As for many, I’m sure, my Sunday walk is a pretty solo thing. No one in my family quite has the same connection with the outdoors as me, and like many I find it hard to convince them that a local walk is an adventure. But, for me, it’s the thing I look forward to the most in the week.
Stepping out from your own front door and straight onto a mountain or stunning sea-scape is just not realistic for most of us. My view? You’ve got to make the most of what you have around.
So I start out from my house in a semi-urban bit of Hampshire. Within 5 minutes I’m in our local nature reserve (furiously protected from the sprawl of houses that typifies this part of the country).
10km is just about feasible on a Sunday afternoon. I typically stride out, head in any direction and then use the tip of my little finger to measure out the route on the map I want to take considering the time I have available (about 3-4km per hour… I’m not going for records here!).
Local trails include the Kebel trail which connects me to the longer Monarch trail (Bristol and Worcester to Brighton). The Test Way, Itchen way and a whole heap of others combine bridle paths, byways and footpaths meaning that, for this kind of distance, you’ve always got a lot of options.
Every time of year has its own rewards. In Autumn I love the smells in particular. The colours are great, but it’s the strong rooty scents and the almost Christmas pudding smells around the fermenting wild cherry fruit that are most evocative.
Whatever your passions in life, walking is actually what we’re built for. For me, a walk is a great way to think about life, to work out better trail running and cycling routes, get away from everything and get inspiration for the days ahead.
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