Microadventuring in our own backyard

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Some time ago, I came across Alastair Humphreys and his concept of "microadventure", which means that you don't have to go too far from your backyard to have an adventure, or go for too long; just get your backpack and tent, spend the night in the forrest and go to work the next day as usual. I loved this concept! (I am now waiting to receive the book to get even more inspiration).

So last weekend we decided to do just that: one of the items in my Bucket List is to "sleep on the beach", so taking advantage of the good weather we had all of the last week in Galicia, we pack the tent and perched it on a little hill above one of the beaches in the village where my family lives. Every year, I see lots of campervans coming and spending the night (or a few days) there and I am very jealous and thinking "one day I will sleep here as well"... and we finally did!




After the success of having Ella sleeping in a tent in the Cíes Islands, we were looking forward to this and, again, we were not disappointed. We went there after having dinner at my grandparents since, at the moment, in Galicia it only gets dark at about 11 pm. We chilled around the tent until it got darker and then got in the tent. Not long after, we started hearing a wild boar calling for his friends (it probably was watching us, waiting for us to go to sleep), maybe they did have a party, but we didn't hear them any more after we fell asleep.



Dax had pitched the tent on very tall grass, which made the perfect mattress and together with the actual camping mattresses we had, it was really comfy. It was so relaxing to fall sleep with the sound of the waves just a few metres away... although I woke up at about 4 am with a very loud noise of crashing waves and for a few minutes I was worried the tide will be so high that it will reach the tent which, of course, it didn't!



Then, in the morning, we woke up just after sunrise, started walking and went to have breakfast at my grandparent's again! It was perfect!



Dax and Ella liked it so much that they spend another night in the tent, but this time in my grandparents' garden 😉





MICROAVENTURAS




Hace un tiempo me crucé con la historia de Alastair Humphreys y su concepto de "microaventura", que significa que no tienes que irte ni muy lejos ni durante mucho tiempo para tener una aventura, sólo coge la mochila y la tienda de campaña y ve a dormir al bosque; al día siguiente lo recoges todo y te vas a trabajar normalmente. Me encanta este concepto (ahora estoy esperando el libro, para inspirarme todavía más).



Así que el fin de semana pasado decidimos hacer precisamente eso: desde hace tiempo "dormir en la playa" está en mi lista, así que nos aprovechamos del buen tiempo que tuvimos en Galicia toda la semana, cogimos la tienda y la montamos en una colina en una de las playas del pueblo donde viven mis abuelos. cada año veo a muchas furgonetas que vienen a pasar la noche (o varios días) y siempre pienso "algún día lo haré yo también"... ¡y por fin lo hicimos!



Tras lo bien que lo pasó Ella durmiendo en la tienda en las Islas Cíes, teníamos muchas ganas de repetir y, otra vez, nos lo pasamos muy bien. Nos fuimos después de cenar en casa de mis abuelos, ya que ahora en Galicia no se hace de noche hasta casi las 23.00. Estuvimos pasando el rato hasta que empezó a oscurecer y nos metimos en la tienda. Al poco de entrar escuchamos un jabalí llamando a sus amigos (seguramente nos estaba mirando esperando a que nos metiéramos en la tienda), a lo mejor tuvieron una fiesta, pero no los volvimos a escuchar después de quedarnos dormidos.



Dax había puesto la tienda encima de hierba muy alta, lo que servía de colchón y junto con los colchones de camping que ya teníamos, estuvimos muy cómodos. Fue muy relajante quedarse dormido escuchando el sonido de las olas a sólo unos pocos metros... aunque me desperté sobra las 4 de la mañana porque había subido la marea y las olas se oían mucho más y durante unos minutos estuve preocupada por si podían llegar a la tienda, lo cual, por supuesto, no sucedió.



Por la mañana, nos levantamos justo después de amanecer y, simplemente, nos fuimos andando hasta casa de mis abuelos a desayunar. ¡Fue perfecto!



A Dax y a Ella les gustó tanto dormir en la tienda que lo volvieron a hacer la noche siguiente aunque, esta vez, en el jardín de mis abuelos 😊

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Comments

[Mumtraveller]

What fun !
Looks great my daughter in law is from Galicia and I visited there earlier this year, so much to see.... Perhaps when my granddaughter is a bit older we will sleep on the beach too.

[denidax]

Galicia
What a coincidence! Is she from the Ferrol area as well? Galicia is beautiful (I know I'm biased, but it actually is!) and the best thing is that it's not touristy (bad weather, I guess). Ella is 2 and a half now and she loves the tent and she calls it a mini house, I hope your granddaughter will like it too when the time comes

[Mumtraveller]

Galicia
My granddaughter is also 2 1/2 yrs , we need to buy a tent !! Anabels family are from Salvaterra , so right on the river border with Portugal. She has also lived in Vigo and Palma de Mallorca. It's good the little ones can learn to speak Spanish and English .

[Mumtraveller]

Galicia
My granddaughter is also 2 1/2 yrs , we need to buy a tent !! Anabels family are from Salvaterra , so right on the river border with Portugal. She has also lived in Vigo and Palma de Mallorca. It's good the little ones can learn to speak Spanish and English .

[RENanDREW]

My kind of camping!
I think I would embrace camping a lot more if I had dinner and breakfast cooked for me too :)

[denidax]

My kind of camping
Hahaha!! It was perfect!

[taracloud]

Magic all around!
There are so many treasures all around us--how wise of you to enjoy them, and not leave them just for those strangers in their campervans. How magical to hear wild boars, to hear the sounds of waves lulling you to sleep and to introduce the lucky Ella to the wonders of nature. For her, magic is a tent en el jardin de los abuelos--que suerte!

[denidax]

Thanks!
Yes, Ella definitely thinks that my grandparents' garden is magical, she loves being there, in fact, she prefers being outdoors than inside watching telly, for which I'm very glad!

[D MJ Binkley]

Spain is on our short list
So many fantastic places and so little time. This sounds like a place we must go soon. I would follow Tekila and I would not want to leave either. What a great trip and glad that one is off the bucket list. Fantastic.

[denidax]

Come to Galicia!
Galicia has everything travellers want: beautiful landscapes, peaceful towns and great food! if you don't expect the weather to be on your side, you'll love it here!