How far can you walk?

[likelysuspect]

Thread running at the moment about a child walking to school. People are not only seemingly horrified at the thought of the child walking, but also the mum doing the walk twice, as she is walking with him. I'm not asking about that Thread or child per se but you and your child.

In one go i can do about 5 miles, not fast, would probably take me 2 hours. Once I've had a rest I could probably then do the same again. I can easily walk 3 miles in about 50 minutes

40 mins is the kind of distance my brain registers as 'not far, I'll just walk it'.
Walking until I drop is about 10km, at which point my knees start complaining.
DS has to cycle 40 mins to school as does every other child living here. Although sometimes in the winter or bad weather I put the bike on the car rack and drop him off so he only has to cycle home.
He could get the bus, but then that leaves a 40 min walk so not much point.

At an average walking pace that’s around 21 hours of walking… not sure why anyone would do that!

And im not talking about the time taken being the barrier as such just wondering what people can do.

We used to walk DS to school half a mile away. Several other families in our road had kids in the same school. All of them drove, which was ridiculous - by the time they'd found somewhere to park normally not even very close to the school we'd passed them on foot!

People are shockingly lazy, and the worst part is that they're teaching their kids that walking anywhere is an impossible thing to do.

I walk 7-8 miles a day (from choice - I have a car) - most of it early in the morning before everyone else is awake and it honestly sets me up for the day.

but 40 minutes in comfortable walking footwear in good weather with a bottle of water is a world away from 40 minutes in essentially shirt and tie, school shoes, heavy bag, Pe kit etc in torrential rain, to then drag your soaked coat around classes all day (so many schools don't have a cloak room! why??) and do the same back in a coat that hasn't fully dried out after a full days of lessons.
the context IS relevant

On a normal work/school day I walk about 10 miles.

It’s not so much the distance as the time. If you’re spending 4 hours of your day doing the school run and that’s without all the other trips to and from school you have to make you really don’t have a lot of time left.

I am in need of new knees so find walking up or downhill painful, however I walk at least 2km everyday prefer to do 3km but that means either tackling the hill walking in circles or driving to walk. Some days I just do my 2km walk twice others I drive and try to combine a longer walk of an hour which is 4km with errands after I am done. I can do over 10km if I am on a day out, with coffee breaks and toilet stops.
I am not fast any more but hate it when I can’t walk for a few days like happened this week as I was ill.

The school drop off is easily within my 2km limit, but involves a steep hill so I am glad I no longer have to do it.

we usually aim to walk 5 miles a day, and might do 10 if we’re out for a day’s walking. We’re 65 and both retired, when we started doing this DH was retired and I was half time - so we have the time to do it. As PP have said, that’s the main practical limitation on parents walking a long way to and fro to school twice a day.
My daughter does long hikes on hilly paths carrying camping gear a few times a year, no way could we do that now!

I know I can easily walk an average of 15 miles a day, as I did the Camino Frances recently with no aches or pains and no blisters, walking roughly that amount each day, sometimes more, for 35 days without a break.

At home, with other stuff to do, I can walk 5 miles without noticing it. I'd call 8 miles a good walk. Though there is one route I do which is 8 miles, and feels like nothing and another I do which is less than 3 miles and feels really tiring. Not sure why. both have hills. The tiring one is all pavements. The easy one is all soft underfoot.

I do at least 40km per day and more if I have spare time. I also go to the gym, look after my elderly mother, mow the lawn, cut the tree branches just using a ladder and a rechargeable hedge cutter, run up and down the stairs about thirty times a day at a cracking pace, and am never out of breath. I am 69.

And just joining in the competitive nature of these threads for a laugh though.

All I do every day is 3 - 5 km at a relaxed pace. That's enough for me. I've no idea how long it takes as those strolls involve numerous coffee stops, chats with the neighbours, admiring the view, stopping at a bench to pretend I'm relaxing when I probably need oxygen and so on. 😊

I used to regularly walk 6 miles. 3 miles one way, quick 5/10 minute break, then 3 miles back to my car. It was a lovely walk.

Haven't done it for a while as they've introduced parking charges so it isn't worth it.

I can happily cycle 7 miles though.

I really need to get into this habit. I love walking and we are lucky to be surrounded by gorgeous walks. DH is retired. I still work but from home in an entirely sedentary job. Since injuring my wrist a year ago I had to give up all of my usual yoga and bootcamp classes, and can feel my fitness dropping off. Getting into the habit of a daily walk is such a good idea. When do you do it? First thing? Evening? Whenever?

I don't know for sure. I've never hiked but have reached 13 miles on a day out in London. That was no trouble at all. I've ran a half marathon too.

It would take a lot for me to reach a limit by walking. I do a minimum of 13k steps every day. A lot of people are pretty lazy tbh.

i walked and cycled my dc to primary and home When I could however many people drive simply so they can go off to work, so time is a major factor.

I frequently walk 3 miles on a Sunday morning without even thinking this is a long way, it’s flat and coastal and gets me and DD to a nice village with shops, cafes etc we often walk back too and it takes an hour each way.

10 miles as a planned day walk further afield is not unusual but this will include stops and breaks depending on how hilly the terrain is. I find that 10 is my limit and notice tiredness if I do more than this.

No idea how far I could walk before I had to stop. I run 10km, 3 times a week though. The furthest I regularly walk is about 5km walking the dogs.

I still just jump in the car if I’m popping to the shops which are fairly close by.

It's not the effort of walking thats the issue, it's the lack of time in my day. When I didn't have a car I would often walk to my local supermarket.. it was 25 minutes there and 25 back obviously. I can drive it in two minutes. This therefore saves me 46 minutes....I work six days a week. I'm too busy when I'm working to walk and on my day off, every moment is precious

I must admit that I love the fact people don't walk very far. It means you get the countryside to yourself and only see a handful of other people. Once you are more than about 10 mins walk away from a parking spot the dog poo, litter and people start to disappear and you are left with the odd walker or cyclist.

I think 5/6 miles would probably be my limit at the moment, but I am obese and very unfit, I need to stop when climbing very steep hills, or more than 3 flights of stairs. When I had a dog, I could do it easily even though I was obese, because I did it regularly.

I have chemo every three weeks and can do a 5km walk on my two good weeks. I’m 50.

The most I’ve done in one stretch is 23 miles, it was fine, I could have carried on but we had arrived at our pub stop. I think just it being night time etc is the limit, rather than a distance being a limit.

I'm 46, on cancer prevention treatment that causes achey muscles and bone pain and I could do the same as you (and have done).

I used to walk everywhere, did DoE, South Downs Way walk (100 miles) did all sorts. Then got sick and was left with chronic pelvic pain. Walking very much curtailed. And now plantar on my right foot, so even less. I miss it!

But a healthy adult should be able to walk miles. Walking is nice, esp on a spring day and a doggy by your side!

I'm not a particular fan of walking, but can do several miles before I've had enough. DH is in his early 70's and loves walking, he goes out most days for at least a couple of hours. He gets twitchy if he doesn't get enough exercise. Earlier this year he wanted to do a long-distance walk and did 36 miles through hilly countryside over 3 days in horrible soaking wet weather, the fool.