As soon as I read the ‘Walk Faster’ headline, my soul revolts. Then I relent, but only marginally. I relent to the extent of acknowledging the good work Public Health England (PHE) has done in highlighting the ‘inactivity epidemic’ – and proposing walking as the antidote. That’s it though. As passionate an advocate of walking as I am, I do not believe that walking faster is the solution to our sedentary lifestyle. The only problem that walking faster is likely to solve is poor … [Read more...] about ‘Walk Faster’, says Public Health England. No, no, no!
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Top ten things walking has taught me: #3
Fourth century Greek philosopher Diogenes once said "it is solved by walking" ("solvitur ambulando"). It was his response to the question of whether motion is real. He got up and walked. Diogenes sounds like my kind of man; well, apart from the living in a barrel. The words have since come to mean that the answer to a problem can usually be found by a practical experiment. But I like to interpret them more literally because I find them to be true. Walking has solved so many things for me, … [Read more...] about Top ten things walking has taught me: #3
Can we walk into wellness?
That's an unequivocal ‘yes’ from me. I resume walking, aged 59, when I’m in such poor health I’m in danger of becoming housebound. Three years and over 4,500 kilometres later, I’m fitter, healthier, and stronger than I’ve ever been. And the corollary of that is I’m also happier and more fulfilled than I’ve ever been. I’d be telling a big fat porkie pie (lie) if I said I knew exactly what the connection between walking and wellness is. We have, however, known about it for a bloody long … [Read more...] about Can we walk into wellness?
Top ten things walking has taught me: #2
When I return from my second year of Camino walking in 2015, I decide that I want to tackle the lack of navigational skills that are one facet of my dyspraxia. Through walking I’ve acquired both an awareness of the scope of my inabilities and the confidence to tackle them. I ask my friend Sarah who’s a trained mountain guide and owns a retreat farm in the Black Mountains of Wales if she’ll give me some lessons. After an introduction to the basics and some preliminary … [Read more...] about Top ten things walking has taught me: #2
Walking more: what could it do for us?
Walking would seem to be the flavour of the day. Type that word into any search engine and you'll be rewarded with a gazillion choices from walking for health and fitness, to MP3 downloads for walkers, to walking tours of the world's greatest cities. But are we more interested in researching walking than doing it? Has walking fallen out of fashion? According to figures from Department of Transport surveys, an average person in England walks less than half a mile a day. That figure is … [Read more...] about Walking more: what could it do for us?
Is there a right way to walk the Camino?
In one word: 'no'. But one word does not a blog post make, so I shall continue. Since 2014, I've walked the Camino Frances, Ingles, Portugues, Sanabres, the Le Puy route in France, and from my home in London to Santiago. I've seen a lot of pilgrims walking the Camino in their own way. Were they doing it the right way or the wrong way? I don't know because I've stopped judging others. I haven't done that since my first Camino in 2014. That was when I learnt the wisdom of St Matthew's … [Read more...] about Is there a right way to walk the Camino?