Micro-adventuring is a philosophy dreamt up by adventurer Alastair Humphreys when he decided to spend a year doing smaller local adventures rather than spending a bundle of money and travelling thousands of miles around the world.

This is a philosophy I liked and I decided to adopt it for 2012. I hope that as the year progresses the adventures will also get bigger and more challenging.

Micro-adventures prove you don't need to be ex-military, an elite athlete, sponsored by a world class brand or have bundles of money and travel thousands of miles to have adventures.

And if that is true then adventure is all around us, at all times. Even during hard financial times such as these. Times, I believe, when getting out into the wild is more enjoyable, invigorating and important than ever.

With the ideas of micro-adventures (i.e. staying local) clearly in my mind I decided to head to Blaise Castle just a few miles from my house.

I could quite easily have stayed on the well-trodden path and followed the three-mile route around the castle, but I decided that instead I would go off road. As I left the car park I took a bearing for the castle, it was only about half a mile away with a climb of about 100ft so off I went. The initial climb was fine and I reached the top still quite clean and full of breath. Neither of these facts was I happy about.

The next part of the walk was going down the other side of the hill - which I knew to be quite steep - then following the river for about two miles, climbing some steps and crossing a field before returning to the car.

When I started down the other side of the hill within a few metres I was barely able to stand without holding onto something for support due to the gradient of the hill. Because of this I was soon on my bum sliding down using my heels as brakes by digging them into the soft mud as I felt the rain get heavier.

As I got further down the hill I started to see an edge appearing. I quickly stopped and anchored myself against a sturdy tree to assess the situation. It was about a 20ft drop, not quite straight down but I would have to climb. I'm no climber, I've done a bit in the past but it's definitely not my forte!

So I was struck with a decision, climb down or head back. Normally it would be a clear decision, however because I had no rope and the rocks were getting wetter and wetter due to the increasingly heavy rain I decided that my only option was to climb down!

The climb was exciting and raised my adrenaline levels as I grabbed and held various wet branches hoping they wouldn't snap or I wouldn't lose my grip on the wet bark.

At the bottom the hill flattened out and as I reached the stream it became more sheltered from the trees, which helped to shield me from the rain, and I was able to follow it easily. As I reached my final climb - some steps to the top of the castle - the clouds started to clear and the sun came out.

As I crossed my final field back to the car the dog walkers started to appear in their full wet weather gear and the latest brands, all warm and clean. I couldn't resist a smile as I passed them covered in mud and soaking wet: It was everything I wanted my first micro-adventure to be.