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 The majority of people think that an adventure needs to take place in a foreign land over many arduous months of exhaustion, struggle, eating packaged food and dreaming of the end. This doesn’t have to be the case, as ambassadors of micro-adventures such as Al Humphreys will tell you – you can take an adventure today with little money and little equipment, you just need the desire.
Earlier this year I took my own adventure in a day and a night; the idea was formulated in a pub after a few pints of John Smith’s. Two of us were going to do the Yorkshire Three Peaks, leaving Newcastle one evening and being back by the next, missing one or two lectures in the process!
From sitting in the pub we were driving to Yorkshire only days later. We set off around 10pm and it took about two and a half hours, arriving late we set up camp (in the car!) and tried to sleep before the adventure ahead. Alarm bells rang at seven, our rucksacks were prepared, and we munched on a few pork pies and set off.
We’d simply driven for a few hours to a quiet part of the country and were ready for a great day of adventure; you can drive for a few hours from anywhere and reach remote countryside so why don’t you? Sleeping in the car is an easy option if you can’t pitch a tent too! Driving late at night meant we could complete all our daily tasks and travel in lighter traffic; if you don’t drive then a bike, train, bus or your own feet could just as easily get you to your start point.
The Yorkshire 3 peaks started with a click of the timer on my watch and some brisk walking to the first peak with head torches shining into the distance. We gradually ticked off each of the 3 peaks, aiming to complete the 25/26 mile circuit in under the 12 hours allowed. Alot of the time was spent with fairly painful feet from fast descents and tired legs from just as fast ascents! Eight and a half hours later and we'd completed the circuit. We had done it but we were absolutely exhausted.
Despite exhaustion we’d just completed a tough little challenge in an area of the country I’d not visited much before, we’d tested ourbodies and minds and got plenty of fresh air. Driving home an hour or so after finishing might have been a struggle but it was all worth it; we were back in Newcastle under 24 hours after we had left.
I think I’ve highlighted how easy it is to take a micro-adventure of your own in just one day and one night. You get the joy of camping and not sleeping in your comfy bed, as well as the challenge of a testing adventure. I urge you to go out and give it a go – one day, one night, one adventure.
Tom Evans writes for his blog Exceed Possibility at http://www.exceedpossibility.co.uk/
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