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