bivy is quite damp unfortunately my sleeping bag is like directly

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against the bivy bag so it probably worked better

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if i had my sleeping mat outside

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but then my sleeping mat would get soaked

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and it's not great for the mat with the sleeping bag

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being directly against it it's like damping spots it was a lot wetter this morning

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when i first woke up so i did one of those sleep score things last night

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and it gave me a 59 out of 100 apparently i only got about five hours of sleep

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but it didn't turn into a swimming pool i will have to test it again probably in heavy rain

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but in terms of price point my other hooped bivvy

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that i've got which is an alpkit elan hooped bivvy

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that was about a hundred pounds my regular bivvy from alpkit

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which is the alpkit hunker xl

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that was about 56 58 pounds this was 240 pounds on sale is meant to be 279 .99

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but i got some money off i don't know

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if it's worth it yet to be honest in terms of

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breathability it's still it's still damp inside condensation wise it's a lot better

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but is it 10 out of 10 no not whatsoever i'm

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still damp inside i'm gonna stop packing away that's my favorite part of packing away

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so is my new bivy bag bomb proof i don't know

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yet it's definitely not as breathable as everybody's been raving on

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about i have still got a damp sleeping bag there was water droplets inside i don't think

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that should be classed as extremely breathable the best on the market

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but you know what i will test it again I'll test

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it in heavy rain I'll test it in stronger winds than this

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and we will find out whether or not it is bomb proof

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but do I think it's worth it not right now no I'm not extremely happy with it

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but as always I will see you all on our next little adventure thank you

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so much for watching leave no trace as always happy roaming bye

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What You'll Practice in This Lesson

This lesson focuses on improving your conversational English through real-world storytelling, perfect for IELTS speaking practice and everyday communication. You'll follow a casual, adventure-filled narrative about setting up a stealth camp with a bivy bag, practicing listening comprehension, natural intonation, and fluency. The dialogue’s relaxed pace and descriptive language make it ideal for honing your ability to follow and replicate conversational speech.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

Bivy bag: A lightweight, waterproof shelter for camping (e.g., "I’m testing a new bivy bag tonight").
Stealth camp: Camping in a hidden or unmarked location (e.g., "I’m setting up a stealth camp on the hill").
Limestone pavement: A flat area of exposed limestone rock (e.g., "Most of the hill is limestone pavement").
Fells: Hilly or mountainous areas (common in British English; e.g., "The fells of the Lake District stretch for miles").
Cross - checked: Verified information using multiple sources (e.g., "I cross-checked the forecast on three websites").

Practice Tips for Shadowing

The shadowing technique (or "shadowspeaks") works well here because the speaker’s tone is conversational—like chatting with a friend. Start by listening to 5-10 second clips, then repeat them immediately, mimicking the speed, stress, and intonation. Notice how the speaker pauses for effect (e.g., "That's a big spider!") and how they emphasize words like "bomb proof" or "fairy hole" to add excitement. This helps with shadow speech fluency and natural rhythm, critical for IELTS speaking.

Since the dialogue includes descriptive details (e.g., "the sun's just filtering through big rocks"), focus on replicating the softness in those phrases to convey imagery. If you stumble, slow the clip down, but aim to match the original pace as you improve. This practice builds your ability to think and speak quickly, a key skill for real-time conversations and exam success.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	we've been having · everybody's been raving
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	if you angled it differently it would work
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've read · I've ever tried · i've just seen
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is meant · should be classed

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Solo Bivvy Bag Wild Camp | Stealth Camp - Learn English Speaking with Video

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What You'll Practice in This Lesson

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

Practice Tips for Shadowing

Grammar in this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?