'We went for a long walk' ... how far is this with your family?

[RedlightGreenlight]

Obviously ages of DC can determine how far is far. But if your DC are 8+ how far is your long walk?

The longest we’ve walked with a 7 year old is about 7 miles. She was absolutely fine.

For me, just me, a long walk is over 15 miles. For me and my older kids, teens 8-10 miles is long. For my youngest one on the cusp of 8, 5-6 miles they would call long if done all in one go, but would probably not notice the distance if done as part of a day out or activity.

We did a 6 mile walk with dds 19, 16 and 10. It was lovely. The older ones were ok but maybe a mile too long for the youngest. The paths were a bit rocky too and she would run in bursts so made herself tired more quickly.

@RedlightGreenlight

We use the book series 'Walks for all ages' and SIL says it is rubbish because all walks are too long for her 10 and 12 year old. They start at around 2 miles! I thought I'd ask to gauge who was right....SIL or the book?

Oh c'mon OP. You surely know your SIL is wrong? Didn't need MN for that!

Yes, long walk is 2.5 - 3 hours, about 10km with a stop for lunch or snack part of that.

DD (3) now walks 3 miles happily fairly regularly. We walk 1.5-2 miles every day so she is building good walking legs. We're getting to the point where i think, on a fine day
and with a proper picnic lunch stop, we could do 5 miles happily.

Pre kids, I would class a long walk as anything 7+ miles.

We are a very 'Walky' family. We've been taking them out walking as a past time since they were young. I'd expect them to do about 3-5 miles without much fuss but anything more than that I need to buy sweets to keep them going and plan it a bit more. Longest they have done is about 10 miles. It was up to a tarn and back. Fully expected to have to turn back but didn't . Walking kids are 5 and 7 and youngest in a sling.

We walk five miles locally on a regular basis, early teen.

Anything over 20 minutes for me, I get whiny and bored unless I have a purpose. A walk is not in any way interesting for me.

@SuperSleepyBaby

I’m amazed about 2 and 3 year olds happily walking for miles and miles

Me too!

About 3 miles would be a long walk for us.

We do shorter walks in winter as it's before or after lunch, but once its picnic weather they get longer again. We did about 10 miles on Friday which I would count as a long walk.

My standard daily walk is 4-5 miles. 6-8 mikes is a “decent walk”, and a long walk is 8 miles plus.

With an 8 year old a long walk is an hour I think. My 13 yo did a 4 mile walk today and there was a lot of moaning on the final mile. 🙄

”I’m amazed about 2 and 3 year olds happily walking for miles and miles”

I have 3 DCs - the oldest two wouldn’t have walked miles and miles at that age but my youngest with ADHD could easily do a good 3-4 miles at 3. Didn’t bloody wear him out though

@CMOTDibbler

My standard walk is 3 miles, a 'nice' walk at the weekend is 8 miles (no water bottle, snacks or bribery required), 13 miles or more would need a flask and snacks but ds would plod on happily. He's 14, but we live in a small town and popping into town and back is 2 miles so he's done that since he could walk

You’d walk 8 miles without water?!

5/6 miles for 8yr old

@RedlightGreenlight

We use the book series 'Walks for all ages' and SIL says it is rubbish because all walks are too long for her 10 and 12 year old. They start at around 2 miles! I thought I'd ask to gauge who was right....SIL or the book?

I had never heard of these - fantastic, although I’ve just looked up the book for our area and one route is up a mountain which is actually pretty hard going!

I’m amazed about 2 and 3 year olds happily walking for miles and miles

Some kids are just Duracell bunnies. I remember walking all round Paris when dd was 3, and even when DH and I (who are both good walkers!) were exhausted, dd remained happy to keep trotting along. We never really carried her when she was little because she never really asked!

As a teen, she breezed through DofE expeditions etc quite easily, whereas others really struggled, so I think some kids are just built like that.

Walking is our thing. We regularly walk 10miles at a weekend over the mountains. Tend to do at least one walking holiday a year e.g hadrians wall. I'd say over 15 os long simply as it takes a few hours. But two miles? We do that every day just to get some fresh air. It wouldn't get you anywhere near the 10000 steps recommended.

Weekday walk with dog 5/6k
Weekend walk with dog 8-12k

Mine are 8 and 5 the longest they will manage is 4-5 miles. Although this is usually the moors so often rough terrain and sometimes hilly.

7/8 miles or more. Over 7m and we'd need to take a picnic. We've worked DD(7) up to that distance since the first lockdown. We're planning to stretch her to 10m once the weather's fit for picnics again.

You’d walk 8 miles without water?!

@ShirleyPhallus, dd and I walked for 8 miles without water a few days ago. We had originally set out for a shorter 5-mile walk and would never think to take water on that, but we ended up taking a bit of a detour because dd wanted to show me a path that she had discovered with her friends.

I don't think it's particularly sensible to go on a longer walk without water, and I wouldn't usually plan it that way, but it was absolutely fine actually.

A normal/ everyday walk is about 4 to 5km.

A long walk would be maybe 8ishkm. Water required.

A 'hike' (even if in the city) is 10km+. Lunch required.

8 to 10 miles would be a "long" walk

5 miles an ordinary one

3-4 hours for us, kids aged between 10 and 18