Sick of going for walks

[User158340]

Anyone else having to really drag themselves to go out at the moment?

I actually love going for a walk, but after 9 months of the same local walks i'm sick to death of them. The freezing cold weather obviously compounds it and the rain etc.

Yesterday I actually didn't leave the house at all and ended up awake half the night. Now I have to motivate myself to go for a longish walk today in 'feels like' minus temperatures.

I'm normally a keen runner and walker, but I'm fed up of it.

To the north of me is open countryside which was joyous in the spring/ summer for escaping other humans. Some paths nearby were relatively busy, but I could get further than that on a long run and not see another human for miles at a time.
It always is heavy, deep mud at this time of year, but this is the worst I've known it because of the increased footfall- it's not as wet as last year!

Normally, I'd go for a drive towards town and flatter routes with a hardcore/ paved surface, but it's just too frustrating to battle past the world and his badly trained (or drifting on an extension lead) dog.

I don't really mind more people being out, just don't hog the whole bloody path in formation and then be surprised that someone else exists and wants to get past faster than 2mph. If people walked in pairs rather than 3-4 abreast, I'd be a much happier bunny.

Ugh same.
And with an 18 month old in tow who wants to walk we can’t get further than about 500m from the house as every leaf and puddle has to be examined in fine detail.

I still love to walk, but DS (6) is heartily sick of it, and now every time we head out, which we do every day, it opens a debate about all the other things we would usually be doing. I then have to remind him why we can't do those things, which leads to the inevitable debate about when we will be able to do them (I. DON'T. KNOW.)

He's really been so good and patient about the situation, but the truth is he misses screeching around a brightly lit overheated soft play with a posse of feral 6 year olds all off their faces on fruit shoots. He doesn't care if we see a little egret today or not.

We are doing something different every day (tier 4). Nine of it is walking from our front door (unless it snows and we can go sledging). There are millions of exemptions to the rule of “stay home”, all on the gov guidance and also in law as I’ve checked.

The way I look at it, the detail of the guidance is not really written to keep you at home. It’s purpose is to stop you mixing with other people. But that can’t be the main message from government as it’s confusing and people find loopholes, so they have to go with a blanket Stay Home.

I’ll probably get shot for this post. And we do stay home the vast majority of the time. But if you’re struggling, the guidance does allow you more flexibility than the main Stay Home strapline suggests.

Yeah, same, and I love walking.

Add in that I live alone, and noone local to go for walks with, plus the whole area is flooded so I can't really walk far or over to other villages etc anyway.

Not left the house since Christmas Day now, must go out today!!

I walked my way through The Walk in the summer which is distance based, but unlocks a story.

@RaspberryCoulis Walk the Distance sounds fun! I have been noting all my walks in 2020 and so far I have walked 1,073 miles. I like looking at Google maps to see where I could have walked to. So far I have walked the equivalent of Land's End to Thurso and then south to Dundee!

We just go wherever now, I'm done with laps around the neighbourhood. Thankfully dp rides motorbikes and it's the perfect way to get some fresh air, blow the cobwebs out so to speak and no contact with anyone else (always do pay at the pump and take a flask)

I recommend 10 days of isolation to fix that. We're currently on day 7 and I CANNOT WAIT to go out for a long local walk (however cold, wet or dreary) in 4 days time

I’m bored of having to stay in our council area.

We have tried some different parks but we don’t normally go there because they are boring!

Some are quite isolated and I don’t feel safe walking in those areas alone.

But walking along pavements just past houses is boring too!

Most of the walking we’ve been doing is to the supermarket and back as it’s the only shop open.

What we’ve been doing to mix it up a bit is getting the train/bus a few stops along them walking back.

No advice but I feel your pain. I was literally saying this to my DH last night. He is back at work today and I said I am almost jealous. I am on AL and it’s so dull. I am so bored of either going to a walk or cleaning the house or watching tv. I am not someone who is out all the time usually but this is just so boring with nothing but walking to do.

I agree walking is a bit tedious, the odd nice walk- great, walking as your main hobby, way of seeing friends, getting some social/interest in your life=not great! I don't enjoy it that much either, but what else is there to do? I do enjoy the feeling of coming home afterwards once you are all warm again, but what does that say about your hobby if the best thing about it is stopping?

I second audiobooks. I'm a regular runner so often use audiobooks rather than music. (I find I try to run to the beat with music but as I like rock and metal it gets a bit tiring!!).

Current book is Barack Obama's memoirs . I don't always pay attention to what he actually says, but wow, his voice is so relaxing!

Can you listen to an audio book as you go?

Cross post! sorry.

@drspouse - thanks that looks fun!

I love a good walk, you notice something every day even if you do the same route. Today the ice patterns were lovely and I saw 3 cormorants.

Try treasure trails, they have loads of locations so you'd be able to get a local one, could do smaller villages if want to avoid crowds. Or buy a decent book of walks (AA ones are good) for your local area and you get some background on the things you're seeing etc

My usual walking routes are rammed, have been all year and I'm heartily fed up. An unpleasant woman with her sneering children actually laughed and jeered at me last week for using an empty poo bag to open a metal gate. I hope people like that get bored of walking.

We travel outside of local area for walks too. We're lucky in that we've got a really nice country park within the area but I need variety.

Do I want to go out and walk for 2 hours in the cold, wind, rain, whatever....or do I want to stay in with ‘D’H??

Pass me my boots, I’m off out 😊

@RutlandVasey

Please don’t travel out of your tier. You may think that you are outside but you are still touching metal gates, car parking meters and you will still be within 6 ft of each other, especially in the coffee shack queue, as everyone else will have had the same idea.

This isn't true, I book the car park at home, there are no gates as it's a massive open space and I take a flask - there's something's you can take from the rules and somethings you have to just use common sense

Same here. I used to love going out with the Ramblers (all year round) but since the only walks available need booking now I just can't be bothered. The joy for me was just being able to turn up if I felt like it, or not if I didn't, and not having to commit. Until it's back to normal I most likely won't be renewing my membership or going on their walks.

My local walks are good but with pinch points like gates and stiles really boggy it's meant I've had to abandon them. That's limited where I go and I'm having to drag myself out to do the usual circuit, and it's turned walking from a pleasure into a chore 😢

I’d spend the money on driving lessons, fan though I am of audiobooks.

We're also struggling with this. Basically the only entertainment for 2 small kids is walks. After 9 months the 2yo is still fairly up for it but the 4yo requires some serious persuasion.

We did get litter pickers from Amazon and pick up bags and bags of litter over the summer. That was good clean fun and highly recommended.

Could a 4yo manage geocaching? We tried Pokémon Go with him but he just didn't get it at all.

Yep, going with a friend helps or like others suggest getting into a podcast. So many god podcasts and they're free. I quite like desert island discs as a starting point, lots of interesting people on there