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Perchypanther - that's a big fib. Cliff couldn't give two hoots about walking but he laughs when people over-tighten their bolts and strip the threads. I've heard him say many times that it's so funny why we don't torque any m.........I'll get my coat.
A friend of mine will quite happily sit in traffic in a car park and queue to get a space nearer the shop door rather than park in an empty space further away and walk the extra hundred yards or so and be in the shop quicker. Mental.
It's the same round here. Other than a few school kids it's pretty rare to see anyone else walking once out of the town centre.
I find where my brother lives a strange place whenever I've done a few jobs for him. If it weren't for the cars on the drive ways, you'd think the house's were empty. It's like the set of a film where everyone's been killed off by a disease or something. Occasionally you'd here a door close and a car driving off or a dog barking. Spooky. 🙂
I am always baffled as to why people go to the gym to walk on the treadmill!
Same here. I regularly ride through a gym car park muttering to myself at the weirdos in the windows. Fair enough if it's a gym in heavily built up area, and I know some people are scared of a bit of wind and rain but on a beautiful day you've no excuse. We've got hills ffs. WALK UP ONE.
Actually stay off them they're mine. 🙂
I usually cycle to work, but I still go for a 25 minute lunch time walk, and have done for years. I just like getting outside for a few minutes.
Me and the Mrs walk quite a bit, at the moment probably only 12 miles a week as we seem to be training most days so do not have time. We bought a couple of those shopping trollies old people use to do our weekly supermarket shop. Its awesome, we chat about fun stuff and it is proper quality time.
In the summer we walk more and hey presto weight comes off. Walking is great.
richmars - Member
I usually cycle to work, but I still go for a 25 minute lunch time walk, and have done for years. I just like getting outside for a few minutes
Me too, colleagues seem to think I'm anti social for not just sitting on the kitchen at lunch - we sit down all day for f-s sake!
I like walking, but you do get odd looks without a dog, maybe I'll get an inflatable one 😯
My partner and I go for a decent walk at least twice a week.
One of the great things about London is so many people take public transport and almost everyone gets to work in a combination of walking and train/bus/tube.
It means you actually get some exercise during your commute. Obesity levels are noticeably lower in London IMO.
I've left London now and my new workplace is excellent on work/life balance and giving us time to look after ourselves and today we discussed how we would have one of our weekly meetings as a walking meeting - the three of us will go out for a wander when we have a particular problem to solve or just want to get a decent discussion going... I can't imagine it going down too well as an idea in anywhere else I've worked..
Obesity levels are lower in London as most of your monthly wage goes on your rent/mortgage 😆
I've always liked walking: not so much as in rambling / hill walking, but as in walking to the shops and just having a nosey around new places.
I suspect there's an urban-v-rural split. We live in central Bristol and do a lot of walking as part of daily life. Our kids walk to school / nursery and, if they don't, it's because they're scooting or on bikes! Despite being in the perfect place to do it, it seems from experience that suburban and rural-based folk do a lot less (I grew up in a semi-rural area).
In addition to car culture and car-centric urban design, it may also be (now) due to fewer daily life transactions (e.g. posting letters, banking cheques) being done face-to-face and locally. I'm sure the internet is having an impact on this.
When I've worked in some quite random UK locations it had surprised me how few other people you see just going about their daily business on foot, apart from in cities. I've always made a point of walking or cycling the locale, to see what's about: there is a crazy amount of "stuff" out there in the real world that people don't see from their car windscreen or laptop.
I walk to shops, walk into town, walk to the train station if I'm using it rather than drive and park to catch it.
But other than that, I have loads of walking options around me but I'd rather ride the same 😀
When I'm injured enough to not be able to ride but can walk I'll often go out walking else I'll go crazy, but otherwise two wheels better than two legs.
However while riding I regularly come across a lot of walkers. Many are dog walkers, but weekends I'll almost always see some ramblers. Night rides often come across night walkers but also runners. Some seem to manage it without lights... in dark woodland or heathland!
Gonna strap a pair of old walking shoes to my backpack tomorrow when I cycle in and I'll then be able to go for lunch time walks even when the fields are too muddy for the lightweight shoes I use like slippers at work. 💡
I've taken to spending my lunch break strutting around the village my office is in - only about 5k but it's worth a few fitness points and helps clear my head.
I can recommend it.
I was thinking this, then I went to America. No one walks, and I mean no one.
Only place I can think of where that's not true is New York, couldn't move for pedestrians
Not walking, but I believe Portland has a big bicycle culture
I always have fun when booking hotels if I have to go away for work, we have a central booking team who handle it, I always put a preference for a hotel within walking distance of the site, numerous times have had the apologetic email or call "I'm sorry. There's nothing closer than 1-2miles away, are you ok to get a taxi" and then met with bewilderment when I say it's fine, anywhere with 3mile radius is ok
At home I generally use the bike for most things, but often walk to shopsir into town, I'm certainly not the only one round here that does though.
I walk to work, wife walks to work, kids walk to school. Our cars sit on the drive and get used only when the journey is too far to walk.
Not that unusual in Bristol. At the pedestrian crossing I have to use there will be about 25 people in each tranche waiting to cross on the green light on a weekday morning. At my kids' large secondary school I'd say at least a third walk in , and quite a few cycle.
I go to the pool 2 or 3 times a week dropping off and or picking up my son.
Big wow. I drop my kids off at the pool twice a day, once after breakfast and then again mid-morning.
I used to walk the 2 miles to work every day, but now it's 18 miles which is a bit far. My wife, on the other hand, refuses to walk to her place of work which is 310 metres from our house. What's even more baffling is that she's a super fit runner and cyclist. There are various excuses provided, all pish.
And Rannoch Moor was stunning this evening - mountains, snow, a full moon and complete solitude.
In have a Garmin step tracker and have just passed 100 days of 10,000 steps a day. Having a target means that I prefer to walk rather than go by car for local journeys.
I think that I walk more than any of my friends/family.
Only place I can think of where that's not true is New York, couldn't move for pedestrians
Boston, DC, Chicago, SF, Seattle...
...not Atlanta or bloody Dallas tho
Too many cyclists in the footpaths and pavements?
(12k steps plus a day 😉 )
I know a lady who commutes 3/4 of a mile in a diesel 4wd bmw.
Last year I tried one of those step counters. It was 3 miles to work. After a day in the shop and a trip round Costco it was up to 10 miles.
Not sure how true those things are but I was surprised.
It was a bit nippy this morning and the roads hadn't been gritted, so I worked from home until 9 then rode in. The number of cars that had been cleared of frost and were now sat on the driveway was astonishing.
It can't be more than a 10 min walk to any if the schools round here
Yep had a chance to move to Dallas 15 years ago but declined as I could not walk or cycle anywhere.
I guess the US is more about where you are though the drive through ATM's are a bit of a give away...
A lot of modern residential areas don't suit walking - there just isn't anything worth walking to. If you are somewhere that you can then it's great, walked to work Monday as it had rained and I didn't fancy getting wet on the bike. Rest of the time it's just whatever is easiest. The other thing that makes it harder in the UK is the weather...
Though conversely I ended up inland from Perth WA a few years ago and decided to walk to the pool, about a mile, drank 3l of water and spent the next hour in the shade is was about 42c, people were driving past pointing at me and laughing - they were right! If I'm in one of the big cities for work I tend to end up in Taxi's during the day just easier to avoid getting overly sweaty traipsing round evenings when it's a bit cooler I'll walk for miles
Hell no! Far to many naked cyclist looking for pedestrians to ring their bell at
Loads of people walk, I walked 28 miles on Tuesday as a gentle training walk ready for another big one.
Myself and the current MrsC love going for a walk after a meal, even better when eating out we will pick a metro station the furthest away and walk to it through different routes, its a great way to get exercise, chat and see some parts of Hong Kong we would not normally.
If possible I also try to walk between meetings during the day, although that is dependent on the weather, sometimes its just not viable if you want your shirt not to resemble a gym t-shirt after 5 minutes.
I remember years ago being based in New Jersey for a while (Mt Arlington) and finding that I could not actually walk to my office from the hotel using pavements or pedestrian road crossings even though it was less than a mile away, I had to jay walk and cross over grass verges.
Tinners cliff's been involved in a big law suit recently. I heard him comment that it's funny we don't talc anymore.
I walk when I can - especially in foreign cities as Hora said, you get to see way much more, get some exercise to burn off the meals out and don't have to deal with unfamiliar transport systems.
BTW: Paris is much bigger than it looks on a map ! London is much smaller. Weird.
There is a "drive" at my work at the moment to save carbons (don't know why, they could just use biros ?) anyway, we are being actively encouraged to not fly to conferences use public transport etc for meetings. I am testing the waters with cycling the 5 miles to the head office, and will move to walking soon. (which is daft, as at the speed I walk and my day rate it is costing them more, but will see who figures that out first)
I've just started walking to work myself, partly for a bit of exercise but mostly as the parking situation at work's become a nightmare (double and triple parking). It's only 1.5 miles and quite enjoyable in these cold & dry mornings, I'll probably drive when the weather's crap... The only real downside (and the main reason I used to drive) is it was nice to pop home for lunch rather than being stuck on a business park with a couple of over-priced cafes. Bit disappointed it apparently only burns 120 calories each way, it feels harder :p
At this time of year I often prefer walking to riding bikes, plus there's no maintenance to do, apart from hosing boots down. A few hours walking in the woods with a folding saw and pocket full of little bits of marker tape is a great way to scope out new lines for riding too.
Maybe that's why I like riding singlespeeds too - it has the same "feel" as walking but you can cover more ground.
Although I did go out for a rare (for me) night ride yesterday and saw more wallabies than ever before - about a dozen.
My teenage son gets the bus to college every day and last week he was amazed to see an extremely obese man get on the bus, berate the driver over the cost of the ticket then get off at the next stop 200 yards later.
I walk quite a bit, mostly listening to podcasts.
I have had the police stop and ask you what you are doing in America as well, a suburb of Houston, decided to walk 1km to a shop from where I was originally parked, I could see the sign. Police car rolled up and asked what I was doing, asked for ID recommended that I don't walk, asked why and they just ummed and ahed. It was stupid hot and has been said there were no pavements.
Where my friends live just south of Denver there is a network of paths that the alzheimer's skiers use 😆 hordes of them all trudging along but all back in the house by 10.30 as it gets to hot in the summer.
I like a stroll, clearly as many here do too, but I think the OP is right, people don't and find those that do a bit odd.
My wife is a good example of this, she's seriously fit (barring some recent "issues" at least) but drives the 1/2 mile from our home to the gym as a walk would take too long. I find this very odd.
I never got the same experience in the USA as has been mentioned above. In San Francisco and the places around it there were plenty of people walking around and it would have been more difficult to drive it a lot of cases. In New York I don't think many people drive for obvious reasons and I reckon there's probably less car ownership per head in Manhattan than in London.
Even in Las Vegas there were plenty of provisions for walking around, we just chose one car park and walked from it which it seems a lot of people do. You have to be careful not to walk too far in one direction though as it takes ages to walk anywhere in LV due to the amount of people there and the waiting times at the intersections.
When you get out in the sticks it's a bit different, but as everything is spread out so much more than in the UK you can understand why people drive so much. Over there they never really had the village around a well thing which gradually expands like in the UK. The places tend to be very linear and so you can get main streets that are miles long, not as easy to get around like our compact towns. There isn't as much premium on space, coupled with the fact that a lot of housing is spread out for miles.
Mind you, in my 3 trips to the USA I never saw the mass obese epidemic thing everyone talks about. I am sure it's a problem but maybe not in the areas I went to.
Walk everywhere tbh generally 35-40 miles/week.
No dog just commuting, local stuff and enjoyment. It requires about as much effort as breathing
It's all down to urban design. Cities have sprawled, people's jobs have moved away from where they live, and driving to get to places has become the norm. Generalising wildly, if you walk somewhere, you're not likely to meet someone you know any more, the shops you pass will be similar or worse to the ones you drive to for your weekly shop, and you'll have to contend with street layouts that are full of guard railings, convoluted pedestrian crossings, and shedloads of traffic. I don't think people are lazy, but they need some kind of incentive. It doesn't help that we have a national tendency to treat a bit of rain as the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse.
If anyone's interested in an accessible, well researched book looking at why some places are "walkable" and others aren't, this comes thoroughly recommended:
http://thehappycity.com/the-book/
I don't really understand the "walking is dull" thing.
Do people go around with their eyes shut and their ears closed?
I don't walk as much as I should. When I'm visting somewhere I do loads of walking and will happily park some way away in free parking then walk to wherever I need to be. I walk to the local shop rather than driving to the bigger supermarket. But at work I tend to come in (by bike) and the just sit in the office all day so I'm making a concerted effort to get out for a walk at lunchtime now, even if I don't need to go out to get anything. I'm finding it's making a big difference, and I now get annoyed when someone schedules a meeting over lunch.
I had a long weekend in NYC in November. Walked 30 miles over the 4 days we were there. Hard to make progress though due to stopping at every intersection. If I lived there I doubt I'd own a car either
Why would anyone walk anywhere?
To feel the pine needles shift underfoot, to hear the snow crunch and the leaves rustle
To enjoy the journey and enhance the destination
To enjoy true, unfettered independence
To track the small rivulets along a footpath following a rain shower. To reach shelter and feel alive.
To reach that isolated spot next to the thorn tree above the tiny waterfall, view seven counties from your grassy tower., bask in the sunshine, serenaded by skylarks as the picnic is unfurled.
To smell the sun melting the tarmac and feel the warmth underfoot
To feel hot sand between your toes before and after the cold sea water
To get to the top of Cader Idris and roar like a lion
To accompany, encourage and allow our children to enjoy true independence and a chance to explore their environment
To lollop home from the pub along the towpath singing tunes to the bats, foxes and badgers. Hearing the tawny owls and the ice cracking, echoing as it thaws.
To move boxes froma van. To reach the shops, to listen to the town chatter as you stride out along the streets discovering where you now live. To be able to stop and talk, to explore and begin to make this town become home.
To burst the bubble of depression and let life back in.
To galumph along in giddy conversation with a group of friends when goofing about.
To deliver a letter or message with a real smile (not a smliey)
To get to school
To get to work
To get a pastie 🙂
Disclaimer - am biased as enjoy/ed walking very much.
*Edit - to see the broken glass glass and dogshit - reminders that some people probably don't enjoy walking, or at least don't care that others enjoy it.
^^^ You forgot about the dogshit and the broken glass. 😀
We have 2 dogs and I earn a crust by doing garden care and maintenance - a lot of mowing and strimming -
I walk a lot .
Another 'don't get the dull thing',regardless of location.
In another life I used to travel a lot with work. There are very few places in the UK that I have not visited.
There was no better way to quickly connect to a new area, and make it feel less transient, than walking as much of it as possible. About the same time, I was into distance running and would use the week nights away to find training routes in new areas. IMO, you have a far better experience once you have a place mapped out in your head.