Hello again!
I’d like to share a guest post with you this week. Claire (adventure enthusiast & creator of awesome word search books) tells about finding adventure close to home.
Oh, you don’t look like the normal weirdos we get looking for the trig point!”
Before Covid, I defined adventure as flying somewhere far from the UK—exploring new landscapes, tasting unfamiliar foods, and having eye-opening conversations with strangers. The UK, in my mind, didn’t offer the same sense of discovery, it was inferior as an adventure destination.
Then lockdown happened, and I found myself in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, needing to rethink adventure entirely. I’d always had a childhood fascination with trig points from family walks, so I set myself a challenge: visit all 67 trig points in Gloucestershire. It gave me a goal, a sense of purpose—something to achieve.
At first, my idea was met with blank stares and raised eyebrows. “That sounds boring.” “Why would you do that?” But once I got started, I was amazed. Just an hour from home, I found landscapes that gave me the same wow factor as driving a solar-powered tuk-tuk across India or bungee jumping in Peru. How had I overlooked this before?
Initially, no one wanted to join me—just another one of Claire’s weird ideas. But as I started sharing photos, curiosity grew. Soon, friends and family joined in, discovering places they also never knew existed. Unlike my solo overseas trips, this was an adventure I could share. I loved seeing the surprise and joy on their faces, knowing I’d created these wow moments for them.
What started as a solo mission became a family tradition, complete with a Jetboil for tea and homemade cake. Even my 74-year-old dad and 70-year-old aunt got involved—clambering over barbed wire and squeezing through hedges in pursuit of the next trig. After years living in London, it was a special way to reconnect.
Of course, some trig points were on private land. Did I always ask permission? Honestly, no—it was too much faff, and I didn’t want to be told no. But for Trig Point 32, sitting squarely in someone’s garden, there was no avoiding it. I knocked on the door, feeling awkward but at least looking the part dressed in full outdoor kit. “Hi, my name is Claire. I’m visiting all the trig points in Gloucestershire—may I see the one in your garden?”
The homeowner eyed me, hesitated, then laughed. “Oh, you’re one of those… you’re not as weird as the usual ones we get!” Turns out, I didn’t fit the usual trig-bagging stereotype.
I saved Trig Point 67 May Hill—for last. A childhood favourite from family dog walks, I completed it with my two best friends from school, celebrating with champagne and chocolates. Finishing the challenge gave me an immense sense of pride—not just for seeing it through but for sharing the journey with people I love.
One of the most unexpected joys of this challenge was the support I received from online female adventure communities like Love Her Wild and Adventure Queens. Posting updates and having strangers cheer me on was incredibly motivating. Even better was discovering that my journey had inspired others—people who had never considered looking for trig points before were now seeking them out in their own areas. Some weren’t into trig bagging specifically, but they had started making the most of their local surroundings, hiking more, exploring places they’d overlooked, and setting their own adventure challenges. Knowing that my experience had encouraged others to find adventure close to home made the journey even more worthwhile.
Since then, adventure has become a bigger and more regular part of my life, rather than just my annual 5 weeks of holiday. With my two best friends, what used to be just dinner and drinks has turned into hiking the Malverns, completing the 100-mile Gloucestershire Way, and walking the Stroudwater and Sharpness-Gloucester canals. We still drink wine—but now, we make more time for adventure because it makes us feel so great, better connected, fitter and healthier.
The biggest lesson? You don’t need a plane ticket and lots of money to find adventure. It’s right on your doorstep—you just have to shift your mindset and go looking for it.
