Walking for fun is the most preferred leisure pastime in Britain by far. Based on information from the United Kingdom authorities 16% of individuals do it each week, when compared with 11% who head to the gym. Quite possibly living and being in the country side is linked with success and the “upper classes” who, according to stories in literature, would own huge country mansions. Prosperous Victorian entrepreneurs acquired a country estate to prove their wealth and increased social standing. Perhaps the claustrophobia triggered by living in the most heavily populated large region in Europe forces us to seek out open places when at leisure. It was of course in the Victorian era that recreational walking originally became favoured as it was a low-cost way for factory workers to escape from the satanic mills and it became thought of as a healthy almost puritanical life style. How come then that rambling remains so popular? The delights of rambling have for a long time stimulated poets and novelists. Some have spoken of the experience of liberty that can come from leaving the town behind; and of the astounding variety of landscapes and stunning views that the British countryside will deliver us. In the “Song of the Open Road”, Walt Whitman penned “Afoot and lighthearted I take to the open road, Healthy, free, the world before me, The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.” Rambling appears to set the mind free for thought. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said that “All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.” The Welsh writer Lloyd Jones, who was encouraged to write his first book by a 1,000-mile hike around Wales, pronounced that “The moving landscape provides an absorbing diversion which frees the mind and gives us a fresh viewpoint, and we’re most at ease with the world when we walk because everything is happening at a manageable pace.” A number of politicians like the chance to consider the big issues of state as they ramble. William Gladstone, the Victorian prime minister and moralist, was an keen daily walker, pioneering a route up Mount Snowdon at the age of 83. Whilst involved in the europe’s economic issues in 2011, Angela Merkel, the German prime minister, elected to pass her summertime break walking in the south Tyrol (even so the trip didn’t produce any quick solutions to the problem) Who might doubt that the English Composer Vaughan Williams was stimulated by the British scenery when he wrote perhaps his most popular piece “The Lark Ascending”. Vaughan Williams, as were quite a few other English composers, was noted for his frequent country walks not only to collect folk songs but also to be motivated by the rolling English Countryside. Perhaps we should leave the closing words to John Muir, the Scottish-born American naturalist. “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like falling leaves.” “I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out until sundown: for going out, I found, was really going in." The author, Bruno Blackstone, is Marketing Director at My Outdoor Store, the foremost walking and hiking outdoor gear store.
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