Book:
MicroAdventures: Local Discoveries for Great Escapes
BUY THE BOOK (I’ll make money)
Author:
Alastair Humphreys
Who is that and why do I care:
This is cribbed directly from Amazon:
“Aged 8, Alastair completed the 26 mile Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge. At 13 he did the National 3 Peaks in 24 hours. At 14 he cycled off-road across England. After leaving school Alastair taught for a year in South Africa and travelled round the region.
Whilst at Edinburgh and Oxford Universities he undertook several expeditions, cycling from Pakistan to China (Karakoram Highway), Land’s End to John O’Groats, Turkey to Italy, Mexico to Panama and across South America. Alastair ran a charity project in the Philippines and the London marathon dressed as a rhino.
After Oxford Alastair cycled round the world for 4 years.
He has raced a yacht across the Atlantic Ocean and canoed 500 miles down the Yukon River as well as walking the length of the holy Kaveri river in India.“
I stopped there as I think you get that he has Adventure Cred.
Review:
MicroAdventures can be best summarized as a reintroduction to Adventure on the small scale for desk jockeys everywhere. Humphreys outlines small ball adventures that he partakes in and around his London area home. Everything from biking the 20+ miles home instead of taking the train to keeping a bivvy sack in his car that he uses for spur of the moment camp outs when that meets his fancy. Consider this your entry drug to an Adventurous lifestyle.
If you’ve forgotten how big your backyard used to be. If you think the only way to Adventure is $1,000 flights, $2,000 guides, and all your vacation days. If you need to find motivation to sneak in a little adventure like sneaking smokes in the high school bathroom, then this is the book for you.
Lots of direct examples and information on how little is actually needed to pull them off. However, I found as the book went on, it got somewhat repetitive, but mostly that was because I wanted to put the book down and go do something. It allowed me to look at my nearby surroundings for short term, low effort good times
Finally, Humphrey is an accomplished English Adventurer, so I picture him pulling out his pipe and screaming “Good Show!!” as I found small Adventures nearby. This most likely has no tie to reality, but I like it.
Pints on me.
BUY THE BOOK (I’ll make money)
This is article from Men’s Journal written by Humphreys that gives you the general scope of the book: http://www.mensjournal.com/adventure/outdoor/five-ways-to-have-a-microadventure-20140701
I feel a micro-adventure for some micro brews coming up. See, see what I did there.