The main driving force behind this blog challenge, is my desire for Ebony to grow up in the outdoors. Much as I love to take her out exploring, I am definitely guilty of hibernating through bad weather. Picnics get rained off, trips to the park are cancelled, and even 20 minute walks are abandoned in favour of indoor activities.
Don’t get me wrong, I love craft days as much as the next person, but I worry that we end up spending too much time indoors because of our unfortunate choice of location. It can, at times, feel like the rain is never ending in our little corner of the world. The great adventure was conceived as a way of forcing me out into the bitter cold and the pounding rain.
This theory was truly put to the test during week number three. I went to visit my friend Felicity (from Tea With Felicity) who lives in Somerset. I haven’t seen Felicity for two years, and her little baby is now a little boy so it was very exciting to finally pay them a visit. Felicity is an avid fan of the great outdoors, and is certainly not afraid of a little bit of rain.
When we arrived at Felicity’s house, the sun was blazing and we ate lunch in the garden. I was really excited about Ebony and Eric finally meeting - two little vegan friends! Eric is almost three and was so lovely with Ebony. He explained to her, very politely, which trains she could play with and which would be out of bounds for the duration of her stay. Felicity had already decided to join in with the great adventure blog challenge and so we decided to head out into the wilderness together.
We left the rabbit basking in the glorious sunshine and headed indoors to get ready. Two minutes later, we were stood at the front door watching giant raindrops pelting to the ground. “Ooh, this will be a great adventure!” exclaimed Felicity, almost gleefully, while I remembered the reason that, for me at least, this a blog challenge and as such is meant to be challenging.
This week would prove to be especially challenging because of a distinct lack of waterproof clothes. We had spent the past week soaking up the sun in Dorset, so there were no wellies or umbrellas to be found in our suitcase. Eric kindly leant Ebony an old pair of wellies and a (slightly too big) duffle coat to wear, and we headed out.
We didn’t have to walk far to find countryside. The brook was gushing with excess water, and Eric had fun throwing sticks over the bridge, while Ebony secured my place in an early grave by teetering worryingly close to the edge of the bank.
The good thing about rain, is that it guarantees an abundance of puddles. Ebony and Eric had fun stomping around in a huge puddle, while I stood next to them, a human sponge soaking up all the rain water the sky could throw at me. Unfortunately, it turns out that my coat is not waterproof. And neither are my shoes.
The excitement of chasing after Eric down the muddy path, combined with a tree root snaking across the route, meant a muddy bottom of Ebony as the toppled over backwards. She got straight back up and ran after Eric again, which is a relief because sometimes she makes me kiss her better, and I didn’t really fancy getting mud all over my (soaking wet) face.
This was definitely one of the more challenging great adventures yet, but it was lots of fun and Ebony didn’t seem at all phased by the bad weather. Luckily for me, there was a hot chocolate waiting for me at Felicity’s.
Lessons learnt:
- Always carry waterproofs and wellies
- My green coat is definitely not waterproof
- White tops go see through when wet
The rules
I’d love for you to join us on a great adventure. All you need to do is:
- Challenge yourself to head out into the wilderness once a week, every week - whatever the weather.
- Leave the balls, bikes and toys at home - this challenge is all about nature.
- Blog it and link up below - use #greatadventure on Twitter and Instagram. I post my great adventure every Monday, but you can join in at any time during the week. If you don’t have a blog but still want to join in - great, just post about your adventures in the comments below!
