To be annoyed that he's obsessed with walking everywhere?

He even used the phrase pack mule! 'youre a pack mule today'

Well now you know how he sees you.

A bit of a donkey

After that insult I would be riding the bus out of his life permanently

This. Especially the part about turning back. My dad used to march ahead so I won't put up with it. My trick is to dawdle if DH marches ahead. Particularly somewhere mildly scary or new. So he suddenly discovers DD and I are nowhere to be seen and panics. We know where we are, and have a phone and a map and just wait for him to find us.

It's Pavlovian.

I've accepted my lot as the family donkey. I like carrying stuff for my DP. Perhaps he could embrace being a pack mule?

TBH if i had to walk with heavy bags i'd refuse and get a bus. See you later.
Theres a difference between a leisurely stroll and being a pack mule.

Can he get a bit fixated on things? As in for him it's not ok to spend the busfare if you can walk?

That does sound rather sweet. I’m having difficulty reconciling that with letting you carry two heavy bags by yourself - and apparently even taking said bags off you to tell you how they weren’t heavy and then giving them back.

He can't MAKE you walk, any more than you can make him take the bus. There is no point in having a huffy, miserable walk. Just say "no problem - you walk, I'll catch the bus and I'll see you at home."

If he gets shitty about it, that's another problem.

@FeedingThem I also work and don't have endless hours to walk but often bus journeys for a 30 min walk don't make much difference time wise with waiting etc.

A back pack is much more easier to get around on and off public transport. It's also better for evening out the pressure on your back that pulling a suitcase predominantly on one side. I find it much easier to carry a heavy backpack which has minimal inherent weight than a solid suitcase.

This is what you need to be saying to him

Oh your bags aren't heavy / it's only light rain / it's only an hour...

You're not HEARING me Dave. I am catching the bus. I will meet you at X when you get there.

But it's just...

No Dave. This is not up for discussion.

And walk away

I like to walk and do a lot of it in my job

However for me it is a time thing.

I really don't have time to spend 1 hour of my life doing a 30 minute walk to and from a shop to get groceries or go out to eat etc
When in 15 minutes I could have driven, parked up shopped and driven back.

Time to start learning to drive.

Also next time you go on holiday choose a more central place to stay. If he doesn't like it then he is free to book his own place elsewhere

So many red flags in this relationship though

Whilst essentially LTB sounds OTT considering the topic
I do think you need to look at other aspects of your relationship.

The weighing the bags and arguing the point instead of offering to carry them is a huge Red Flag

I would look at this in the long term. If you were heavily pregnant would he still insist you walk everywhere and get out books that say walking is good for the pregnancy
Will you be still happy to be doing this when you are 70 or 80 years old. Stay and you have a lifetime of 30 minute walks ahead of you

If you only do 2 x 30 minute walks per day for the next 50 years. That is over 2 solid years of your life walking to places that could be got to in a 5 minute drive

I'd never get a bus if it's only a 30min walk. By the time I've waited for the bus to arrive I could probably walk it quicker.

Which is fine of you have endless hours to walk. Walking to work for an hour in winter through a built up area Vs a 20 minute bus journey isn't enhancing my life, it's just adding 6 hours a week onto my commute. Walking the kids to club Vs the bus means less time between school and club to eat and hone later to bed. No one is benefiting from that.

Conversely, we always walk home from school if coming home / not atrocious weather and it's good for chats and decompression. We would around the park and into town for the bus. An hour walk TO and then FROM the park along busy main roads isn't making anyone's day better.

He sounds puritanical

This is going to sound silly, but bear with me. What considerate things had he done for you in the last fortnight? Even teeny tiny things. Can you think of a few?

The walking in itself is fine but the way he goes about it and how he talks to you is worrying.
I wonder where is he coming from, ie. anxiety of public transport, busy/noisy places

There’s loads of “it depends” here surely?

I get a bus regularly. It takes 5 minutes to walk to and is supposed to be every 15 minutes and takes about 20 minutes normally to do what would be an hours walk.

But if the bus is 15 minutes late and there is bad traffic or a couple of idiots on bus arguing with drive and I get to bus stop 5 minutes before bus is expected it can easily be similar time spent getting there by bus as it would walking! And that’s an hours walking journey not even a half hour one.

There is another bus I use that only comes once an hour. If the journey was only 30 minutes walk I’d never bother with it because if you decide you’d like to leave at 10 but bus isn’t till 10:30 you wouldn’t even be on the bus before you’d get there by walking.

So I presume you must live somewhere where the buses are very frequent or at least very punctual to have such a good opinion of them!

I am a walker!

If I can walk instead of taking public transport then I absolutely will!

I don’t see the point standing around for 10/20mins waiting for a bus when I could be almost there in the time that it even arrives.
Its also good for my MH and I just enjoy it.

But I would absolutely either offer to carry one of the bags or compromise on taking the bus every now and then.

He doesn’t get to trump your decisions.

Honestly I would just carry on getting the bus on your own and just meeting him at the destination.

This would annoy me. I like walking but not with heavy things, and if he insists on walking he should carry your bags. Keep an eye on his other behaviour, is he always inconsiderate?

My DH is like this, I’ve told him I’m not a hotel porter, he’s free to arrange for a baggage transfer and then I’m happy to walk. Generally a taxi is cheaper… and the bus even cheaper than that.