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

30miles

I’m with others, in that I’ve never really tested it. Access to the loo, time limits and bags to carry all have an impact. Personally I like to have a reason to walk, like to town for shopping, otherwise I feel rushed and that I should be doing other jobs.

Ideally I'd only walk max six miles, legs would feel a bit tired and mentally I've enjoyed the walk, but have had enough. I regularly do 5-6 miles hill walking, some of which us a 25% gradient, so that's why I get tired legs. DH is fitter than me and can do the 25% gradient of about a mile without an impact. I'm 59, DH 61.

If I was totally flat walking, I guess double that - I've walked to and from town before which is about eight miles, then walked around shops, and could do a bit more if I really had to.

I was brought up not to expect a lift everywhere. So I became used to walking, known as "shanks pony". It's paid off, as I am still walking a lot in my 60s and I hope it will continue into my 70s.

I would probably not want to walk more that about 25 miles in a day.

Wheelchair user here, just for perspective. I can walk about 10 meters, maybe from one side of a large room to the other, as long as there’s a chair at the other side to sit down.

I can (and do) spend all day walking, it is one of my hobbies.
If I want to go into town, my default option is to walk (about 45mins brisk walk) unless carrying shopping back with me is just not practical.
A pleasant day out would normally be walking anything up to 15miles, we take Ddogs but on the longer walks, they have buggies for if they get tired.
I used to enjoy long walks in the countryside with my parents so I suppose that is where I get it from. Luckily my OH is equally keen.🙂

What is this...competitive walking?

25 miles a day is nuts. It's a flipping marathon. What state are your feet in after that? It's about 8 hours of walking.

Noticed that those on here who do the most walking are older/retired. I walked a lot more when I was a sahm...now I work and really can't just go for a walk for the sake of it. Getting to school/work/shops is just a matter of doing whatever the quickest is.

I can walk for long distances ok but I find it really boring and I have a lot of problems with my feet

I can run 13+ so at least that walking I guess, although it would take a long time walking it I suppose. Time on feet is a big thing, it’s not just pace. Being on your feet for hours is hard.

I walk a lot as I always walk the school run, I think I’ve driven maybe three times in two years, and the nursery run, so that gets a good baseline amount in. I average about 15k steps a day but that includes my running, so I think that’s about 6.5 miles a day.

I would say that I think I’m on the upper end of the activity scale, I don’t think a huge amount of people are doing that much every day. I just have a lot of nervous energy to burn and a flexible working pattern/active kids.

Dog walkers with dogs off lead can spoil my walks. Even if dDog doesn't bite, I still don't want to be barked at.

I used to walk a couple of miles pushing a double buggy and shopping some of it uphill.

Now, a couple of miles on crutches with resting in between. I walked round 4 stores recently which was pretty good for me.

I have Hypermobility syndrome disorder so painful joints on walking. Shoulders hurt first. (Randomly)

I walked across town to teach kiddo how to get to school. (7 years ago) Got worse since.

No competitive walking, just full-day hikes. Quite therapeutic on a long spring or summer day when the weather is mild, with just a bit of a breeze.

You build up to it.

Yeah this. Same as the poster who’d love just walk around all day. Dont they have anything else to do with their days?

Tbh I don't know. I did want to quit my job in the summer and, whilst looking for another job, try to get fit by walking. Unfortunately it wasn't financially practical to quit the job.

I can walk for about an hour maybe 1.5 hours so maybe 4 miles. Aged 57.

Ultra marathons! Very much walking, not running for me. Took 23 hours. The winner that year did it in 8 hours. Ultra runners are literally another species of human all together 🤯

I do find it a bit, sad I suppose, at how unfit or rather unused to walking some of DC’s friends are. My 4yo did a 6k hill walk recently, it was a very steep hill, and she did it without complaint, running around like 4yos do. Meanwhile some of my 7yo’s friends have complained about the 1.5km or so easy walk back to our house from school when they are coming back for a play date. I had one who was amazed we weren’t taking the car. They spoke about it for weeks! One of DD’s friends who live round the corner from us was taken home from school in a pram for the first year, which blew my mind a bit. No health issues, or anything like that.

I think it’s one of the best things you can do for young kids in terms of their physical health, to give them that baseline functional fitness.

In my 30s, working with children. I walk everywhere because I hate the idea of sitting in traffic and my child being normalised to just jumping in a car. It is possible, I work full time as does husband. It’s about what you want out of life. We could get a bigger house further away but chose lifestyle, I don’t believe those who think sitting in traffic jams is worth living further away from work/school.

I think I could probably walk all day if I was hydrated with the right footwear and not carrying anything heavy. I walk about 12-15k steps a day and don’t stop because of exhaustion.

I walk anywhere from 300k - 427k steps a calendar month apparently.

Yes, start with shorter walks and then naturally extend the distance as those walks get easier. The key is the journey, not the distance. One minute you are getting out of breath dragging yourself around the local park, the next, you’re striding / ambling along the West Highland Way!

I like to text my sister, "How many steps?". She might reply 11,000, I might reply "Nah, nah, nah I did 13,000".

Just to add - a few people have asked about sleep deprivation and feet. You build up to these distances, with well fitting and well broken in kit, and the lack of sleep actually isnt that bad. It definitely gets to the point that its less about the physical challenge and more about the mental challenge though, especially walking through the night. Otherwise, its just one foot in front of the other. About 160,000 times for 100km 😆

I take my hat off to them and those trail runners you see running up steep trails in the middle of nowhere! Mad dogs and Englishmen/women/people