Walking for exercise/ mental and physical health/ as a hobby

[UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme]

Is there a thread or sub section for walking does anyone know? I can't find one and would like to start one here if there isn't.

I've been consciously walking for health and weight loss (walking helps me mentally more than by burning calories, though of course that and slowly building muscle has been a fantastic side benefit) for a year or so.

I have been trying to do around 5km most but not every day and a longer walk (anything from 10km to - rarely - 24 km once per week, mostly a favourite route of 12km).

I work shifts including nights, evenings and weekends and have older school aged children so often have the privilege of free blocks of time during the school day for walking. During the holidays the long walks have taken a hit as I've been doing things with the children, but I'd love to step it up a notch once they're back and do at least two 16km walks per week - that's about ten miles. I have a route in mind to replace my old standby 12km round with, which I'll try on Wednesday.

Does anyone feel like joining me on a thread where we commit to walking for health, whatever that means to us (can be longer or shorter walks obviously)?

I'd love to talk about what we do, how we work it into our day, long term goals, equipment especially boots, and just general chat.

I'd love to start doing multi day walks and very long trails some day - maybe next summer, maybe further in the future! I'd love to talk about that too if anyone has done/ does / hopes to do that!

Oh that wire statue is cool Miranda !

Glad you got out and had sunshine Eroll - it varied between overcast and drizzling here, though it's still quite warm.

I sort of managed my planned longer walk, though I had a few navigation errors on the section I haven't done before! Hadn't looked closely enough at the route and it went along a road without a footway, so I followed a hiking trail sign to a lovely alternative route except that I didn't realise it was replacing a 2.5 km stretch of road with 7.5 km of trails so after a while on that route I panicked that I wouldn't be home in time for the kids and made a detour... Ended up doing about 18 or 19km instead of the 16.5km I planned, and not quite working out a definite route to repeat. I'll have another go on Friday I think, having had another play with the route planning app.

I've got a long work day tomorrow and also commitments to drive various kids various places, so not sure whether I'll fit in a walk - if I do it'll be a short one.

Errol sorry - misspelled your name!

Claraboochuffing forgot to say welcome to the thread, the more the merrier!

@UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme. Thanks!

I didnt get out..forgot i had to wait in for the chimney sweep..they gave a very vague time. then had an energy crash (in peri)

Lucky @ErrolTheDragon. Do you nose in the narrowboats?

That last photo looks like you were planning on bivouacking for the night, OP!
Glad you made it back.

The wire statue is called the Fisher of Dreams - is about 20 min walk from our house and makes a good turning point

Lunchtime walk was by the river

I'd like to join too. I've recently got a puppy, partly because a dog makes solo walks more fun. I also play a game on my phone called ingress, which is what Pokémon go was based on (it's the same company, the places are mostly the same, but the story and gameplay are more grown up). That gives me the motivation to go out even when I don't really fancy it, because I need to go and get my portals back from the other team

I do love walking. Now we've got the dog (nearly 6 months) I'm out every morning before work and ever evening before bed. I usually do about 3 miles a day as specific walks, but rack up quite a bit at work as well.

I can’t run anymore (shin pain) but walk everyday. I have a lovely dog but she’s so slow, stop and sniff, that once she’s had enough I drop her home and carry on by myself.

I walk about 5 miles a day, on a circular walk which is mostly suburban but also takes in some woodland and a beach along the way. It's not a touristy type of beach, just shingle, with but has interesting views of cruise ships and ferries going in and out, and the sunsets across the river are beautiful.

Walking has helped me to lose weight and it is very beneficial to my mood too. I'm thinking of increasing my walk up to 6 miles a day, so need to work out a way of increasing my "circle" as I don't like doubling back on the route. I wear Sketchers or Asic trainers, but am thinking of buying some more substantial walking shoes - does anyone have any recommendations?

I mostly walk either in boots or waterproof trail shoes (both berghaus at the moment) - much if the year the paths are muddy. I had some good asic trail shoes but they were a tad small for me so DD took them off to uni - they nearly lasted the full four years of hard use. So if that's a brand of trainers that suits you, UrbanRambler,they might be worth trying.

@ErrolTheDragon Thanks for the tips Errol.

Did manage a quick 40 minute walk with DH straight after my long-early shift. Now teenager taxiing duties commence

ErrolTheDragon it does doesn't it? It was randomly built by the path in the forest - quite substantial for a kid's den with a store of what looked like firewood...

MsAwesomeDragon , MardyintheBoudoir Urbanrambler welcome!

Be back to talk boots after I pick up dc1 for the station and before I take dc2 to football training although I probably should also cook dinner...

Teenagers take a lot of taxiing. Was hoping DS would pass his driving test on Monday (as did he of course!) but he didn’t and so I have re entered the battle of trying to book another test this year rather than next…

Am at least going to combine taking DD for a singing lesson with having either a walk or run while she’s singing

I’ve just found this thread. I’ve been for a walk every day since lockdown one. All weathers, all conditions. I’d love to join in for walking chat.

Today I’ve been on a 4km loop around the lanes abs bridleways here. It’s a beautiful day.

Went to the edge of the Mendips today, great to be out of the city. Did a 90 minute loop on lanes and footpaths, some of the marked paths went through padlocked gates so guessing not very well used.

I treated myself to some new leather walking boots this summer as I had some cheap fabric ones and was fed up with wet feet.

I have various circular urban walks that I do too, and as I don't drive I usually walk for shopping and other errands. Aim for 12k steps per day but don't always manage it.

MirandaWest oh poor DS! Did he fail on minor faults? Is it hard to book tests then? DD has her 125 motorcycle test on Wednesday - her instructor booked it for slap bang in the middle of the day without asking meaning she'll have to miss a day of college even though she's only just started

I may have taken my car test multiple times Spread over 7 years with big gaps though - finally passed my motorcycle and car tests one day after the other age 25, after spending 6 months riding a 125 around London on a CBT... Not necessarily the way that works for most people though!

I like to combine things too - DD is having a driving lesson now (have to drive her to motorcycle lessons as they have to use the driving school bikes) and I dropped dc2 and his friend off at football on the way. I really should go for another walk to use this bit of time and distract myself - I'm feeling nervous because today's is her final compulsory motorway lesson and its a busy time of day and raining I'm distracting myself here with MN but maybe I'll do a half hour brisk stroll into town and back in a minute!

PurpleDaisies welcome to the thread! You're right, just going, rain or shine, no excuses is the right attitude! I wonder if lockdown 1 iswhat initially got a lot of us out walking... It was for me too, though initially to get the kids out - now its not about them any more!

RhinestoneCowgirl is it illegal to lock gates on public footpaths do you know, or is that more a guideline thing? Where I live it all works differently, and you can walk anywhere unfenced but not through gates... However very little is fenced, so in practice walkers can go pretty much everywhere except people's gardens and the odd field of livestock.

Which leather boots did you get?

I'm very interested in people's experiences of boots but think that probably the right boot for you is more important than just the objective "best" boot or shoe. I have odd feet I think and so far the somewhat obscure fairly economical brand CMP seem to be the only ones in which I'm completely comfortable on all terrain and to walk as far as I want. My wonderfully comfortable CMP fabric walking shoes are marked waterproof but unfortunately they just aren't! They're also almost worn out on the soles now. I wanted to replace them with something better a few months ago already and went for a fitting at an outdoor shop and came out with much more expensive Meindls, which seemed to fit in the shop and wearing them around the house so I took the tags off, but now despite having walked them in extensively I find they become excruciatingly painful on my smallest toes after about 5km, and faster if I'm going up and down hills. So much so I actually walked 3km in my socks to get home before giving up on them

Oh yes meant to say that I have some Otter waterproof socks for inside my comfortable but not waterproof walking shoes, which actually do seem to work, slightly to my surprise!

Ok inspired by Miranda's multiple walks a day and efficient utilisation of her time between ferring teens about and Purple 's rain or shine walks I'm going to do a brisk second short walk in the rain until the end of DD's lesson!

I'm fairly sure landowners aren't supposed to obstruct footpaths, luckily I'm fairly good at getting my leg over a gate

My boots are North Ridge which I think is Go Outdoors own brand. DH also urged me into buying a special ladies rucksack which I was dubious about but it's actually really comfy and fits better than my old one.

DS failed with a major fault on a roundabout - and due to Covid once you make a major fault you have to go back to the test centre. So Monday wasn’t his best ever day!

But I’ve now booked a test for October 12th which is much better than the January 24th I initially booked.

I also ran 5km while DD was having her singing lesson. Was rather warmer than I expected but was good to do it. Walking is nicer though

Thanks @ErrolTheDragon and @UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme

My fabric and suede berghaus boots are reliably waterproof thanks to the Goretex.

probably the right boot for you is more important than just the objective "best" boot or shoe.

Absolutely. Ostensibly DDs feet are the same size as mine, but apart from mine being wider (especially my right foot, enlarged toe joint after dropping a small boat on it) we like quite different boots. She likes a rigid sole, I prefer one with a bit of flexibility, I like a bit lower at the back of the ankle than she does. The one thing I've learned is to try them on after you've been on your feet a good while, and always try them out on a slope (good boot shops should have one) both up but even more importantly down.

I did the route I tried and somewhat bothched on Wednesday again today. Think I have it worked out as just over 19km avoiding the stretch of road without a walkway now. I can manage that on days I'm not working and the kids are at school... I'm wondering whether I can also do it when I have late shift, but I probably need to get more accustomed to it so I'm not going to get to tired at work after a longer walk... At least I've got the route straight in my mind now as getting lost when there is a time to be back by spoils a good walk! Its a good route for when I have time anyway.

I really want some Altberg boots because they do all the width fittings, but they're really not the right thing to buy online and I wouldn't be able to get to the shop/ factory... Does anyone wear leather boots or does everyone prefer fabric?

I did over 18k steps yesterday.. went for a morning walk and then my husband and I went for an evening walk. I was definitely tired but felt so proud that I managed it all.

Today my walk has been around the city harbour side. I’ve made the most of still just about being able to wear my walking sandals without my toes freezing, although it was a little chilly out of the sunshine. I also managed a lunch out in a (more trendy than me!) cafe. A good coffee always puts me in a good mood.

18k steps is very impressive!

My walking boots are Scarpa which are fantastic but I think narrow fitting so probably not suitable.

@UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme I have some Gelert waterproof boots which are quite wide? They were reduced in Sports Direct so I thought I'd give them a try, they've been ok so far but aren't very flexible, depends how flexible you like boots to be.

I'd love some of the lovely and very expensive boots I see recommended on MN from time to time but just don't have the £££!

Haven't managed any 'scenic' walks recently but did get in plenty of steps walking to school for a cancelled meeting , walking home and then returning not long after to actually collect the DC. It's all steps I suppose...