#smalladventures: hiking

So, the first little miniadventure was a hike today with the mister - a few hours out discovering an area of open country not far from where we live, but not somewhere I had explored before. Admittedly, only a teeny adventure by any measuring, but still, it was a chance to explore a new place, map in hand, and that is enough to make it a mini adventure by my reckoning!  We are planning some longer hikes, but this was a start. Begin small maybe but you are lapping the folks on the sofa, right? ;)

It was a really beautiful day today, the rolling landscape of the eastern reaches of the Chilterns were looking stunning.

These two handsome, and rather windswept fellas were my companions, can you tell I was enjoying myself, (not caring at all that I looked like the michelin man in a double layer of puffa jackets)?

We saw a pair of circling red kites flying over some barns and a whole pack of fox hounds on some kind of exercise, could they be beagling we wondered, (hope not), you can just make them out below?

The winter trees were looking magnificent, and this book is helping us understand more about the landscape around us.

Best of all, we bought a mini picnic of hot chocolate, pannetone and fruit and nuts, which we ate on a fallen log, feeling all was very well in our lucky corner of the world! It felt really special because 2014 had brought its fair share of heartache to our little family, and here we are here, happy and whole and feeling grateful. 

Hoping you are having a great weekend wherever you are - if you have any small adventures, hashtag 'em on instagram or twitter, (#smalladventures) and please tag me, I'd love to see what you have been up to!

a taste for adventure

One thing has crystalized in my mind over these first weeks of the new year: I want to make time for some new adventures - not necessarily big ones, realistic ones are just fine, even tiny ones, but I want to try new things, embrace some challenges and make some brilliant memories. It is easy to get stuck in a rut of doing the same things, even the same very nice things, but there is something about the new which expands horizons and makes clearest, zingiest memories, don't you think? Each month I am going to try a few new things, set my self a challenges or two and hopefully be just a teeniest bit more adventurous, and note down a few of the best ones on the blog here? I will also pop some pics of these mini adventures on instagram and twitter under the hashtag #smalladventures - please join with me if you fancy being a bit more adventurous too -- exploring your local or faraway landscapes, learning an new skill or sport, trying a new recipe or anything that feels like a new and refreshing challenge? They don't have to be strenuously physical things at all, they  don't have to be dangerous and difficult but they do have to be new, uncertain in outcome and hopefully memorable.

So, here are just a few new things I would love to try this year, who knows how many I will get to do, but I love the idea of doing at least some each month and having a more adventurous mindset as a result. They are all things I have never properly done before, most never even attempted, (except the poetry, but that is an adventure I want to revisit).

Travel adventure: 
Go to Venice, have a hotel room looking over the Grand Canal. Been a dream for so many years but never done it, make this the year! Saving has begun in earnest...
Find some big mountains and go walking in them.

Cooking adventure: Learn to cook curry well from scratch. No jars or ready made pastes. 
Try at least one brand new recipe, sweet or savoury, each week and write any tasty successes into a book.

Health adventure: Eat no sugar and wheat for 2 months and see if I feel better for it. Hardcore adventure in self discipline!
Add three short workouts per week and see if my waist returns!

Outdoor adventure: Get into longer distance hiking and really get to know my local landscape - aim to get know every footpath and bridleway within a two hour radius of my back door. 
Get into wild swimming in the summer, swim in a lake, river and the sea at least once. 
Go walking in some mountains.

Jewellery making adventure: Get my fairtrade gold collection to point of sale. Learn some new techniques.

Writing adventure: Be brave, write some poems. 

Photography adventure: Buy a telephoto lens, have adventures taking pictures of wild creatures, (even if no more dangerous than butterflies and bees!).

I think this penknife, this campfire tripod and this book would definitely get me in the bold and adventuring mood!

Will you join me this year, in seeking out some mini adventures, imagine how colourful and memorable it will make 2015? I would love to see some pics if you do, just add the hashtag #smalladventures and please tag me: Belinda@wildacre on instagram and @B_wildacre on twitter.