Comments on: Travelling on Foot

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:16:26 +0000

I know the feeling I work a job that requires me to sit in front of a computer all day, every day. Looking outside, wondering how the breeze feels, longing to be out there, enjoying life rather than rotting away in a cube.

Every weekend for the past few months I've been driving somewhere I've never been and I just walk and wander until I discover something I've never seen before. It's amazing what the world has to offer and what I never would have seen if I didnt get up away from the computer and explore.

By: William Thirteen

William Thirteen — Thu, 31 May 2007 08:59:06 +0000

you might enjoy reading Patrick Leigh Fermor’s ‘A Time of Gifts’ detailing the first third of his walk from Holland to Constantinople’ through a Europe not yet destroyed by the second world war. The most destructive aspects of modern urban planning have been the redesign of cities for the convenience of automobiles rather than pedestrians…

By: Mike Golby

Mike Golby — Sun, 20 May 2007 06:07:29 +0000

Jonathon, I find this a wonderfully "affirming" piece.

I do not pretend to take photographs but, since acquiring a Canon A520, I've been passionate -- perhaps obssessive -- about getting outdoors. I either walk mountains or, to Wendy's disgust, sit on a rock for nine hours making pictures of surfers. The camera -- now a Canon S3 IS, is my excuse for seeking inner and outer space and, more importantly, melding or balancing the two.

(A friend who writes for the local Sunday Independent recently won a national journalism award for fiction. She's presently compiling a book on walking.)

Frankly, I'm not one for exercise -- I did karate on and off for decades, lured by the promise of 'minimal effort, maximal effect' -- but I do love the stimulating solitude I find travelling the vast and wondrous spaces immediately about (and, by extension, within) us.

And, I guess, in my case, what might be a bad picture to some is life lived fully to another.

Today's the second day of our first bad winter storm -- what better excuse to be out there -- walking? I'm off...

By: Shelley

Shelley — Fri, 11 May 2007 00:27:52 +0000

"I sit in front of a computer too much. Iâ€™m better off walking â€” where I can think, feel, be in the world, make pictures, write essays in my mindâ€¦"

Amen, Jonathon. Amen.

By: Yotro

Yotro — Thu, 10 May 2007 12:01:19 +0000

An interesting post. Three favourite walkers of mine: the painter R.B. Kitaj who took up brisk London walks after a heart attack and sang the joy of them; Kitaj led me by down the path to Rousseau’s (rather deranged) Reveries of the Solitary Walker; and Thoreau’s aptly titled Walking.

By: Doug’s Dynamic Drivel » Falling out of habit

Doug’s Dynamic Drivel » Falling out of habit — Thu, 10 May 2007 02:13:13 +0000

[...] Delacour has a wonderful piece today on walking. If you are or have been at some time in your life a long distance walker [...]

By: dave rogers

dave rogers — Thu, 10 May 2007 02:04:16 +0000

That we all achieve wholeness through our physicality should be no surprise.

I would say that without exploring or exploiting our physicality we are unlikely to achieve wholeness, but I don't think it's by any means exclusively through it. It's all of a piece, yet our modern sedentary existence has deprecated the utility of physicality in favor of the immediate, if ultimately superficial, advantages seemingly offered by technology.

A wonderful post, Jonathon.

By: Camilo

Camilo — Thu, 10 May 2007 00:45:40 +0000

Walking allows time to clear the mind, dispel angers and allow the rational mind to catch up with the emotional. That we all achieve wholeness through our physicality should be no surprise.

By: loren

loren — Wed, 09 May 2007 18:35:31 +0000

There seems to be something truly postmodern about reading books about walking, Jonathon.

Which isn't to say that I've always walked. In high school a friend and I would walk 5 miles downtown and 5 miles back to save the 25 cent bus fair, but really so we could spend the day walking and talking.

The best time in my life was right after I retired and walked up to twenty-five miles per day in the Columbia Gorge and on Mt. Hood.

I've even discovered that the only time I can write poetry is when I'm walking.

By: Ethan

Ethan — Wed, 09 May 2007 15:44:44 +0000

This is going to sound silly, but I'm amazed at the scope and depth of the sounds of nature that I hear when walking around my subdivision. Suburbia is meant to appear neat and orderly, yet "nature" persists. Much nicer than listening to mp3s while walking.

Thanks for the link/mention.