Alastair Humphreys – Adventurer, author and motivational
speaker – is accredited with devising the concept of a ‘micro Adventure’
A ‘Micro Adventure’ is a simple idea. It is about taking an
opportunity close to home and around us to get out into the wild; to go and
appreciate the beauty close by. A Micro
Adventure has to be invigorating and enjoyable but not expensive – cheap – is the
key word here. It must not require a huge amount of pre planning and preparation;
nor should it require huge amounts of fitness of the part of those
participating in it.
Micro Adventures are about discovering new places in your
own backyard; finding new experiences not tried before or once upon done but
long forgotten. A Micro adventure should
stretch you physically, mentally or culturally. You should push yourself hard
and do the activity adventure to the best of your ability.
Basically a micro adventure is the spirit of a huge big
adventure crammed into a weekend or midweek.
So did my two day jaunt up the Tamar count as a micro
Adventure?
Well I think partially so. I
did go somewhere different and never explored before and it was right on my
back doorstep so to speak.
I did try
something that was mentally challenging – I didn’t know what to expect. It’s
the first time I have navigated Arwen so far up a river. I was getting outside
of my normal comfort zone (big wide open expanses of sea not narrow meandering
channels).
I was certainly enthusiastic
about the adventure; I think it was reasonably ambitious as a first foray into
dinghy cruising in upper river sections; I was certainly very curious to find
out what the area was like, what things I would need to take into account for
when I next go up the Tamar – sailing as far as possible.
Alistair Humphreys gives micro adventure examples as
'climbing a nearby hill'; 'sleeping under the stars in a local wood'; 'jumping into
a river for a wild swim'; 'sleeping out on the moors around a camp fire toasting marshmallows'……..so
does camping under a new self-designed dinghy tent count?
I could have been far more ambitious and ought to have been.
I will be significantly outside my comfort zone, for example, when I don’t
actually spend an overnight at a mooring but rather on an anchor! Steve Early
style so to speak (Log of Spartina) – he is definitely a Micro Adventure man in my
eyes! Just about everyone bar me in the
Dinghy Cruising Association – yep – I think they are all micro adventure men
and women
And yet I may be too hard on myself. One of the aims of a micro adventure is to
get a fresh perspective; time to think; time away from the pressures and constraints
of work and other social expectations. I think my foray up the Tamar allowed me
to do that although, again, I add a caveat that I did mine towards the end of
my week holiday. The real proof of the pudding will be when I go off on Friday
evening and don’t return until Sunday afternoon during a normal
teaching/working week.
Um! I really don’t feel quite brave enough to do that just yet…….what
if I got Arwen stuck on a mudflat and didn’t make it back into school for a
Monday? Ouch…..the social stigma!
So maybe I’m a closeted micro adventurer just beginning to take
baby steps!
“We are defined by our ‘9-to-5’: but what about our ‘5-to-9’?
Alistair Humphreys
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