Have you ever had one of these days? The one where you wake up, hurriedly make breakfast, get in the car, making a couple of phone calls along the way and stressing about getting to work on time.
For the rest of the day, work is crazy and your phone is constantly hopping.
You get to the end of the workday, sit in traffic to get home, make dinner, do whatever it is you need to do around the house and then you fall into bed exhausted.
Then you do it all again.
It happens all of us. It's life, it's work - it’s necessary a lot of the time. I don’t know about you, but on days like that, where there aren’t enough hours in the day, I can’t help but have romantic notions of emailing my boss to tell them that work just isn’t for me and that I’m packing my entire life into a rucksack, hitting the road and travelling the world, to give myself time to breathe and think and de-stress.
So far, I haven't sent that e-mail. And, inevitably, after a few days, work gets less busy, the stress begins to subside, and I realise that I was probably being a little dramatic.
It was during one of those really busy periods where, one night, I lay in bed feeling sorry for myself. I wondered if there was some sort of easy way to break the monotony of the whole 'Wake Up - Work - Sleep - Repeat' cycle.
"Surely I can try fit something interesting into the evenings after work?," I thought to myself.
Now, I know this is probably reading like a hormonal teenage diary. Someone who just wants to have a moan about how busy their life is when, in reality, it isn’t. But before you stop reading, let me tell you how this night laying in bed gave me the idea to try something that I really think you might be interested in.
"What if one day I set myself the challenge of fitting in an adventure between the end of work one day, and the start of it the next?".
A couple of months down the line and this idea grew some legs, and now it’s an episode of our new series Go Outside and Play - Local Adventures on RTÉ Player. In the second episode, I go wild camping, packing my bags after work, hitting the road and spending a night in the wilderness of Glenbarrow in Co. Laois.
You can watch a clip of it below or watch the whole episode here.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
If you do plan on trying out Wild Camping, make sure to do your research beforehand. Ask yourself the question "Am I prepared"? If the answer is no, do the research and don’t go anywhere until you do. The last thing you want to do is find yourself in the middle of nowhere and realise you don’t have the right gear to keep you safe.
The other question you need to ask yourself is whether you’re actually allowed to camp where you intend on going. There are loads of areas where Wild Camping is allowed around the country, so some quick research online will point you in the right direction.
If you do plan on challenging yourself to a 5-9 adventure, it doesn’t just have to be an overnight wild camping adventure. It could be any number of things. Hiking a mountain you’ve looked at while sitting in traffic, or even a trip to the seaside to watch the sunset.
The best part about choosing to do something like this is that there’s no right or wrong way to do it, the main thing is that you’re giving yourself some time to step away from your normal routine and allow yourself a mini reset.
If you do plan on trying a 5-9 adventure, here are some tips to help you along the way:
1. Start Small
For our episode of Go Outside and Play, I chose to try Wild Camping overnight. This requires a bit of prep and might not be to everyone’s liking. Setting up your home in the middle of nowhere can be daunting and requires a not insignificant level of preparedness. If camping somewhere in the wild sounds like too much, why not start way smaller?
One of my favourite things to do is go onto Google Maps, zooming out and seeing if there’s anything that catches my eye around where I live. A lake in the mountains that I’ve never seen, a historic spot that’s worth a visit. An adventure is whatever you make of it, so finishing work with a sandwich in your bag to go see somewhere new is just as good a way to step away from your normal routine as any.
2. Be organised
If you want to get the most out of a 5-9 adventure, you want to waste as little time as possible in getting yourself out the door when you finish work. Small things like having your food prepared and your bag packed and ready to go the night before will save you invaluable time.
Make sure your phone is fully charged and if you’re bringing a camera make sure to have the batteries ready and your SD card cleared beforehand.
3. Be Prepared
This one particularly applies to anything that involves getting really stuck into the wilderness - like Wild Camping or Climbing a mountain. Check the weather before you leave. If it looks dodge, reschedule and don’t take the risk. If there’s a chance of showers, have your rain gear packed and ready.
Make sure you’ve enough food to keep you going and if you’re travelling alone, make sure someone else knows where you’re going and what time to expect you back at.
4. Plan your route to and from
This one is all about maximising your time away from your normal routine. Once you’ve decided on where you’re going and how you plan to get there, think about what the traffic will be like along the route.
Are you likely to get caught in bad traffic that will eat away valuable time? If you’re overnighting somewhere, will rush hour traffic the following morning give your time to be back at work the following day? Small adjustments to your route might save your valuable time.
5. Research
Similar to the third point, research is key to making the most of a 5-9 adventure. Sometimes you might read about a hidden gem that’s along the way or a different route that’s worth trying out. If you plan on doing something like Wild Camping, it’s also essential to check out the Leave No Trace website which is a set of guidelines to help you minimise your impact on the environment.
6. Create a hitlist
I did this a couple of years back and it’s so handy for when you decide to go on a last minute adventure. Having a list of places you want to see means you can take out your list, pick one and go. No messing around trying to decide on what to do or where to go. My favourite way to find new places to go see if through Instagram.
There are some great Irish adventure Instagrammers that are well worth following for some inspiration. Here are a couple of my favourites to get you started:
WhereIsTaraBlog
WildIrishWanderer
Irish.Hikes.With.Alan
Seanorphoto
Ihaveadarksoul
For some more inspiration, watch Go Outside and Play - Local adventures on RTÉ Player now.
