For many of us, walking can be a break from thinking. It can be a time to just be, just breath, just step and enjoy the unmediated experience of being alive. I recently finished a new book called A Philosophy of Walking by Frederic Gros, a philosophy lecturer from Paris, which takes the opposite slant. It presents the importance of walking in the lives of several central thinkers of the Western tradition.
The chapters include the obvious and expected story of Thoreau and his time “sauntering” around Walden Pond and the phenomenon of the “flaneur”, the public walkers of Paris in the later 19th century. What was new to me was the passion of Nietzche, whose walking slowed and moderated his gradual descent into madness. I hadn’t realized how much of a walker the French poet, Rimbaud, had been. I loved the portrait of Kant, who only ever had one route, which he took daily, like clockwork, through his town. Other walkers - Rousseau, Snyder and more - fill out a broad landscape of different thinking walkers or walking thinkers who walked in different ways for different reasons in different times.
An excellent and highly recommended read and thanks to my brother, Joe, for the gift of this book. I look forward to walking and philosophizing with you again soon.
Yours , on the journey,
Ray
Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet
Thich Nhat Hahn
All of a sudden there’s a lot for us pedestrians to do to compliment our trail time.
1. The Hikers’ Film Fest is on this weekend in Renfrew at the Rec Centre on Argyle.
On Friday at 6.30 pm we’re showing Wild and on Saturday we’ve got The Way. Also on Saturday, Mike and Adele Boire will be present to talk about their Compostela walk last fall.
2. Our April KAPPS walk is scheduled for April 26. We’re sampling the HyperHike route we’ve set for the Hike For Hospice on the next weekend, May 3
Meet at 9.45 AM at the Official KAPPS Station next to the Adult High School at the corner of Carswell and Renfrew.
3. KAPPSter and Assistant KAPPS Konductor, Lara Mylly is hosting a 5 week poling course in Cobden starting on Tuesday April 28, 6.30-8.00pm. This course teaches the basics and some advanced techniques and offers some great walks too. Best of all - its FREE. Poles provided and also for sale if you are looking. Call Lara at 613-582-3685 to register.
AND.... don't forget to get some pledges for the Hike For Hospice, May 3, 1.30 pm in Renfrew
Yours , on the journey,
Ray
Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet
Thich Nhat Hahn
Its only about a month from now that we will be joining so many other walkers for the annual Hike for Hospice in Renfrew. This event, scheduled this year for Sunday May 10, is an excellent opportunity to combine our favourite activity with one of the County’s most valued facilities, the Renfrew Hospice. If you don’t know their service, visit the website http://www.hospicerenfrew.ca/ .
Their major fund-raising walk is the Hike for Hospice,
http://www.hospicerenfrew.ca/hike_for_hospice.php , and it normally extends about 4 km (approx 1 hour’s walking) out from Raglan and O’Brien to Mateway Park and back. This year our KAPPS group is promoting the first Hyper-Hike which adds to the route with additional 7 km round-trip, from the turn-off at Mateway, out to Hiway 132 and back, for a total walk of about 12 km (approx 1.5 hours). This just makes the Hike a bit more challenging for walkers and runners, and we hope will raise more money for the Hospice.
To prepare walkers for this event, we are also sponsoring the Hikers’ Film Fest on the weekend of April 17-18 at the Recreation Centre on Argyle St. In Renfrew. We’re showing two films:
Wild
Friday, April 17,
6.30 pm
The Way,
Saturday, April 18
2.30 pm
The admission for each film is $4.00 and all the profit goes to the Hospice. You can get pledge sheets for the Hike as well. We will have information on KAPPS and its walks too.
Yours , on the journey,
Ray
Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet
Thich Nhat Hahn
Finally Spring has arrived! The transformation of walking is so welcome. I can now walk longer time and distance without bundling up or dodging around ice-patches or leaping over snow-banks. No need to bundle my dogs up either.
In walking around my town (Renfrew, Ontario, pop. 7,500) I have been distressed by the awful condition of the roads and sidewalks. You can’t even say that walkers are disadvantaged because of cars, because the roads are every bit in disrepair as the sidewalks. One of my maintenance walks takes me out to a new housing development, appended to the back of one of the major shopping malls. With all the talk about accessible communities and the importance of public walking space, I am shocked to see this set of about 50 new dwellings completely ignores sidewalks. There a few lay-bys which run for parts of blocks, but these are clearly intended as off-street parking concessions.
On the other hand, I do have to congratulate some parts of the community which managed to acquire a multi-million dollar grant for the maintenance of the K and P Trail, a local snowmobile track favoured by walkers in the summer. The K and P is one of our best kept walking secrets and this money promises to keep it in top shape for years. I don’t often thank politicians for much, but in this case, a tip o’ the ball-cap is in order.
see you out walking,
Ray
It was deeply and personally brought home to me how critical the state of the natural world has become through my afternoon walk on the streets of Havana. The city is a miraculous relic of a bygone era, one which is collapsing and decomposing as we walk through it. The buildings are delightful and precious, yet out of the current political and economic situation in Cuba, so many buildings, streets , neigbourhoods and towns are eroding and disappearing in slow motion.
Even more present was the simultaneous poisoning of the air in and around the city. Driving to the city was passing through waves of toxic black smoke – diesel, gas and plain old dirt. In the city itself the blend of oppressive heat, fouling vehicles and inefficient human and industrial waste removal made it impossible to catch a breath of clean air. The day after our visit, I was obliged to rest most of the day because I could not catch my breath and experienced a aching pressure in my chest unlike anything I’ve known before.
The next week-end, after I returned, I went out walking on a snowmobile trail near Calabogie. There the air was entirely different – until the next wave of noisy, fouling snow machines roared by.
I fear for how this slow and almost unnoticed erosion f our air space will confine us to pockets of usable air or force us to rely, as people are now doing in Japan and China, on wearing facemasks to filter out the poisons. Where will we walk when the air is poisoned?
yours, on the trail
Ray
Walking continues to be confirmed as “the best medicine” for chronic physical and emotional conditions. In the West, one of the 10 most common chronic diseases is diabetes and health researchers predict this will grow to a point where 1 in 3 North American will be diabetic. Good reason for us to look at walking for diabetics.
Diabetics are advised that regular daily walking of 30 minutes results in:
· Improved glucose control. Exercise helps muscles absorb blood sugar, preventing it from building up in the bloodstream. This effect can last for hours or even days, but it’s not permanent. That’s why walking regularly is essential for continued blood glucose control.
· Better cardiovascular fitness. Because people with diabetes are at increased risk for heart disease, this is an important benefit.
· Weight control. Regular walking burns calories; this can help control weight, which in turn can reduce health risks.
Also crucial for diabetics is the added attention they need to give to foot health. Proper shoes, regular care and treatment of wounds or “wear’n’tear” are critical. Because of the greater risk of a sugar-related event while walking, diabetic walkers should carry some emergency food and have an up-to-date medic alert identifier, like a bracelet or necklace. Such risks also make walking with some else more beneficial. Walking with others builds social links and contributes to one’s self-strength.
yours on the trail,
Ray
