I've often thought about the term "walking distance". It seems to be relative to the person using it. To one person it may mean 5 minutes, to another it may mean 5 hours. In North America, I think we have become so handicapped by our cars that walking distance means almost nothing to most people now. In many other parts of the world, walking is still a main source of transportation..or the only source. We drive to the gym to run on a treadmill, we drive to the corner store, we drive everywhere. Part of the problem is that our own personal world has expanded so much living in the industrialized world. Most things aren't walking distance, so we've just started driving everywhere. It can be hard, even if you do want to walk, to find routes that are pedestrian friendly, even in a place like Vancouver Island.
I spent a month in Europe in the summer of 2006 walking. A friend and I camped and hiked and then camped and then hiked. I spent my whole day walking. I walked through the French Alps all the way to the Swiss border. It's changed my outlook on what is "walking distance", or even "walking weather". Anytime someone (even me) thinks something is a little too far to walk, I look back to the Alps and think "it's not as far as it is to walk from France to Switzerland" and then the distance immediately becomes nothing.
While I was in Europe, I read "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson (twice...I only had one book) and it's become one of my favourites and I don't even really know why. It's not superb literature and it's about a guy walking the Appalachian Trail for 400 pages, but I LOVE it. It's like that movie that everyone has that is their favourite and it's almost a guilty pleasure because on paper it sounds stupid that it's your favourite. People who read also have a book like that- this is mine. It's a travel fiction and it's about the author's experience undertaking the Appalachian Trail. He's so funny and his writing style just sweeps me up and makes me wish I could stay there forever. I've read it probably four times, which seems ridiculous for this kind of book. But I can relate.
Here are some of my favourite quotes from it regarding "walking distance":
(pg183-4) "Now here's a thought to consider. Every twenty minutes on the Appalachian Trail, Katz and I walked farther than the average American walks in a week. For 93 percent of all trips outside the home, for whatever distance or whatever purpose, Americans now get in a car. On average, the total walking of an American these days-that's walking of all types: from car to office, from office to car, around the supermarket and shopping malls-adds up to 1.4 miles a week, barely 350 yards a day. That's ridiculous. ... I know a woman who gets in her car to go a quarter of a mile to a college gymnasium to walk on a treadmill, then complains passionately about the difficulty of finding a parking space. When I asked her once why she didn't walk to the gym and do five minutes less on the treadmill, she looked at me as if I were being willfully provocative. 'Because I have a program for the treadmill,' she expained. 'It records my distance and speed, and I can adjust it for degree of difficulty.' It hadn't occured to me how thoughtlessly deficient nature is in this regard."
(pg185) "A man outside the post office suggested I try Kmart. 'Where's your car?' he said, preparatory to giving me directions. 'I don't have a car.' That stopped him. 'Really? It's over a mile, I'm afraid.' 'That's ok.' He gave his head a little dubious shake, as if disowning responsibility for what he was about to tell me. 'Well then what you want to do is go up Broad Street, take a right at the Burger King, and keep on going. But, you know, when I think about it, it's well over a mile- maybe a mile and a half, mile and three quarters. You walking back as well?' 'Yeah.' Another shake. 'Long way.' 'I'll take emergency provisions.'"
I am grateful for the use of my legs and the ability to walk as long and as far as I want.
