There's so much more to the great outdoors

Scotland's awesome outdoors
Pic © Angus Clyne

We’re shocked by a new survey that has revealed that more than half of Britons have not tried an outdoor activity due to a "lack of opportunity", while a third claim to be “too scared” to try. The research was carried out on behalf of Go Outdoors and also found that Londoners are most likely not to want to leave the comfort of their homes for an outdoors adventure.

A closer look at particular outdoor activities shows that half of those asked in the poll have never been on a horse and around four in 10 have never swum in natural waters.

But as many health experts extol, getting outdoors is good for our physical and mental well-being so it seems a huge shame that so many people are missing out on a great outdoors adventure.

We reckon that lots of people are put off outdoors pursuits because they fear wet, mud and general discomfort. Of course, some outdoors activities do require participants to get a little wet but that’s usually while wearing a wetsuit and careering crazily down an awesome white water river or canyon. (What? You haven’t tried white water rafting or canyoning in Scotland yet? You don’t know what you’re missing!)

But there are also a host of other activities that are fun and outdoorsy yet not in the least bit OTT. Especially in Scotland.
• There’s cycling on a huge network of quiet roads and traffic-free cycle ways.
• Gorgeous walks along lochsides and river banks.
• Open canoeing in sheltered waters, both on picturesque lochs and at the coast.
• Archery sessions at places such a magnificently scenic Glencoe.
• Land Rover wildlife safaris.

And no-one said you need to sleep rough to enjoy an outdoors break. Not everyone likes camping so why not book your accommodation to suit your comfort desires? Plenty of B&Bs and hotels welcome walkers, cyclists and all kinds of outdoorsy-type folk. Even better still - and we would say this, eh? - is a campervan!

In a campervan you can overnight pretty much where you want. You can enjoy the best of the outdoors, including scenery and nature, but from the warmth and comfort of a heated van. Check out our fabbie hire campervans at Big Tree Campervans.

What are you waiting for? It’s time to up the statistics of this recent report.