Take a friend on their first microadventure

One of Alastair Humphreys' suggestions for making your year of microadventure even more fun is to take a friend on their first microadventure. It wasn't too hard to convince Mags to meet up for a sleep out.

February galloped by and we procrastinated about our overnighter. It was too cold. We had visitors. It was rainy. Our friends weren’t up for it. We were sick. We didn’t want to do it on a work night. It was going to snow. All in all, we were being a bit feeble.

What we needed to do was set a date and stick to it. Mags had acquired an Alpkit bivvy bag for Christmas and was yet to use it. With a bit of encouragement from us and some prodding from her colleagues, she agreed to join us after work one night for her first bivvying adventure.

We met up on the country property where she works and slept out (with permission) on the verandah of a beautiful wooden barn. It felt quite luxurious to have a nice dry platform to sleep, cook and eat on - and to have a roof over us when it started raining during the night. It wasn’t exactly a wilderness experience, but we all enjoyed it and it was a good way for our friend to join the world of bivvying microadventures.

The sky was lovely and clear at the start of the night, with a bright moon and stars. We saw a satellite go over and listened to owls calling. We didn't see the owls (sad!) but we did find some pellets on the verandah of the barn.

I’d bought a £10 fleece sleeping bag liner to beef up my summertime sleeping bag. Although it took a few minutes to get in and adjust myself properly (not a problem when you’re on a dry verandah, probably more annoying if you’re in a field during a rain storm) I’m happy to report that it made a big difference. I was mostly toasty warm. My feet were still cool but not cold enough to stop me sleeping, and my thighs (the other strange problem area I’ve noticed) were fine.

We also took our beer can stove for its first outing. It worked . . . at least, it worked when we balanced the pot of water properly! Our friend had a lightweight travel kettle with a removable infuser for loose leaf tea, which was pretty impressive: it’s the tea equivalent of a moka pot.

It was a fun night. I think Mags will soon be out in her bivvy bag again!

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This microadventure cost approximately £3.25 for two of us (petrol, food, fuel and tea). Now that's my idea of budget accommodation.

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I've been inspired by all the people undertaking the challenge to sleep out at least once every month in 2015. Follow the #microadventure hashtag on Twitter if you're keen to see more!

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Happy campers.

Rugged up and toasty warm.

Owl pellets.

Wakey, wakey!

Someone is keen to stay in bed.

Mags has a kettle with a tea infuser - fancy.