Everyday Adventures

I've been walking all my life. Well, ever since I could walk. As a child, I was lucky. We lived in a small village in the Surrey countryside, close to a mainline London bound train & with reasonably good bus services. Of course we also had a car but, from an early age, I associated freedom & travel with walking or cycling.

Dad would have the car, so to get to junior school, which was about a mile away, we cycled. To catch the bus we would often have to walk up to "the top road", where there was a more frequent service. To go up to London or the other way to our nearest town, we might walk a mile & a half to the station.

When I went to secondary school, I had to travel about 10 miles or so over the North Downs, first walking to the station then catching either a mini bus service or, later, the train. Although we were in an isolated position, there were transport options but everyone involved walking or cycling at some point.

I remember valuing those long walks to the station, often dreaming of exploration. Maybe because I was walking, my thoughts automatically turned to doing the same thing in a more inspiring environment. I would long to just put on my rucksack with enough provisions for a week or two & head off somewhere, just as I would for my commute but with no destination in mind.

Now, looking back I was just making the most of everyday situations to get my fix of the outdoors. A walk to the station was s pseudo trek. A long distance commute to school was an expedition! And there’s so much potential to do the same thing today. Often our lives revolve around long hours in the office & car travel to access remote business parks. But whenever there’s an opportunity to take the hard option, we should grasp it & bring a little adventure into our everyday schedules.

If we reserve our desire to be active outdoors to those occasions when we can access beautiful locations, we miss so much. A walk through a busy city is still a walk & you can always find something of interest or pick out landmarks that you otherwise wouldn’t notice. It’s surprising how easy it is, once you accept the principle – build a little adventure into every day.

Roger Burlinson
Creative Director – Outdoors TV

Celebrate Glorious Chaos!

We don’t get much snow down here in the south of England. Especially here on the edge of the New Forest. So this week’s ‘hit & run’ blizzards have gifted southern outdoors enthusiasts a fantastic opportunity.

While most of the nation seemed pre-programmed to take the car, no matter what, outdoors folk, who didn’t have large distances to commute, were immediately in the ascendant – we just broke out the winter kit & walked! OK, so it took longer to get where we needed to go & we maybe arrived late but at least we made it, unlike those who had to turn around because the car had no grip.

Let’s face it, these are conditions that most of us cherish. We can, for a few days, pit ourselves against pseudo arctic conditions. A trip to the shops can become a Scott like challenge &, for once, a rucksack doesn’t look out of place in Tesco! There’s something very fulfilling about being able to maintain a relatively normal existence by being well equipped & self reliant, when all hell is breaking loose around you. So there’s no public transport & you can’t get the car off the driveway? Whoopee, better walk then!! “I’m going outside…. I may be sometime….!”

I remember in my teens, I would get kitted out in full winter mountain gear & go for a long walk in the dark whenever snow came, as it relatively reliably did back then. The dark was always an added bonus - the illuminating property of snow is one of nature’s treats. During the day, you’re just one among many, enjoying the snow. At night, the atmosphere is completely different – solitary, moody, serene.

And, of course, snowfall gives us all the opportunity to indulge in the glorious pastime of emergency equipment preparation. A necessary trip in the car (if you can get out of your driveway) can become a full blown logistics exercise: “Sleeping bag – check! Extra layers – check! Kendal Mint Cake (any excuse) – check!!!"

Sadly, we get so little opportunity to indulge our winter potential down here, that the arrival of snowfall can seem like an inconvenience to start with. We know that the infrastructure won’t cope & we also know that there will be more incidents than are necessary because most people seem to believe that they can beat the conditions. And as soon as you’ve adjusted to the snow, it leaves as quickly as it arrived, so what’s the point?

But the truth is that these short blissful blizzards offer up the chance to at least absorb the conditions you’d normally have to go to the Cairngorms to experience and all on your front doorstep.

Enjoy!

Roger Burlinson
Head of Programming - Outdoors TV