been cycling to work since 1982. and I am totally **** off with it to be honest.
always tired and grumpy, always a bit run down.

so come the new year, I am gonna start walking to work. 1 day a week to start with. it is five miles each way.
I will be slow because I have never walked much, and my metal joints weigh a ton.

what kind of time should I give myself.

75-90 mins I reckon, best of luck iron giant. 😊

Quick Google (BHF) suggests upto two hours (3mph for average pace on country paths etc)

90 minutes I’d say at the start.

That’s a fair old stomp to be doing twice a day, the average walking pace is about 3mph, so about 1.5 hours. Fair play for taking it on, personally I’d stick to the bike

I was gonna give myself 2 hours to start with. loaded ipod and a little flask at the ready.

Yeah, I’d say 2 hours initially. Good luck to you…i love a walk but id be bored of that after day 1! Maybe a few alternative routes to keep it spicy

Yeah, 90 minutes or so. Still, you can work up to running it and get that time down quite a lot 😉

10 miles of walking a day will be just as knackering as 10 miles of cycling a day. Ride slower.

I was gonna give myself 2 hours to start with. loaded ipod and a little flask at the ready.

I read that as hip flask, which is fine on the way home. Maybe not a great idea on the way to work.

Take it easy to start with 5 miles in one way then back is a lot if you are not use to it plus get some good walking shoes too you might find that knackers you out more to start with than cycling till you get use to it pavements and paths are pretty uneven in places to.

Get an e bike.

I reckon you’ll find walking 10miles a day uses more energy than cycling 10miles a day. I have a 2mile commute to work and usually ride it but a few years ago I walked it for several months. After a few days I noticed an increase in my appetite but not my weight. Just googling around calories walking /calories biking I found this…

Pedaling Toward Your Goal
One of the benefits of using bicycling as your form of exercise is its quick calorie burn. At a moderate pace, bicycling burns calories quickly, but adopting a quicker speed leads to a faster calorie burn. A person who maintains an up-tempo pace of about 15 mph travels 7.5 miles in 30 minutes. In this duration, a 180-pound person burns about 432 calories.

Walking’s Steady Calorie Burn
It’s difficult to walk at a pace even approaching the pace you travel on your bicycle, which means going a set distance takes you significantly longer on foot than by bike. If you wish to travel 7.5 miles, for example, and average a pace of 4 mph, your walk will take you about 113 minutes. During a 113-minute walk at 4 mph, a 180-pound person burns about 793 calories, which is significantly more than bicycling. The increased calorie burn of walking is due to the longer amount of time it takes you to travel the distance.

I only walk 25 minutes to work, and getting piss wet though first thing in the morning isn’t pleasant, although wouldn’t be much different to riding.

It’s just that with walking you’ll be out in it longer.

(he says looking out the window as it pisses it down… Again)

Get a kick scooter. Quicker than walking, more fun than cycling.

Mine is 2 miles each way and takes about 40 minutes at a relaxing pace. It’s still noisy, busy and smelly but I don’t fear for my life. I’ve never had a shouting match or a near death experience. The weather and traffic etc, makes no difference to travel time. I’m pretty chilled out by the time I get home.

It’s actually the best commute I’ve ever had. Mostly for stress/mental health reasons. 5 miles might be a different story but will be fine once a twice a week I’m sure.

It’s not just the distance, the elevation gain will have a big factor too, just like with cycling.

I’ve had the odd time where I’ve finished my postie shift (where I typically walk approx 6-7 miles per shift) to find a puncture and I’ve forgotten to grab my pump and repair kit on the way out of the house that morning. Instead of walking to the local bike store, I’ve frog-marched the ~4.5 miles (~250 foot climbing) home while pushing the bike in ~1 hour.

As a random one-off going one way, it’s annoying, but there’s no way I’d do that both ways everyday!

How long for you? Pick a random number between approx 60 and 120 minutes each way… I don’t know your route, your fitness levels or your weight! (I suspect under 1000Kg) 😉

ton, if the only physical exercise you do is ~5 miles each way cycle commuting to/from work and that is leaving exhausted and grumpy, my immediate hunch is either…
You aren’t using your easiest gears enough
The easiest gears on your current bike aren’t easy enough
Your fitness levels are worsening to a concerning level that perhaps needs medical advice

10 miles of walking a day will be just as knackering as 10 miles of cycling a day. Ride slower.

10 miles of walking will be a lot more knackering than 10 miles of cycling.

Along a flattish route a bike is 4 to 5 times more efficient than walking.

Get some roller skates, good mid ground and you can keep pace at about 12-14mph

5 mile – wow – good luck lad. I walk 2 mile each way every day and this time of year is toughest (up here in SW Scotland anyhow). Dark walking in and dark walking home but still feels a lot less faff that biking.

Check out Nordic Walking, it’ll spread the effort to your upper body, and reduce the load on your knees and ankles.

I used to walk 3.5 miles one way for better part of year.

Went through 3 pairs of walking shoes during that time.

Built fixie, started cycling.

Couldn’t be happier 😀

Cheers!
I.

I’d say 90mins. I’ve been thinking similar, though getting the bus one way, but it’s be 10km on roadsides for me with it all up hill until half way and I’d allow 2 hours.

I figured less faff at either end than cycling, but cycling only takes 30min and nearly half I can freewheel or soft pedal.

Not sure how my metal knee will take it as a regular thing (what about your joints?) but have done 20k off road as the longest since the op.

just cycle. much easier.

I’ve thought about walking to work before instead of cycling, just 4 miles for me. Not necessarily to a regime like once a week, but just as I feel like it. Need my sleep too much though to get up early enough to do it, and sirromj#3 is making that difficult at present.

I did walk to work and back a couple of years ago when I fractured my wrist. But it was Summer so quite enjoyable. I did attempt to jog sections but got shin splints too easily.

Agree with others at least 90 minutes to start.

Can you attach an MTB to a Twizy? I’d be tempted to get one if so.

Seems a big ask: from 0km to 7.5km in a day. I’d recommend investigating bus routes and trying to combine that with c25k. Come Summer it will be much more feasible.

A colleague of mine who was mid 50s, pretty chubby and very much a non-sporty geek decided to lose some weight. He does light gym work but took up walking, everywhere and anywhere. Travelling for work he’d walk to and from hotels and offices all over the place. He walks loads even at home now, and at a pace I struggle to match without jogging. He lost several stone and is now properly skinny.

At his pace it’s flippin hard work – my HR is comparable with zone 2 cycling at least if I walk with him – but it still takes a lot longer than riding obviously. So in terms of getting the calorie burn into your working week it’s excellent. I’d say a 5 mile trip is perfect for walking. Given time you could get it down to an hour if you put the effort in.

You don’t half get through shoes though.

Cycle one way, walk the other? Next day reverse.

I’m not sure I’d leap into that. Can you walk / bus?
I used to walk to work quite a lot, that was when it was 2/3 miles away. I think I’d flip of boredom at 5. Is it canalside or roadside?

Having said that mrs kcal has a walking regime that’s 6 miles/day (leisure) minium and more at weekends.

I work by the Royal Armouries and in summer sometimes walk home to Woodlesford along the canal (Ton will know these places), its pretty much 10k and I try to walk at a decent pace so as to get something out of it and it takes me about an hour and 20 – 30 minutes ish…. If I run it takes me about an hour. Bike takes 25 mins!

I used to walk 6 miles each way. Took about just under 90 minutes when you were used it. Started it first day back of the new year before going on the idave diet… Some weeks I’d do >50 miles that way… **** knackering though…

It’s hard until you get used to it. Like everything else if it’s the norm… Well it’s normal… The last (uphill) mile always felt like a chore.

I found it really helped with weight loss (I’d usually walk three times a week). Leaving and getting back in the dark gets a bit wearing too.

A MP3 player and water was enough for me.

And yeah you go through shoes a lot quicker too. I used Scarpa trail shoes and had a change of shoes & clothes in the office too, you get a wee bit sweaty at that distance.

🤣

10 miles of walking will be a lot more knackering than 10 miles of cycling.

This.

I would love to have a nice five-mile ride to work.

If you’re already a few kgs over (like me) you’ll get through trousers in no time as well!

I used to walk 6 miles a day (3 each way) after getting bus for 7 miles and then walking rest.

It took me 40 minutes as I walk fast but it was horrible in the summer as even at 8 in the morning I was sweating when I got to work. If I was doing it now I would use an electric scooter.

At pressing on pace, I walk 12 miles in 2:45, that’s 4.4 mph. I’d like to walk a sub-six marathon at some point. So 5 miles would be 1:10 each way at a good pace. I think I would say 100 minutes for a starting walker each way. If you are tired cycling, walking will not make it easier! For me it’s Zone 2 exercise. An E-bike would be a better choice. Three hours walking per day is a serious time commitment.

I love walking btw, a dog makes it even better. But can you take your dog to work?

Electric scooter FTW.

On a recent break to Benidorm they were everywhere. Looked pretty fast too.

Prob with walking 5 miles each way is that you will get proper wet when its raining, and proper p1ssed off when its blowing a gale too.

I reckon you’ll find walking 10miles a day uses more energy than cycling 10miles a day.

Yep, stick on a HR monitor and put your effort into Training Peaks. Check the TSS. Even better if you add some hills.

I walk about 7 miles to and from the office. takes me ’bout an hour in total. Walk home is up a stern-ish hill though.