The answer is one hundred and ninety eight.

198 what????

If it’s miles then that explains our local council’s reluctance to cater for cycling into town and encouragement of bike theft.
Too many lazy bastards like me would ride instead of walk … whereas with the councils current areas to lock bikes (lock bike to a 8mm soft steel loop that doesn’t even need big bolt cutters and they just weld back after use) you’re practically guaranteed a walk home after the bike is stolen.

Back when I still used campsites, it wasn’t uncommon to see people driving across a field to visit the washroom block – so why does this surprise anyone?

Trouble with averages is that they have to include the whole of the UK population. Checking some stats shows 4 million are under 4 years old and 3.2 million are over 80. Both groups are unlikely to do much distance walking even if they wanted to. So that is over 10% of the population right there. Take them out and maybe the figures look a bit less bad. Maybe remove those who can’t physically walk from the stats too. Who knows. Maybe the headline figure isn’t quite as shocking as it first seems. And how does it compare to similar countries around the world?

This gives more information. The average is being dragged to below 200miles/yr by older women (age 60+).

https://www.statista.com/statistics/376531/walking-distance-in-england-uk-by-age-and-gender/

Looking at some of my neighbours I am suprised it’s as high as it is. Maybe it includes steps from the couch to the fridge.

That is shockingly low.

According to my Garmin steps (which does include running to be fair – although not exactly much in my case) I do that a month & I don’t feel like i’m overly active. I guess being out with the dog twice a day adds up.

I can see that.
I work from home and it’s quite easy for me to have barely left my desk all day and my walking to have been the 30 or so steps between kitchen, bedroom, office and bathroom.
I run every day so get my distance there, but I know how easy it’d be to not leave the house and so barely get over 2000 steps.

Before lockdown I was managing over 10,000 steps a day purely traveling to and from work with a lunchtime stroll thrown in. I’ve been WFH since March and my steps per day have diminished massively. I try and get out for either a walk or run most days.

To be honest the average distance per person doesn’t surprise me. We have a garage about 500 meters from the front door. On the rare occasion that I need something from there I walk. Next door drive there and once offered me a lift back when we were there at the same time. Likewise the high street is less than a kilometer away and many people from my road drive.

I have just driven down to the Post Office. It is 2 miles away, so a 4 mile walk. Took me 15 minutes for round trip using car and would have taken well over an hour walking. The fact we don’t have pavements and walking along the edge of a wet road with cars driving past at 40mph also doesn’t help in my situation but that is a good example of a distance I could have in theory walked but don’t really have an 1 and a half to spare.

As someone has mentioned….12 hours shifts 5 days a week doing a sole destroying job….you don’t feel much like walking I’d imagine.

Depends on your outlook/mentality. I was working from 8am till 11:30pm yesterday. Knew it was going to be a gash day so I was out for a 7k run at 6:30am. Likewise i’m doing everything i can to find 40 mins for a walk or run today.

But the real question is how far does the average person ‘hop’ a year…

We had a tiny GPS logger for their collars which recorded where they went and where they slept etc…

We should do this to the population at large, maybe at the same time as vaccine? Speaking of shocking – could it also deliver a shock to make people move?

However walking is pretty good for the soul.

Depends where you’re walking. Live on the edge of a national park or some other nice place and walking can be lovely. Live in a run down area in a city and walking can be depressing/frustrating (waiting to cross roads, pavements non-existent or blocked)/dangerous.

I never walk anywhere. I have a bike, why would I walk?

matt_outandabout
Full MemberWhat do I win?

It’s shocking.

I remember one of my dissertations was on access in the lakes. At the time it was researched that the average visitor to the lakes walked 400metres. That includes the hillwalkers. I think it was 20% basically stood up from car, took a photo and climbed back in… That was in the 1990’s, I suspect it’s worsened now.

did some stuff for BMC back in the 80’s and recall we queried think it was called Sports Council England ? data on number of people that engaged in actively leisure walking as didn’t match anything we or The Ramblers had and turned out the definition of active walking was over 250m from car once per month….and a lot of this is self declared so isn’t true anyway

My Apple watch tracks this so I can tell you almost exactly. I averaged 7.5km per day in the past 12 months. That is 1700 miles during the year. Easily explained, I own a spaniel.

My son wears through his school shoes in about 12 weeks, literally wears them out from legging it around.

Having said that, we live less than 1km away from school. A nice walk, along an old railway line totally separate from traffic. You can walk to school without crossing a single road. It is quite idyllic. My son cycles to school every day, all year round. Every single other kid in our street is driven. This include kids belonging to parents who work part time or don’t work at all. The 11 year old kid next door has never, ever walked, scooted or cycled to school. Active travel just isn’t in their thinking.

21.3 km today following a dustcart around. I guess for the week it would be around 80 – 90 km.

This gives more information. The average is being dragged to below 200miles/yr by older women (age 60+).

My mum (80) did that every month before lockdown

Munrobiker

I never walk anywhere. I have a bike, why would I walk?

Doesn’t count mate…. OH had to stop cycling as it doesn’t count towards her steps.

Walk the dogs every other day, that’s a couple of miles x about 150 walks for 300 miles, straight off the bat. Sometimes run with them instead so probably put on another 100 miles. But that’s about it, I’m parked on my backside all day most every dat for work. OTOH I’m not inactive and do other exercise.

That doesn’t surprise me at all. If I didn’t have a dog to walk, or play golf, I’d not walk 200 miles a year either I reckon.

Any exercise i get is on my bike, which wouldn’t count.

Just did a quick calculation based on my Google Fit data and think I’m at 1300 miles a year of walking. My wife does the dog walking and I’d rather stick needles in my eye than play golf. I commute by bike, so it’s not getting to/from work either.

I’m on my feet at work most of the day, so that will tally up a little bit. Then little things like we needed a couple of things from the shop the other day so we walked there and back, which is a 2.5 mile round trip or it’s a 3 mile round trip into town and back, all soon adds up.

It doesn’t sound that unlikely – it was shocking just how few steps I did daily during lockdown here when we weren’t even allowed out to do exercise. Assuming someone was doing the same as me, but driving to/from work I can see them doing easily less than 2000 steps/day.

That is shocking.

I’ve just looked at my garmin connect records and between November 2014 & Nov 2019 I have averaged 4349km or 2730 miles per year including runs. That 11.91km or 6.9 miles per day.

I don’t actually feel like I do that much.

Deleted

I never walk anywhere. I have a bike, why would I walk?

How do you get to your bike? *

* Kudos if it’s always within reach! 🙂

I do about 10 miles a day.
However modern life has rejected me so I have nothing else to do

It’s a bit funny, with lockdown 1.0 and 2.0 I think my average total walking daily steps count might actually be less than the National average…

But that is balanced by going running for 10k+ almost everyday and lining up my first marathon before Christmas. 😅

I don’t have kids and my job can be done remotely, I could well believe shift work, two hour each way commutes and caring responsibilities would really impact some people.

I do very, very little walking. I struggle to walk a mile unaided and trying to do so is a very frustrating experiencev which leaves my legs weak for a day or two. I have a disability, I know I’m in the minority there but it’s not *that* uncommon to be unable to walk far. People like me must drag that figure right down.

Just over half a mile a day, I can do that going back and fore to the kettle from my desk (not really – I’d need to loop in the fridge and biscuit cupboard).

Reminds me I’m supposed to be getting out for a walk with the dog.

Indeed, and active people don’t bring the average up THAT much. Eg I apparently walk ~4km/day mostly wandering around at work.

I commute by bike (~29km total) so I don’t feel too lazy but most people will just drive that distance.

We’re about 1.5 mile out of our town centre. We will always walk there unless there’s a good reason not to. And we’ve made the kids walk there since they’ve been about 3 years old. They’re now 9, 11 and 16 and will happily walk miles. People are amazed that we made them walk to town and back, from such a young age.

My wife goes to the gym with a friend. That’s a 20 minute walk away for my wife. Her friend who lives around the corner from us, drives as she has to walk up a hill on the way back home. It’s not even a hill, more of a gently incline. It just beggars belief.

We had friends visit who wanted to drive round to the shops. Bear in mind the shops take literally 3 minutes to walk to from our front door.

An awful lot of people do seem to be wedded to their cars.

I’m not surprised it’s that low. My life had become very sedantry this year but thankfully I reckon I’m still managing at least 5 times the average…. Still feel very very unfit with that though. We need to break the addiction to cars.

Just getting back to fitness of any sort. Walking is my staple exercise. I’ve managed walks of 5 and 10 miles each Sat/Sun for the past month. Now walking during the evening too – not exciting – 10 up and down loops of the playing field at 6 km/hr for a walk of 4 miles a time.

For longevity, walking is singularly the best exercise you can do. And you don’t need to lycra up either. but you do have to walk briskly. My goal is a sub six-hr marathon, and some longer walks. Sadly another dog is now required 🙁

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedestrianism is worth a read – one mile per hour. For 1000 hours!

Since lockdown I’ve been trying to get out for an hour long walk on any day when the weather’s OK. Before lockdown I was cycling to and from work, but actual walking may mostly have been a no more than 20 minute walk at lunch times, plus stuff like walking to and from the local supermarket, and occasionally walking into the city centre if I didn’t feel like cycling.

Depends on your outlook/mentality. I was working from 8am till 11:30pm yesterday. Knew it was going to be a gash day so I was out for a 7k run at 6:30am. Likewise i’m doing everything i can to find 40 mins for a walk or run today.

I respectfully disagree. Do you do those hours every day? Do you get pleasure from your work and does it pay relatively well? I did a few years in my twenties in a long hours, low paid, menial job whilst living on a rough estate. Not much fun to be had on a night time walk. I was utterly knackered every day. Up at 04:30 and home at around 20:00 each day. Mind numbed, energy sapped and will to do exercise pretty much non-existent. Don’t underestimate what a shitty job can do to you. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

Don’t underestimate what a shitty job can do to you. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

Reminded me of this excellent article…

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/21/linda-tirado-poverty-hand-to-mouth-extract

If you ever wondered why the poor still smoke (ok it’s just one person, but it made a lasting impression on me).

I smoke. It’s expensive. It’s also the best option. You see, I am always, always exhausted. It’s a stimulant. When I am too tired to walk one more step, I can smoke and go for another hour. When I am enraged and beaten down and incapable of accomplishing one more thing, I can smoke and I feel a little better, just for a minute. It is the only relaxation I am allowed. It is not a good decision, but it is the only one that I have access to. It is the only thing I have found that keeps me from collapsing or exploding.

@footflaps – thanks for the read.

A good friend of mine lost his job at the onset of Covid, to make ends meet he works in a factory/warehouse, picking items of one conveyor belt and onto another, standing in almost the same position for 12 hours a day.
He was extremely fit before he had this job, ex league 1 footballer (from the 1980’s and 1990’s before they were paid as well as they are now). We used to ride together a couple of times a week.
Anyway, he has absolutely zero energy to do anything apart from sleep and work. Even making himself decent food is an issue. He does shifts, this includes night as well as day shifts.
Not only is he mentally exhausted, but he says his hips and back are so tired, there is no chance can he ride his bike, let alone walk anywhere.
I’m lucky in that I have a sedentary job, generally working from home. Each morning I get to do a dog walk, varying from 4 to 6 miles a day. Lunch time after the dog has had a snooze we go for another shorter walk of about 20 mins, then repeat it before bed.

@footflaps – thanks for the read.

There’s an excellent book I read, which explains why / how stress kills you…

TL;DR Stress causes Cortisol to rise in the blood, Cortisol hardens arteries (amongst other things), hardened arteries cause heart attacks.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/why-zebras-dont-get-ulcers-revised-edition/m-sapolsky/m-sapolsky-robert/9780805073690

Glad that others recognise what some jobs can do to people. I look back on that time and shudder thinking about it to be honest. A lot of folk live how I described and I’d wager that they aren’t walking much. Shocking, yes. Lazy, no and nothing to do with a mindset.

Why would people walk when they have a car or a bike. Walking is the slowest way to get anywhere and going any distance takes a lot of time

For me (have car, bikes, scooter) I because I like walking*. To explore. To relax/think. To dawdle and stroll. To take photos. Follow my nose. To take time and smell the roses. To see wildlife/nature in the quietest way possible. To feel free and unencumbered, independent.

And because we evolved to walk!

Confession (if I sound weirdly enthusiastic) :

At 30yrs old I abruptly went from walking 30-60 miles a week on average to zero/bedbound/wheelchair. Lost the ability to walk at all due to injury and almost instant onset aggressive bilateral RA. For 5 years. Then remission. Then the last 18 years rehab has gotten me from wheelchair, to crutches, to painkillers hobbling across room, to half a mile unaided. Last week I did 21 miles. One walk of 7 miles. Averaging 4 miles every other night. Just a few years ago a 5 mile walk would put me off my feet and back on painkillers for at least a few days. Scar-tissue, joint-deformity, neuromas and atrophy dictate that progress is slow, but I’m never giving up it’s part of who I was (along with cycling). This autumn for the first time since 1997 I can walk about every day without painkillers. It’s amazing!

Walking is the very simplest pleasure and it became a luxury that I can’t afford to lose again now I’ve gotten it back!