Walking as a hobby - who does it?

[nas]

Grabbed an Uber yesterday morning for a 5 or so mile trip into Edinburgh City Centre, off peak, £9ish, done.

For the journey back, being around rush hour time, the potential charges jumped to £35 - £40 could have taken the bus or train but on this occassion I walked.

I'd consider myself reasonably fit with no ''issues'' as such but I've not done this sort of distance by foot in years and the chances of it happening again are pretty low. I do drive, but without my car at the moment and would usually be my first point of call.

Fast forward to the hiking forums out of curiosity and there are folk doing more than triple the distance a day, over the course of a few weeks, I understand Charity movements etc but this is more aimed at distance walking voluntarily. People have of course being doing this for as long as we can remember but who here does it now?

I figured that you don't truly realise the extent of it all until you put in a few miles yourself!

I'm tired now and think I've done my bit for the environment .

 

[toshj]

If I choose to walk to and from work it's about 3 miles each way. I did this fairly frequently up until we had a kid 6 weeks back. Aiming to pick it up again soon.

Helped with the weight...

I think my favourite longer distance walk/hike is from Elterwater to Scafell Pike and back. It's about 20 miles in total, and you're able to tick off about 7 or so peaks on the route. A fair bit of it is flat though, walking along the Langdale Valley floor.

 

[Dup]

Done many of the UK mountains. At one point I think I was out nearly every weekend for 3 years up some sort of mountain in any weather, over ridges looking for the next challenge. Having dogs and a partner who loves it helps, but it's great to get out. Here in East Lancashire the Lakes, North Wales and the Peak District are only an hour or two away. Done the Yorkshire three peaks on a whim (26 miles over 3 mountains) etc. Walking is nothing really, some poeple run it.

Don't care for charity stuff, I run to work and back every day by choice. I love the views, the challenge and above all it keeps depression well away. So many great memories and stunning photos from it.

It is a shame more and more people are taking it up however. I prefer less people around however having a small baby means I've turned my focus to running instead.

 

[Begbie]

Done a few munros, and some hiking in NZ, France etc.

The girlfriend lives in London, and I'll easily do 5 miles walking when shes at work. Normally more.

 

[bimbleuk]

I usually do 2 or 3 long walks each week up to 3 hours and I try to walk 40-60 mins each day at work.

Easy when you have access to the Cotswold Water Park, Bathurst estate and fields immediately behind my house. Supposed to be very therapeutic too and I certainly feel much happier after a good long walk. I also listen to audio books on the way sometimes if I just want to pound some miles.

Always surprises me how few people I meet out on my walks even just a mile or so from the main Bathurst entrance there's hardly a soul. Fine for it to stay that way though

I do crave a good hard climb though so will make the odd trip out to a more hilly location.

 

[GeordieStew]

Every (read most, 95%) of mornings I go out for between 3-5 mile walk before work. Working from home means I don't get as much opportunity to do it during the course of a "normal" day. I try to keep to 14 minute miles which I about as fast as I'm comfortable with.

 

[Metalface Mark]

Never walked the length of myself until about 3 and a half years ago when i decided I wanted to see Everest and booked a trip to EBC. The following weekend I went up my first hill and nearly died thinking what have I let myself in for (was pretty overweight at the time). Pretty soon though you can be doing big distances, since then Ive climbed my first 6000m+ mountain, hiked and walked thousands of miles in all sorts of weather.

Your body soon adapts to whatever you decide you want to do. Toughest thing ive done was the west highland way in pouring rain for 80% of the trip, both my big toenails fell off and i had two huge blisters that took months to clear up, 96 miles in 4 and a half days which taught me when buying kit, buy the best you can afford if you plan on walking.

 

[Adam]

How about running? Will be quicker and will give you a workout as well.

When I was training for the London Marathon I was running for 2-3 hours every Sunday morning and it was a great way to start the day and listen to some pod casts while keeping fit.

 

[Orionaut]

At the risk of topic drift. £9 for a 5 mile journey!

And there are people out there who think we should all give up private car ownership and use Ubers (or Whatever) instead!

 

[Hades]

I try to fit an hours walk in every night (about 4 miles).

 

[200sols]

Yes I love walking, mountains when possible but living on the south coast the south downs is where I usually go. 27miles in one day is my longest, long day but really enjoyed it. I dont enjoy walking in cities, too many people and no nature.

 

[GeordieStew]

Just to be clear, my daily stroll is a) pleasurable, b) clears the head and c) better for my health. It's win, win, win for me. I'd say it's a hobby.

I haven't walked more than 7 miles in a long time though. Probably should!

 

[Rids]

I tend to walk 5-7 miles a day without really trying, thats just walking to the station, to work, to the gym etc.

At the weekend the Mrs and I like to do more country walks, and we can easily rack up 15 miles a day. Think the record was 25, but that wasn't enjoyable towards the end.

Sounds a crazy thing to say, but once I'm back on the road I imagine we'll do a lot more walking, as the opportunity will be there to go further afield and do some "proper" country walks.

 

[GeordieStew]

At the risk of topic drift. £9 for a 5 mile journey!

And there are people out there who think we should all give up private car ownership and use Ubers (or Whatever) instead!

What do you think it should cost?

 

[Street]

I walk whenever I can and having a dog forces me to get out for a few miles a day too. Last night, I walked to the polling station and my neighbour left at the same time as me but drove. It's about quarter of a mile each way! By the time she'd faffed around parking and getting out she took longer than me anyway. Too many people use cars for pointless journeys like that instead of just using their feet.

I'm out in the mountains most weekends too and I'm thinking of doing the Oggie 8 this year, although it's the weekend after I've got back from two weeks climbing in the alps so may be fried!

 

[Rincewindle]

I used to do it all the time when i was in my 20's

Was working at the post office at the time.. 5 mile into work do my delivery round then 5 mile walk home.

My GF at the time was well into walking too so on the weekend we would be in the lake district etc walking there.

At the time i was skinny as a rake no matter how much i ate and fit as hell.

Fast forward to the time i left the post office and started working in Hotel management and boy did i pile on the weight.

Started walking more again now and the weight is falling off me again,

 

[cheesyboy]

I once walked home from Bristol city centre on a night out, rather than pay for a bus or taxi. Was over 5 miles back to the Fishponds/Staple hill area, so not all that far, but drunken mincing seems to use different muscles to normal walking, so I woke up with very sore legs

 

[MartinPrince]

Since I picked up a Xiaomi Mi Band 3 I've been doing quite a bit of walking. It sets a goal of 8000 steps a day and then sees how many days you can do that for in a row. It then tells you the percentage of people using a Mi Band that you have done better than. I got up to 137 days in a row and even then I was only better than 87% of the people so I know they're some people who do lots of walking.

I was once better than 100% of the Mi Band users for distance walked in one day and that was 13.75 miles. I was on holiday at the time when I tend to do quite a bit more walking and exploring.

 

[JonnyT]

At the risk of topic drift. £9 for a 5 mile journey!

And there are people out there who think we should all give up private car ownership and use Ubers (or Whatever) instead!

Have you taken a cab lately?!

 

[montymint]

I've started picking up walking to work now that the weather is a bit nicer, which is about 3.5miles.

On lunch I walk around for another 2-3 miles with an audiobook on.

As I live up a long steep incline, I still return on bus - until my fitness levels are better. But I am enjoying it and hopefully it'll help me shift a few pounds too