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It has been a tough but very rewarding challenge
seeing us embark on nearly 40 different journeys
ranging from the 100 miles Ayrshire coastal path and
the Great Glen Canoe Trail to short, local journeys of
between 2-15 miles as we explored the many places we
visited on our year of EdVenture around the UK.
Plenty of support
We received lots of encouragement and support from
the adventure community and hope that we can do
our bit to encourage other families to spend more
time adventuring in the outdoors.
In the film UP, Ellie dreams of travelling to Paradise
Falls. People often ask us what we would
like to do next. Well, we are just about to
embark on our second year of family
EdVenture – this time in an Elddis
AutoQuest motorhome – during which we
plan to take on bigger challenges and
have bigger adventures together. Why?
Well, life’s too short not to, isn’t it?
So when the caravan came
along, it seemed natural to
use it for our escape to a new
lifestyle of quality family
time together (although
admittedly it’s not the fastest
of getaway vehicles).
We became a bit like the
characters Tom and Barbara
Good from the 1970s sitcom The Good Life, in the
sense that we wanted to lead quite a simple life too, a
life that wasn’t about HAVING but DOING even more.
We wanted a quality of life that money couldn’t buy.
This was the motive for our caravan-based project – a
project we are nicknamed ‘The goDO Life’.
We spent a year touring in our caravan, learning and
adventuring on the way. The girls’ learning became
more personal and purposeful as they learned
geography and history from the places we visited. We
also promoted family adventure through our blog,
giving talks, interviews and whatever else.
It was a very exciting year full of rich rewards but,
despite being very busy, we were able to dedicate
lots of time to family adventure. We embarked on
some bigger adventures that pushed us further out of
comfort zones, including setting ourselves a ‘500
Fresh Air Miles Challenge’ which involved us
travelling 500 miles using non-motorised transport
such as scootering, cycling, walking, paddling and
even horse riding. As well as getting fitter and
spending time outdoors, we raised money for two
charities: Tree Aid Africa and Tijhza (a village in the
High Atlas Mountains of Morocco that we visited with
travel company Exodus).
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