By Sean Fagan
The Burren of west Ireland is one of my favourite places to wild-camp. It's a wonderfully wild, evocative landscape - full of contradictions (Photo: Sean Fagan, west Ireland).

“Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.

J.K. Rowling

Recently I've been thinking about what makes an adventure.  

I can only answer for myself and my answer comes in two, connected parts. 

Firstly, adventure should be something that challenges you. The second, related part - is exposing yourself to the unexpected. 

Whether you’re walking, paddling or cycling through wild places - along with camping in such places - you expose yourself to the unpredictable. In effect, you're breaking away from your everyday life and becoming part of something vast and unpredictable - nature. 

And out there, in nature - unforeseen events are always unfolding. 

What gets me sometimes is - a lot of the unexpected is funny, if not downright comical. 

Adventure doesn't have to include the grandiose, the grand spreading vistas, the conquering of many miles of challenging terrain. 

Adventure is also about moments, often unexpected moments - that fill us with something good. 

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