THE ROOFTOP OF MY BEING

Perhaps my biggest perspective-shift about the power the natural world has on the soul came sitting in the branches of an oak tree minutes from my home. The buds of new leaves glowed lime green in the spring sun. Bluebells carpeted the wood, and the dawn chorus rang out in jubilation after the quiet winter months. I noticed the seasonal changes because I climb this tree every month, scheduled into my online calendar alongside all the meetings, tax deadlines and family commitments. This lunch-hour foray may seem scant adventure in comparison with trekking in the Himalayas or the jungle mysteries of Costa Rica. But I disagree. For my monthly tree-climb reminds me that wildness, escape and the natural world are waiting everywhere.

This mind-shift to champion the small and local developed through what I call ‘microadventures’. After years chasing conventional, ‘epic’ wilderness experiences around the globe, it occurred to me to look outside my front door. I walked a mere two-mile radius around my home. Along the way, I discovered places I’d never seen before; I’d become an explorer. I found spiderwebs jewelled with dew, the aroma of cut grass, willowherb and cow parsley. The epiphany came when I challenged myself to seek adventure in the most boring, built-up place I could think of: the M25. A friend and I spent a winter week walking a lap of the motorway, through snow-covered fields and along a web of footpaths and lanes. One evening, the orange glow of London’s lights illuminated a frozen field as we crunched through the snow towards a village and, we hoped, a pub. The wind was raw, my feet hurt, my belly rumbled in competition with the motorway traffic. I grinned at my friend, raised my arms in triumph and yelled in delight at the moon, “This is it! This is the wild, raw universe unrolling before my eyes!”

Adventurer, author and motivational speaker Alastair Humphreys is the author of Microadventures: Local Discoveries for Great Escapes, published by William Collins. alastairhumphreys.com