# One step ahead: how walking opens new horizons



## Northerner (Apr 21, 2019)

As a child growing up in 1970s Norway, with parents who didn’t own a car and loved to hike, Erling Kagge believes one of his first full sentences was: “How much further is it?”

By his late teens, though, he’d begun to embrace his parents’ ethos. “By then, for me, walking wasn’t just getting from A to B,” he says. “It had a value in itself.” So much so that at 27, he walked to the North Pole and, less than three years later, became the first person to walk to the South Pole alone – a 50-day trek with no radio. A year later he climber Everest. Now 25 years on, a father of three and the head of one of Norway’s biggest publishing houses, most of Kagge’s walking is closer to home. He walks two miles to his Oslo office each morning, hikes in the woods at weekends and has spent many evenings exploring every neighbourhood of his city on foot.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/apr/14/one-step-ahead-how-walking-opens-new-horizons

As a non-driver all my life I've also always got to know places from walking (and running, when going further afield  ) It often surprises me how little people know about their local geography because all they ever do is drive from palce to place (and these days, probably being guided blindly by a satnav  )


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## Robin (Apr 21, 2019)

As we drove to riding yesterday, the roads were fairly busy, with cars going from A to B, and just as many going from B to A. Once we got there, and took to the bridleways, we didn’t meet a single walker all the way round, and not because the tracks are too churned up by the horses, most of it is over open meadow grassland, on well drained ground.(and crisscrossed with footpaths, where horses aren’t allowed, so OK if you don’t fancy meeting a group of horses, but they were empty too). OH and I often head up in that direction to do a walk. There is a network of tracks, all old salt ways and drovers roads, you can go for miles. I wonder if people can’t map-read any more. Or whether they don’t own walking shoes or boots. Blenheim Palace grounds are always rammed with walkers, because there’s a set signposted route on tarmac roads.


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## Eddy Edson (Apr 21, 2019)

Yep, walking is triffic. Streets and parks are so interesting when you spend time with them up close.

On some of my routes I walk past a couple of gyms - the kind of place with windows onto the street so you can watch the grim inmates toiling away. I really don't understand why people would want to spend time on a treadmill, in a nasty room surrounded by torture machines and grunting desperadoes in Spandex, rather than out in the fresh air, simply walking


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## nonethewiser (Apr 21, 2019)

Avid walker, walked for 2 hours this afternoon in the warm sun.



Northerner said:


> As a non-driver all my life I've also always got to know places from walking (and running, when going further afield  ) It often surprises me how little people know about their local geography because all they ever do is drive from palce to place (and these days, probably being guided blindly by a satnav  )



Drove since 17 years old, been all over the country for work and pleasure.  Nowadays tend to use the trains, see so much more than concentrating on a boring motorway or A road, the trains take you right into the heart of city's & towns without the hassle of parking.  The wife has a railcard which entitles us to a third off travel fares, booking in advance you can save a fortune on tickets bought nearer the time.


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## Matt Cycle (Apr 21, 2019)

I think the key to the story is the fact his parents didn't have a car and so he had to walk.  When I was growing up my Dad had a car but we only had one as my Mum can't drive and we couldn't have afforded two anyway.  We did lots of walking.  Nowadays most families (with two parents) have at least 2 cars.  Kids are driven everywhere - to school etc.  Adults drive to the shops around the corner. I realise work has changed and most families have two working parents who may need a car each to get to work with the distances involved and public transport can be hit and miss but equally both kids and adults are far more lazy and often won't consider walking even short distances.


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## HOBIE (May 7, 2019)

If you walk to get near the paper shop on a sun morning you can not get in for cars at the door


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## trophywench (May 8, 2019)

I'm the sort of person who likes a destination, which doesn't have to actually be a bribe like it was when I was little.  Like if you walk all the way across the park a) you pass the swings etc, but when you get there your parents then ask whether you want to do the swings etc first, or feed the ducks first and then come back to the playground, cos don't ever imagine you can visit it twice in one outing, else you'll just be disappointed or b) when we get to the top (of eg Clent, or Kinver, or occasionally the Lickeys) we'll have the picnic.

There's a great big hill in Warwickshire somewhere, that has a wonderful view from the top and that could actually be enough for me these days - but there again anything like that can be enhanced with eg ice cream or a cuppa, can't it?


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## trophywench (May 8, 2019)

However I find it exceedingly annoying that we have to travel to find anywhere interesting to walk - I used to like it when front gardens had walls and people used to look after them, so you could peer over and admire - or otherwise! -their efforts.  All open plan, either concreted/block paved and boring lawn or hidden from view.


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## Eddy Edson (May 8, 2019)

trophywench said:


> However I find it exceedingly annoying that we have to travel to find anywhere interesting to walk - I used to like it when front gardens had walls and people used to look after them, so you could peer over and admire - or otherwise! -their efforts.  All open plan, either concreted/block paved and boring lawn or hidden from view.



Just so lucky in where I live - surrounded by parklands, ideal for walking.  

On my post-breakfast jaunt today I was walking in nice Autumn sunshine through flocks of zillions of grazing corellas, galahs and cockatoos, nobody else in sight. 

It was like being in an old Disney film, with me as Snow White.

Actually, they're all rather loutish and raucous birds, but the concept is nice.


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## Stitch147 (Jun 6, 2019)

You know me, I love my walking.


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## belugalad (Jun 16, 2019)

I love walking now,the only exercise that I have had over the last 3 years as a carer at home was to cycle to the shops once or twice a week,as it was quicker to cycle,so I didn't ever travel any real distances without  a saddle supporting my weight.
I have been enjoying getting outside,having a good look around,leaving the bike at home and walking briskly,I only use the bike now to travel to the next town,my body has responded well and I feel great,last night I had my 2 mile walk at 9pm as I got distracted in the day and felt bad that I hadn't done it.


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## Jodee (Jun 16, 2019)

For me I love walking on quiet country paths where I can hear the birds chirping and the insects buzzing, but I also love that in my own garden.  Walking in old towns and villages down the back streets always entice me, I found Oxford very interesting walking down back cobbled streets, also York, but then I think UK is full of old historical passageways, its not hard to find them when on foot and good to get away from the crowds.  I have been restricted in walking in recent years but I am now starting to build it back up again, its the bad weather that puts me off.  But I can remember as kids we used to walk miles in a blizzard to go to school.


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## MikeTurin (Jun 24, 2019)

I like to walk to make errand or simply to watch the store windows, listening to the radio and looking at the houses and the roofs, because you'll always find something strange. For instance, this mansion is near my attic, and it's quite strange and eerie. It was used as a set for a couple of horror films.


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## Eddy Edson (Jun 24, 2019)

I think any city setting just gets more & more interesting the closer you get to it and the more you become familiar with it. All sorts of strange & wonderful people doing their individual things, little shops and cafes with their own particular ecosystems, and then how the city birds interact with it all.  

NYC was just brilliant for this - the more you got to know even the 10 block radius around where you lived, the more interesting it became - just so dense! But it's true even of the provincial place I live now.


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## everydayupsanddowns (Jun 25, 2019)

I've always enjoyed hiking (well... short easy walks in the country with a nice pub half way round), and have always used walking 'functionally' since schooldays when I generally got a lift in and often walked the 3-4 miles back.

I'm lucky in that where I live there is so much with in 30 minutes walking distance that I would rarely consider fighting for a parking place to go to town or the railway station as walking is so much easier and nicer.

But it's only since getting the dog that I've done more aimless wandering in the adjacent neighbourhoods to our house. He likes a few 'regular' routes, but if he fancies going off piste I usually let him and have discovered all manner of cut-throughs, connections and little hidden gems nestled in our tightly-packed city.


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