This is a post for all my fellow bloggers out there… those of you who love getting outdoors so much that you choose to do it as much as you can, and then write about it. Whatever your chosen outdoors activity, and whether you do this in your “spare time” like me, or manage to make some kind of living from it, it would be cool if you read on as I’d love to meet you!
A little while ago now, Jenni from The Thrifty Magpies Nest and I had a conversation that basically went “how come there’s loads of stuff going on for beauty bloggers and fashion bloggers and food bloggers, but there’s nothing going on for those of us who just like to write about the outdoors?” I mean, when you complete any kind of form about your blog, be it a registration form for a network or an application to work on a campaign, there isn’t even a category for “outdoors” bloggers, we have to choose lifestyle or sport and leisure or other. After talking about this for a little while we decided rather than moan about it to anyone, we’d just get on and do something about it. And so the Outdoor Bloggers network was born.
We had no idea we would hit on such a popular thing, and the reaction from the blogging community has been brilliant. Since its conception a little over a year ago we have been joined by over 60 members, all blogs that have “the outdoors” at their heart. We’re all different – some of us like hiking and motorcycling, some conservation and wildlife, some running and swimming, some wild camping, some sustainable living – but all with the same love, the great outdoors. We have a website (www.outdoorbloggers.co.uk), with a directory of all our members, and we chat online about content and ideas and what we’re up to.
Our campsite near Edale at the Outdoor Bloggers Weekend 2015.
One of the key ingredients for Jenni and I was to create opportunities for us to meet our little group. In May last year we held our first Outdoor Bloggers Weekend. Jenni and I were joined by two other bloggers, Mark and Allysse, and had a lovely weekend in Edale – you can read about it here. We might have been few in number, but it set in stone our desire to create more opportunities like it. And while it’s been a long time coming due to Jenni and I both undertaking time-consuming projects of our own, this week we have announced our second annual Outdoor Bloggers Weekend, to be held in beautiful Snowdonia in October 2016.
The idea, and there is really nothing more to it than this, is to provide an opportunity to get to know like-minded people who share a passion for blogging and the outdoors. And naturally we are doing this outside – by camping, hiking, running, canoeing and eating close to Snowdon.
If this sounds like the sort of network you’d like to be involved in, the kind of event you’d like to attend, please head over to the Outdoor Bloggers website and check out all the details. There might not be a category for us at all the big awards or on network registration forms just yet, but hopefully our group will at least give us the chance to create a community.
Oh and while I’m here, I may as well turn this into a lesson for any of you who have made it to the end of the post. If there’s something you’re not happy with, something you’d like to see change, it is good to find a friend and do something about it. You never know, other people might share your excitement and want to join in!
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