A Winter Microadventure - by Instagram

The journey through Spain hasn't ended yet. Well, actually it has, at least for a while, but what I mean is that the story hasn't... There are some more words and pictures to come, when I can manage to sit down for a day and beat them into shape.I had always planned to come back to London for Christmas, and to take stock and make a decision about what comes next. And so for a number of reasons, I find myself with a job, renting a room from a friend in the flat above the flat I originally rented when I first moved to London five years ago. I had a moment of feeling that I must be regressing - having previously rented the whole place downstairs and now just a room upstairs. But that was just a fleeting moment. My own flat is let out and this situation makes sense for now and serves a bigger purpose. I might even learn some home social skills by sharing with someone, after having my own place for the last decade.There will be a continuation of the journey by bike at some point in the not too distant future. There is a lot to say about that, about what I've learnt over the last 4 or 5 months, about what worked and what didn't, about what kind of riding I want to do more of (and the kind I want to do less of), about the places I want to do it in, and about what I've learnt about myself. But this is not the post for that - that will come in a little while.So, for now, I am back in London earning money again, and it's all good, despite being a big shock to the system. I had a plan to soften the blow of being back in civilisation with at least 40 hours of my week sucked up with a job, by committing to Al Humphrey's Year of Microadventures. The commitment of just one microadventure a month felt like the bare minimum - I imagined nights outside every week - but of course, working life in London immediately makes that simple commitment feel harder than I could have imagined from my tent in southern Spain. The long dark nights and cold don't help either, and for a bunch of reasons, our initial January plans fell through. But there was enthusiasm amongst a group of friends to not let the motivation slip before the year has properly started and so we planned to spend a chilly night in early February outside.In the final hours on the night, the group was reduced to just two, but off we went. I left my proper camera at home and just took some snaps on my phone to post to Instagram. Here's what happened...http://instagram.com/p/yxbbg6onZC/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yxhQNLInTD/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yxqS0konSI/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yxuka0onZT/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yxup54onZc/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yxu12zonZs/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yx0n9_InSG/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yx0qIConSK/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yx0sh0InSS/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yx0uRoInSc/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yx0yjSInSi/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yx1ArhonTB/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yx2P3tInVl/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yx2YABInVz/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yynivGIndI/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yyoh5dInd3/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yynOW1oncx/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yynSfJonc0/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yynfz2ondE/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yyr15oInRq/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yyrIM8onQ3/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yyrPEqInRA/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yyu5GaInUt/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yyuDcTonT4/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yyrSF5InRF/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yysKpZonR-/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yytCRiInTB/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yyudfBonUU/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yywTfKonWG/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yyrAJBonQy/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yyrCIyInQz/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yyrD3fInQ0/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yy51srInft/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yy5k8JInfZ/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yy5oqBInfc/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yy5x71onfm/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yy5sa7onff/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yy581oInfz/?modal=truehttp://instagram.com/p/yzHH-uIned/?modal=true