Anyone absolutely sick of "going for a walk?"

[BigMoaner]

Fucking love walking, me.

Keeps my waistline reasonable, pretty much kept me sane the last year, I reckon.
Tonight was nice:

View attachment 262200

re keeping sane. i used to walk and def benefits on mental health (i would do walking meditation too). can process all the noise without distraction (that's why i don't tend to listen to music). but now there's nothing to process really. there's no life to process. so the mood I have indoors is carried to the outdoors.

so yes to sum up, looking forward to lockdown ending.

 

[thismoment]

Quote button fail

 

[Mogden]

I'm sick of boring walks. I've been to big Sainsburys today just for somewhere different from my usual supermarket. I cannot wait for a proper up and down miles long Peaks walk with a stop for a brew and a dirty great piece of cake or a wobble across the stones at Dovedale.

 

[thismoment]

Fucking love walking, me.

Keeps my waistline reasonable, pretty much kept me sane the last year, I reckon.
Tonight was nice:

View attachment 262200

I feel like I wouldn’t have got fed up of walking if I had views like that. That view is a destination in its self.beautiful!

 

[FridgeMagnet]

The frustrating thing for those of us following the rules here is that there have been countless people breaking the rules to various degrees with zero consequences, or any chance of consequences for that matter.

Anyone in London and I’m sure plenty other areas will have seen traffic levels during this latest lockdown nearly as busy as before the pandemic. At such times as a Sunday early evening, when there are very few trade vehicles on business and all the big supermarkets have closed, I’d bet all my possessions that up to 80% or more of all fucking vehicles on the streets were breaking the law.

I have a bike and could have used it to go for a relaxing drive, visit friends and relatives when not allowed to do so, etc. But I didn’t. Because it wasn’t right. Seeing so many people blatantly ignore the restrictions makes me mad tbh.

I could say that I was following the rules, and I would if a copper was asking me, but actually my life simply doesn't allow me to go much beyond them. I reduce the number of trips on public transport I take partly due to the potential for infection but mostly because what's the point? Oh wow I could go to Chiswick on a weekday and walk for like ten minutes because that's all I'd have time for. Oh wow I could go to Brick Lane on a Sunday where nothing would be open. Why not just stay at home? And would this change at all even after official lockdowns were ended?

 

[editor]

Jesus christ. Enoguh already. I could walk through Nirvarna itself right now and not give a fuck.

I used to love walking too - esp to kill a few hours.

Yep. I've walked around the same selection of parks at least 5 to 6 times every bloody week.

 

[Orang Utan]

I walk in two local parks but meet family in further afield parks that are only a couple of miles away. Drove 5 miles to go to another park last week. Get my daily exercise by cycling 5 miles to work and back every day.
I don’t know what the fucking rules are any more - it’s outside, who cares

 

[Mation]

My other suggestion is to try walking in different directions.

But then how can you move?







srsly

 

[Aladdin]

I would love to be able to go for a walk.

 

[Miss-Shelf]

re keeping sane. i used to walk and def benefits on mental health (i would do walking meditation too). can process all the noise without distraction (that's why i don't tend to listen to music). but now there's nothing to process really. there's no life to process. so the mood I have indoors is carried to the outdoors.

so yes to sum up, looking forward to lockdown ending.

this make sense to me

 

[8ball]

More fun if you go in as straight a line as possible. Climbing shoes advised.

 

[BigMoaner]

More fun if you go in as straight a line as possible. Climbing shoes advised.

this will be a thing when we are in the 9th wave.

 

[teuchter]

A bike ride extends the range and potential variety quite a bit, although it's less appealing in the winter.

I have sometimes been using the Santander bikes to get me from Brixton to some other part of town and then doing a walk round there.

I actually already made myself a bit bored of walking, at least walking in the south of England, some years ago where I did a lot during a period of ill health and after that, lost my previous enthusiasm for it somewhat.

Having said all that...I continue to be surprised how much of London there still is, that I've never been to in the 20 years I've been here now. So even if the act of walking has become tedious, it's still possible to find streets I've never been down before, even quite close to home.

 

[teuchter]

More fun if you go in as straight a line as possible. Climbing shoes advised.

 

[Dystopiary]

I would love to be able to go for a walk.

Same.

 

[stdP]

Walking around London has basically been a pastime for me ever since I decamped here... I'm not sure I'll ever actually get tired of it, it always gives me a tremendous sense of presence and ownership. I love walking, and there's always something new to see.

That said, it's fair to say nearby original locations have been wearing a bit thin. We've literally walked (and crossed off on the A-Z and OSM) every park, street, path, alley, wood, close, avenue, road, rise, hill, grove, copse, drive, lane, crescent, way, gardens, court and dale within a two-mile radius - essentially where we can make it out to and back from in my lunch hour.

We've been mixing it up a bit lately by delving more in to local history and architecture to see what new oddities we can spot - many local history societies and "Friends of..." societies have published stuff in this regard, and there's always local history books like Nairn's London* or classic sites like Edith's Streets which are made for the curious walker about London.

Edith's Streets

London Local History - this lists street by street items of historical interest - public, industrial buildings & some environmental features in London and its immediate surroundings. Streets are given in OS grid squares - but numbering is not included (sorry!). Older squares give links to...

edithsstreets.blogspot.com

The walking also gels well with my love of old maps - I adore being able to walk through the middle of a housing estate knowing it's the same path than ran between the greenhouses and the front pond when the site was Suchandsuch Hall in 1875. Probably the highlight of this was walking (one of) the course(s) of the Effra up to dulwich woods, and after that following the track of the old crystal palace high-level line all the way from where it departed the main tracks at Nunhead cemetery.

* It's badly outdated as a mere tour guide now and the section on south london is rather anaemic, but the style is immaculate. Take this entry for Electric Avenue for example:

Electric alright, and high voltage too. A whole area east of Brixton Road, opposite the jolly town hall, where the ground floor has dissolved and re-formed as a magic cave of people and goods. Stalls everywhere, arcades everywhere, diving through buildings and under the railway. Meat, fish, nylons, detergent: an endless, convoluted cornucopia. Compared with it, Petticoat Lane is synthetic; this cockney centre has kept all of its Victorian vitality. And it is the twentieth-century New World that has saved the bacon of the Old; for more than half the faces are one shade of brown or another. These is of course a Grand Plan out for this unplanned sky-rocketing power-house; with luck, it will be so grand that it is deferred until planners can understand what makes the place tick. It lives by free growth, like a great hedgerow tree. And as a tree depends on leaves, this vast emporium depends on the humble light bulb. Naked and without frills, binding the whole place in to a web of stars at eye level. Electric.

(1988 footnote by Peter Gasson reads: The riots happened just around the corner, but the market seems cheerfully unruffled. The Grand Plan remained on the drawing board)

 

[William of Walworth]

I'm cool with walking and I enjoy it ... we both are good with it, given that we can scarcely take the van or train anywhere out of Swansea

Between us, we've only NOT left home about three times, since March 2020 lockdown started (and not much before that )

And our walks/excursions have not necessarily been at the same time! , but the point stands!

Also, last summer, we were both cycling a reasonable amount

Yes, the repetitiveness more generally of walking to the same supermarkets, etc., is dull as fuck , so I do sympathise lots with plenty of earlier posts here

Stil!!

When you can walk, even to a limited extent, and with care, in or near a city, the views can be good if you can make it to hills, coast, interesting/new city streets and parks and so forth.

I like trees!

 

[William of Walworth]

Saying all that, I'm very envious of the idea of walking near Voley 's views!

Gower walks can be good -- I recommend!

But photos from Cornish coastal ones, make me want to invade Cornwall some summer or autumn soon, and annoy locals

 

[miss direct]

No, not bored. If I didn't go out for walks or bike rides I would spend all day sleeping, working, and existing in the same room. Im lucky in a way because there are some lovely woodland and valley walks around here.

 

[Winot]

A bike ride extends the range and potential variety quite a bit, although it's less appealing in the winter.

I have sometimes been using the Santander bikes to get me from Brixton to some other part of town and then doing a walk round there.

I actually already made myself a bit bored of walking, at least walking in the south of England, some years ago where I did a lot during a period of ill health and after that, lost my previous enthusiasm for it somewhat.

Having said all that...I continue to be surprised how much of London there still is, that I've never been to in the 20 years I've been here now. So even if the act of walking has become tedious, it's still possible to find streets I've never been down before, even quite close to home.

^ this, combined with following urban walking guides (Time Out has two).

 

[wtfftw]

 

[bmd]

I think that because the finish line (soz) is in sight, it means that you can finally consider how shit it really has been. I do about 25,000 steps a day. Steps. Walking commodified. Fucking magic.

 

[NoXion]

I think the number of walks I've been on could be counted on one hand. I wanted to completely avoid people last summer, and I fucking hate walking around when it's cold and dark outside so I've stayed in all winter too.

I should probably go for more walks, especially since the weather is starting to improve.

 

[Gromit]

I’m not become bored of walking because it always was boring. Going places and doing stuff is what’s interesting. That just so happens to involve walking sometimes.

My latest thing to do is to visit parks where you can hand feed the wildlife.

I have proper bird food for ducks (koots, geese, grebe, parakeets and whatever else is about). None of that bread stuff which is bad for them.

Monkey nuts for the squirrels.

Need to start taking apples for the parakeets as they seem to like that even more than the wheat based feed.

 

[May Kasahara]

The only thing I'm not sick of is the parakeets, who clearly don't give a fuck, and happily just live life making as much noise as they can and not giving a shit what you think.

My husband took the kids out for Yet Another Boring Walk the other day, and saw three parakeets fighting an albino squirrel.

Ultimately still not enough to make me wish I'd been on the walk with them.

 

[Bus Honeygun]

Yeah, we got up to the edge of the moors (Fingle Glen) on Saturday for the first time in months and had a proper walk. It was mind-blowing. There's no way I'm going back to wandering around the edge of town housing estate again. What started out as a novelty back in January ('wow, I never realised there was a cut-through there' and 'that's quite a nice view, sort of') is now devoid of any appeal and hopefully a closed chapter of my life.

 

[marty21]

Yeah, we got up to the edge of the moors (Fingle Glen) on Saturday for the first time in months and had a proper walk. It was mind-blowing. There's no way I'm going back to wandering around the edge of town housing estate again. What started out as a novelty back in January ('wow, I never realised there was a cut-through there' and 'that's quite a nice view, sort of') is now devoid of any appeal and hopefully a closed chapter of my life.

Tbf , I love a cut through

 

[tony.c]

My knees and back seized up after the first lockdown, so I try to go out for a walk at least once every three days. Not far, 6,000 steps to Park and back if it's sunny, or 5,000 steps in a circle round neighbouring streets.
I listen to Radio 4 on dab radio. If it's sunny I sit on park bench for half an hour or so looking out at Central London. I used to do this regularly before covid and the park would be fairly empty apart from dog walkers and a few joggers. Now it's a lot busier. I suppose it's good that more people are using it, but I miss having it largely to myself.

 

[metalguru]

I do go for a walk everyday very locally here in Vauxhall/Kennington and further afield in Central London at weekends (walking to Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens/Holland Park).

But I do react badly to the constant promotion in the media that a walk is a panacea for lockdown mental lows and woes. If I'm in a negative mood, I quite often come back from a walk with negative mood intact.

Even worse than the media are the mileage chasers. I met up with a friend for first time since November for a walk and he was keen to do miles of walking for the sake of keeping score of miles completed. I endured the most boring experience of heads down on a towpath and keep going for 8 miles or so.

 

[gentlegreen]

I used to do this regularly before covid and the park would be fairly empty apart from dog walkers and a few joggers. Now it's a lot busier. I suppose it's good that more people are using it, but I miss having it largely to myself.

I chose the weirdest year to retire and I have yet to reap that benefit - see also supermarkets ...