A microadventure can be described as… “an overnight outdoor adventure that is small and achievable, for normal people with real lives.
After nine years of being a university student with an infinite amount of free time, I recently made the transition to working full-time as a doctor. Becoming a normal person with a real life was a shock to the system, but, I have learned that it is so easy to keep active and adventuring if you alter your perspective on what accounts for a sensible idea!
I think there is something important in the "overnight" part, that turns a day-out into a Microadventure! It’s not even related to the total duration of time but something about spanning that magic connection between one day and the next.
Sometimes after a hard time at work, there is temptation to rest and recover. But the type of energy involved in having an adventure is so entirely different. It allows your mind to recover and be filled with inspiration and motivation. I have always returned feeling revitalised and energised and ready to start again!
Here are a few of my favourite microadventures from the past year!
Mountain bike bothy trip to Clachnaben
It was my week of annual leave and it rained reliably every single day. A small weather window appeared between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning; this was an opportunity needing seized! My friend Ali was game for an adventure. I arrived at his house at 9pm, we loaded our bikes into our cars and drove into the countryside as the sun was setting behind the rolling hills. Backpacks on, bike lamps illuminating the way ahead, and soon we were riding up the rough track towards the Charr Bothy beneath Clachnaben. We arrived around midnight and enjoyed some delicious cold bolognaise (because I forgot the lighter!)
It was liberating to enjoy the sunset on Beinn Mheadhoin, knowing that i could keep on wandering into the night, entirely self sufficient with my bivi kit.That evening,I popped my head into the Hutchison memorial hut to find it hot, sweaty and jam-packed with twelve hikers and a dog! After sharing some stories and turning down multiple offerings of whisky, I set off backinto the night.What was weird, was making myself stop and sleep. I enjoy long days and " getting things done so it was very counter-intuitive to halt and get into my sleeping bag
But with a view up Glen?? It was surely not a bad way to spent the night. A cold fresh start the next morning, then arriving onto Beinn a Chaorainn at sunrise – incredible!
For more of Anna's microadventures, read Microadventures: part two