microadventure competition

You’ve been reading about them all year. Now it’s time to take the plunge yourself into a world of cheap Credit Crunch adventures. Microadventures that are close to home, which are fun, affordable, easy to organise and designed to get you doing and experiencing things that would normally pass you by.

Adventure is all around us, at all times. Even during the week when you’re focussed on the daily grind, breaking out into the wild might just be easier and more enjoyable than you think.

I’mve teamed up with howies and we invite you to join us in the world of Microadventures.

To kick things off, we packed our bags and set out on our own microadventure under the stars one evening after work last week. Watch this short video:

The sweet stuff:
There’s a reason they don’t call it the ‘Great Indoors’ and we’re happy to wager £1000 of howies kit that you’ll never look back after your first taste of microadventure.

As well as the top prize, we’re also giving away 10 howies t-shirts and 10 signed copies of my book for runners-up.

DIY:
Plan it (or not).
Do it.

The Rules:

1. Your journey must start and finish at your front door
(or your office)
2. You must cover, through non-motorised means, a circular journey of a distance that is moderately difficult for you
3. It must take at least 24 hours (ish)
4. You must sleep outdoors in a place you have never been before (really, really ideally not in a tent)
5. You must have an outdoor swim
6. Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men

We’ll be running the challenge until the 30th September (so that includes a nice long weekend). Pick a nice sunny evening and lock the front door behind you.

How to enter:
Send howies your story.
Blog it, film it, sketch it, take a photo every hour, you could even write a poem. Just share your Microadventure to be in with a chance of winning one of four £250 howies bundles and for your story to feature on the great howies website.

Then upload your stories to facebook, tweet a link to @howies (#microadventures) on twitter, send an email to happy@howies.co.uk or post a letter to their Cardigan HQ.

If you’re new to microadventuring, I wrote a ‘How-To’ guide for you here.

Despite this being a competition, we believe everyone who enters will be a winner. The main thing, as your mum always used to say, is the taking part.

To try to prod you over the edge into action here are a few short videos to give you some ideas of what you might do for your own microadventure.

30 Comments

Tim Moss 23/08/2011 at 07:24

Great idea Al. Looking forward to the online output of a hundred more micro-adventurers!
Microadventure Competition | The Next Challenge 23/08/2011 at 10:14

[…] last more than 24 hours so I think that counts most people in.I quote the following from Al Humphreys’ website (and there are some great videos below to keep you scrolling):The Rules:1. Your journey must start […]
Dan Martin 23/08/2011 at 10:46

This is amazing-I wonder how far I can wander in 24hours…
- Al Humphreys 23/08/2011 at 10:47
  
  not very far is my guess…
Jamie 23/08/2011 at 11:25

“We’ll be running the challenge until the 30th September (so that includes a nice long weekend).”
Do you mean 30th August? Since that is after the bank holiday it would seem to make sense to highlight 30th August if you wanted to highlight that weekend. Seems odd to mention that is includes a mention of a weekend if you’re talking about a 5-6 week period?
- Al Humphreys 01/09/2011 at 22:19
  
  no – end of September, so everyone has time to do it.
  No excuses@
David Hill 24/08/2011 at 13:24

Just bought our Â£2.99 bargain Bivvy Bags for this, should be a lot of fun!
- Al Humphreys 24/08/2011 at 14:26
  
  wow – where did you get one for Â£2.99!
Neil Harwood 24/08/2011 at 14:56

How long is this comp running for? I have a Bivi ride planned on the 15th oct :)
- Al Humphreys 24/08/2011 at 14:59
  
  Sept 30: looks like you’ll need to squeeze in an extra one!
  - Neil Harwood 24/08/2011 at 15:07
    
    :( gutted no worries, I have no weekends left between now and then. And i am down and action with a bad back, and i have the Keilder 100. But I’m doing a 50mi midnight ride on Friday (depending on my back being well or I have taken enough painkillers)…
  - David Hill 24/08/2011 at 17:06
    
    Amazon…
    
    One of them orange bad boys combined with a sleeping bag it’ll be reet!
Peter Jordan 24/08/2011 at 22:11

The video’s are great and very inspirational. One looks like you walked just outside Gravesend in Kent going east along the Thames.
Win £1000 of Clothing on a Microadventure – Globetrooper News 24/08/2011 at 23:02

[…] Win £1000 of Clothing on a Microadventure Visit | Posted by Alastair Humphreys Permalink Tweet […]
Use Your Bank-Holiday Weekend To Enter A Microadventure Competition | General | Tom's Bike Trip 25/08/2011 at 09:55

[…] head over to Al's competition and get stuck in… AKPC_IDS += […]
WorldCycle Videos 30/08/2011 at 09:27

I hope there will be lots of cycling micro adventures!
Daniel Flahiff 02/09/2011 at 18:53

Can’t wait to see them all! Threw my hat into the ring: http://youtu.be/67SPg56cM28

Cheers!
Simon Edwards 03/09/2011 at 10:13

Been tempted by your videos for a while now Alaster. I’ve always enjoyed being outside and I miss the ruggedness of places like Dartmoor close to where I grew up. But one thing your videos have made me realise is that dispute the perceived lack of time and limitations/excuses (wife, kids, working weekends etc the list goes on), a little bit of adventure isn’t that far away or difficult to achieve.

So your possibly aware I’m planning to do a trip before the comp deadline, so i’m simply writing here to lay down another marker so I can’t back out or find some reason for not going. I guess I want to do it for a whole host of reasons and maybe if I’m brave enough I’ll record some thoughs on video and audio as part of my competition submission.

Thanks once again for the challenge.
- Al Humphreys 03/09/2011 at 10:15
  
  Well done Simon- I’m really glad you’re up for this.
  Plus, as a bonus, I reckon that if you make an effort with your filming and are really honest with your audio then you’ll probably win all the loot too!
  Good luck,
  Al
  - Simon Edwards 03/09/2011 at 21:06
    
    Cheers
    
    Simon
karl wait 04/09/2011 at 16:16

I Spend a lot of time “fannying about” in the countryside around where I live, running, climbing, biking and have always wanted to spent the night without a tent on the top of one the mountains around the area, so after inspiration from your site, I packed up my rucksack and headed away for a wet and windy night on top of one of the hills.
It was great! really pleased I did it, no doubt there will be more…. in the mean time I have put together a rather “different” video account of the night! it is not a true competition entering microadventure but fun none the less. Hope you enjoy!!
http://www.karlwait.com/?page_id=243
Grae Perry 06/09/2011 at 20:19

I can’t enter the comp but my micro adventure will be cycling across Wales, Pembroke to Prestatyn then home to Southport under 48 hours 240+ miles its going to be tough. I cycled Coast to Coast last month for Cancer Research UK and BLESMA.
My micro-adventure is partly in the name of being “green” i am in SW Wales for a Uni 7 day field trip and to cut down on the footprint of my trip and the trip in general, i will travel by train there and cycle home via Prestatyn. I know its not a lot but every little helps. I will be filming bit anyway so follow me on twitter @graeperry for more info on my trip!
5 Made-Up ‘Rules’ For Starting A Business With Little Money & No Relevant Experience 08/09/2011 at 11:56

[…] Why made-up rules? Because this quote from Al Humphreys is spot on: “Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men” […]
Tom 16/09/2011 at 13:32

Here’s my offering: A Lap Of Zone One

Took longer to edit the video than to do the trip!
- Jamie 18/09/2011 at 19:18
  
  It may have taken a long time to edit the video but it shows. A well made video with some great shots.
  The only issue I have with it is that I am not sure I fancy this sort of level of competition in the Howie’s comp :). This is the only other entry I’ve seen and already I can’t come better than 2nd! I am putting a modest entry in anyway, though.
Microadventure: A Lap of Zone One in 24 Hours | Micro-Adventures | Tom's Bike Trip 17/09/2011 at 19:40

[…] Recently, Howies and Al Humphreys set up a microadventure competition, in which a grand's worth of outdoor clothing was put up for grabs for the best told microadventure story. […]
Microadventure: A Lap of Zone One in 24 Hours 18/09/2011 at 16:15

[…] Recently, Howies and Al Humphreys set up a microadventure competition. I’d been doing a project recently about exploring the city and so Tom and I decided to get out and walk, swim and paddle over a 24 hours period to see what would happen. […]
Liz Wilton 22/10/2011 at 11:06

Hi Al,
have they chosen any winners yet?

Thanks
Liz
http://www.bikeabout.co.uk/blog/mongolian-microadventure/
Microadventure Competition Winners | Alastair Humphreys 06/11/2011 at 00:33

[…] commentsPosted in MicroAdventureIn the summer howies and I launched a microadventure competition. I was chuffed by how many people took to the hills to give it a try.Here are howies’ final […]
Microaventuras - AlláVamos - Turismo en Teruel | Vacaciones y viajes 12/01/2022 at 08:05

[…] Hoy os traigo una gran idea que encontré hace tiempo en Internet: las microaventuras. La idea provenía de Alastair Humphreys, que en su blog propuso un concurso, aquí tenéis la explicación de qué son las microaventuras: http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/microadventure-competition-howies/ […]