Here at The Adventure Service, we're passionate about adventure,, promoting independence and achieving potential.
As you’ll likely know by now, we spend the vast majority of our time in the outdoors and we get up to all sorts of adventurous activities (if you don’t, you probably should - find out here).
Being located where we are (with centres in Chesterfield, Top Valley and Mansfield Woodhouse) it means that have the Peak District National Park on our doorstep. We also have great access to numerous outdoor spaces within walking distance of each of our centres too. Sherwood Pines, Sherwood Forest and Bestwood Country Park, are all within a stones throw of our centres.
However, though we like to venture into the Peak District, we don’t have full access to all of it’s caves, climbing spots and jaunts.
Why?
Well, we have parameters set in place which means that our Instructors can only travel within an hours bus journey from the centre they have set off from that morning. So, any locations or sessions outside of an hours journey, we don’t do. But there’s good reason…
Why the One-Hour Limit?
You might wonder why we've set such a restriction? As stated above, it limits the access we have to the Peak District and other national parks. It also limits certain centres, so sessions that we can run from our Chesterfield site, may not be able to run from our Mansfield Woodhouse site because it goes way over the one hour limit.
We may also repeat sessions with different Adventurers, because we only have a certain of number of sessions/caves/climbs to visit within that area. So again, it begs the question as to why we’d restrict ourselves to a one our radius of a centre.
The answer is quite simple really.
We believe that the heart of any adventure lies in the experience itself, not the place in which the adventure is had.
Yes, it’s quite tricky to go caving in the middle of Mansfield or Chesterfield. Equally, it’s pretty tricky to paddle in Nottingham city centre - so we do have to travel for some amount of time to access the parts of nature we want to.
But, once we’re in the hills, by the water or in the woods, it would make no difference to us, whether we were paddling down the Amazon, climbing the biggest walls in Patagonia or, as we like to be, at the bottom of a crag at Burbage North. For us, it’s all about how we create a sense of adventure. We don’t need to travel far and wide to do that.
Now, this isn't discrediting the Peak District at all. Being the oldest national park in the UK (it turned 70 years young on Monday) it not only has it heritage and history around every winding corner, it is home to some of the most breath taking landscapes in the world.
There is often a common misconception within the outdoor industry that adventures can only be had overseas in the most grand of places. But we’re proof that doesn’t have to be the case.
Our ultimate aim is to maximize the time Adventurers spend actively engaged in activities rather than idly sitting on a bus. We’re not a transport service, nor are we a day service that choose to sit inside and colour in. We’re a day service that goes on adventures. So, limiting our time on buses is a key part of our sessions.
After all, who wants to spend their entire day traveling when they could be climbing rock faces, navigating forest trails, or discovering hidden caves?
Moreover, if you have read any of our other blogs (you can find them all here) or watched any of our videos (watch below) you’d know that there isn’t much time to be travelling around. Our days are jam packed as it is, so extra travel time would make running some our favourite sessions, almost impossible.
Environmental Responsibility
Beyond providing our Adventurers with outdoor activity year round, we also recognise our responsibility to the environment. By minimising our travel times, we reduce our carbon footprint, conserving fuel and minimising emissions. We believe that by keeping our activities closer to home, we can play a small part in the making the world a more eco friendly place to live.
Giving their carrying capacity, the mini buses we use aren’t the most eco friendly of vehicles, so reducing our travel times mean the impact we have a on the planet is far less than it would be, if we were unrestricted on where we travel to.
Being so closely connected to nature as we are, we feel as though we have a duty to protect our wild spaces. So, though it is not the key purpose of our one hour travel policy, it certainly plays a part.
Short Breaks
Though we are fairly strict on our travel time for our day service activities, when we head off on a short break, we’re a little more flexible on how far we travel. We’re still not travelling the length of breadth of the country, but we do use outdoor centres that are a little further away than what we would venture to in the day service.
They’re all still within the perimeter of the Peak District National Park (you can see what outdoor centres we use here) but the Adventurers from Top Valley may be going up to an hour and 20/30 minutes away. Especially given that we travel on a Friday evening.
We also don’t mind travelling so far for a short break because we know the Adventurers are going to spend their whole weekend adventuring.
There also isn’t the concern that the Adventurers will get limited time outside, as there is in the day service, because once we arrive at the outdoor centre of choice, it’s time for tea, relax and head to bed (you can find out how our short breaks run here). So the extra travel time isn’t so bad, as it doesn’t eat in activity time.
All Aboard (but not for longer than an hour)
It may seem like a trivial thing, but we feel passionate that the Adventurers are maximising their time outside and get to experience the beauty and adventures that mother nature has to offer.
It’s also just one of the many small details that we implement throughout the day, to ensure that we are doing all we can, to allow the Adventurers to achieve their potential, through adventure.
Ready to become an Adventurer?
We are dedicated to helping our Adventurers achieve their potential through adventure and we’re always looking for new Adventurers to join us on our journey.
Follow the link to fill out our referral form, email welcome@theadventureservice.com or call 01623 232102 and one of our staff team will be on hand, to help you get you started on your jounrey with us.
See you out there!