I normally enjoy most things that I do, but one thing that I’ve never really warmed to is walking or hiking over long distances. My mother adores going for long walks and I remember having to participate in many of them as a child and young teenager.
It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy exercise – I regularly played badminton, went to karate classes and I swam several times a week, but there was something about simply walking that I found boring and tedious.
One of my closest friends at school found an advertisement for a walking group and she begged and pleaded with me to join her. She was exercise obsessed, I was weak-willed and consequently one Sunday I found myself stood on the top of a hill with a group of strangers. We went through the introductions and polite conversation, and then we walked. And walked. And walked. FOR EIGHTEEN MILES.
What I had assumed was that ‘a walk’ would mean a leisurely stroll across the hills for a few hours. Instead, these people were machines. They set off at a pace that would have put them in competition with Olympians, and sometimes I almost had to jog to keep up whilst attempting to avoid an epic amount of goat poo. It was cold, it was windy and I returned home with blisters the size of two pence pieces from my mother’s hiking boots and an absolute promise to myself that I would never participate in anything like that again.
I’ve stayed true to that promise, and I can guarantee that the only time you’ll ever see me up a hill whilst wearing hiking boots is if… No, it’ll never happen.
What about you guys? Do you enjoy exercising or does the thought of having to hike up a hill make you reach for the remote control?
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Picture credit: The Great Outdoors.
Suzie Speaks 
Walking is, I think a solitary pleasure – certainly not 18 miles! I do 12k on a cross trainer with headphones blasting out ‘whatever’ every day (Christmas day included). I guess that makes me a Philistine – yet those solitary walks – across places like Jaw Bones in Dartmouth, Devon hopefully prove the opposite to be true. Jolly good read by the way.
Love to walk for many years!
LOL saves on train fares
It would depend on the day and my mood but I would at least want to know what to expect either way!
Completely agree with you! I like a leisurely walk around but hiking up hills is so not my thing!
Oh man I hate exercise completely. I figure walking up and downstairs all day long 100 times a day is enough. But, and this is a big but, the weight has to come off …….. so I have to move – I will not walk 18 miles, ever.
Good recipe for health and happiness,especially for couch potatoes of all sizes and shapes!
I like walking 🙂
But 18 miles is way over my limit. I’d probably do no more than 6 at the moment.
Walking is my chosen form of exercise, Suzie, so I go for it whole-heartedly. I can go for 3 1/2 miles at a good clip, out one way at our park by the lake, but I’m a bit slower on the way back. I’ve gone more than 10 miles, but never 18. That was too much. Yikes.
Love Walking! I think when I do it a huge overdose of adrenaline is set free in my brain (or wherever it sets free), especially when I walk up a hill. No stopping until the summit has been reached 🙂
Oh, I love walking and hiking! If there is one form of exercise I would do it would be hill-walking… Absolutely love it, even though it makes me feel very unfit. Ireland thankfully has many hills around and I am in process of joining a local hillwalking club 🙂 Nothing better than a full day of walking in the fresh air.
I used to study tourism and camping/hiking/being a guide was a part of this. One of our final “tests” was a 2 day 35 mile walk with all the tents, etc on our backs. Best experience of my life! 🙂
18 miles isn’t a walk. Walks I can do, I think 3ish miles though would be the limit of what can be considered a walk. Running however is something I abhor! In fact I think I’d rather walk that 18 miles haha.
I love exercise but I despise repetitive exercise, like walking 18 miles. That’s crazy. The only reason to do that is if your car broke down 18 mikes from a petrol station and your mobile battery was dead.
I like the best of both worlds. I shadow box or lift free weights while watching television. I have found that my other joy, reading, doesn’t work well with these activities.
I like walking, but only with my dog or my niece, for some reason any other attempts just fail.
I don’t bother exercising at all. I’m always out of breath after a couple hundred yards, at best.
The farthest distance I walked was about three miles to college most days in summer. There and back. Looking back, I’m not sure how I managed that. Certainly couldn’t now…
My brother loves walking, though. He does a charity walk every year with a huge group up the beaches along the North East coast. Quite a large distance. He did invite me to it, but I was out of breath just thinking about it…