Sometimes the best adventures are those which are right on our doorstep.
Those understated little hidden gems that aren’t necessarily on anyone’s bucket list. And the experience can be even better when it’s unplanned.
Northern Ireland, our wee country, is packed full to the brim of amazing adventures, big and small.
However, how often do we fall in to the trap of never visiting them? How often do we find ourselves putting in lots of effort for holidays abroad, or searching out the next heavily marketed physical challenge in remote locations around the world (with matching price-tags!)? And all the while we’re often putting off visiting those we gems that are right on our doorstep.
This week I found myself with a rare spare couple of hours, and in the need for some head space! So I decided to grab my boots and backpack and head up Cave Hill.
I’m amazed at how many people haven’t been here. I was one of them for a long time! But this place has a special beauty about it, which is both simple and raw. With fantastic views of the capital below, it’s also mixed with lush, rugged, scenic and colourful nature that easily lets you forget you’re only a hop, skip and a jump away from the built up, super busy, modern world! A diamond in the rough.
I am even more fond of Cave Hill because it is not only very accessible to the masses, but it welcomes the young and old, the experienced and the beginner, the regular dog walkers and the elite athletes in training.
The landscape lends itself to anyone who wants to immerse themselves in it, for whatever reasons and benefits! It’s a fantastic place and I encourage people to look after it and utilise it well.
I am an ambitious person and am completely guilty of having that exotic bucket list, however sometimes the small experiences such as this, remind me that we mustn’t miss out on the multitude of mini adventures that are right on our doorstep.
If nothing else, they will keep us going in between chasing the big adventures! So get out there and explore!