Inspirational activities from within and without the world of walking. Stuff to get you thinking about your next walk.
Last month we "went" to the 4th World Congress of Psychogeography. We've already posted about our own contribution to this virtual gathering but here we want to give a mention to some of the other West Midlanders we came across while "there". Helen Garbett and Bill Laybourne One of the highlights of the Friday film […]
Why do we walk and what do individuals get out of walking? In our first interview, Paul Taylor from Burntwood talks about his durational walking challenges in the Midlands and beyond. Hello! Who are you? Hi, I'm Paul Taylor and in February 2020 I walked one million steps as part of The Prince's Trust's Future […]
I can’t really write about walking without writing about maps. Hand drawn, Ordnance Survey, road, tube, physical, nautical, political, climatic, thematic, ancient, fictional maps, if you can think of it there is probably a map for it. A note before we proceed, everyone can learn to read maps, don’t believe any nonsense that some people […]
There's much to enjoy in this correspondence between writer Alys Fowler (who you may know from her memoir Hidden Nature kayaking Birmingham's canals) and artist John Newling (whose exhibition Dear Nature was on at Ikon before lockdown). It takes the form of six letters with photographs over April and May. You can read them on […]
Connecting the current #BLM protests with marches since the 1960s.
Following an arbitrary line is a tried and tested technique for the curious walker. The landscape and its contents will reveal themselves in a sequence determined by your line. Pick a start, an end and draw line between them. Follow that line and keep you eyes and ears open. Kate Green spent the last year […]
Trees are our companions, man. That said they do not generally walk with us, unless you have been lucky enough to take a stroll with an Ent in your local Fangorn Forest. They do however live where we live and ‘breathe' the air we breathe. Some of the first to signal the arrival of spring […]
Since the start of lockdown I have been walking for an hour, around sunset, almost every day. This is great time of day to watch wildlife and the unseasonably mild spring has made it a daily delight. Animals are of course, entirely unaware that the world is a bit more unsettled than usual just now. […]
Here's another selection of walking-related media to help you through this time of going nowhere. Audio Eve Phillips and Roxie Collins are co-hosts of Corporeal, a themed music show on Brum Radio. In a different lifetime Eve came on our Full Moon Walk and she told us about the show and in particular an episode […]
I recently wrote regarding my preference, and indeed need, for solitary walks over hill and vale. Having said that in recent years I have come to enjoy some of the pleasures of walking with a companion or companions. I have gained accomplices for both local walks and those taken farther abroad. A conversation at work […]