The Habit of Walking

This morning I decided to go for a benchmark run for a new Garmin training plan. After I ran the required 5 minutes and four minutes of walking I continued with my walk. I had a route that I wanted to walk but because I saw people, and dogs on the paths that I was thinking of walking down I took a bigger loop once, then again, and then a third time. In the end I walked 12,000 steps this morning. I walked from Nyon to Cheserex to Borex to Arnex and back towards Nyon.

This is more than a five minute walk. Between running, and walking it took me one and a half to two hours. That’s the same time as it would take on the buses. That’s because the bus route is long and winding. I am not hear to discuss buses.

This walk illustrates that if we gather the habit of walking from one place to another, without getting into a car, the area within which we live actually shrinks, rather than grows. That’s because buses, trams, the London Underground and other forms of transport skew our perception of time and distance. What feels like a massive distance on the Roman Metro is actually an easy walk on the surface. It’s the same in London. The centre of London is tiny, once you build a mental map, by walking around.

Endangered by a Dangerous Driver

The same is true of the Swiss countryside. It’s because my scooter was crashed into by a woman staring at her phone, rather than the road in front of her. The scooter and I skidded several meters but I stayed upright, but the rear shock absorber was skewed. I was fine but I still went to the hospital for a checkup, in case of pain later on.

When the scooter was in for repairs I was forced to walk to the scooter place several times to learn about progress. As I did this several times the distance went from feeling long, to feeling short. Over time I expanded my local walking habit until I could walk from where I live to Founex, to Gingins to Crassier, Nyon and beyond.

When I realised that I had so many walking routes that I could appreciate, without getting into a polluting car I kept the habit. We always hear about how we need to make towns pedestrian friendly, and how we need to reduce speed limits. I think this is forking stupid. I think we should focus on making it possible to walk from villages, from the suburbs, to towns, without feeling the need to drive.

The Default Car Habit

Dog walkers, and others, get into a car to do a three or four kilometre walk several driving minutes from home. If pedestrian, and cycling routes were added parallel to roads the need for cars for short journeys would vanish. We need cars, not because we don’t want to walk from A to B, but because there is a busy road that feels to dangerous to walk along.

Recently I decided not to walk towards the lake anymore. I like the road and I like the landscapes but cars drive along these narrow agricultural roads at speed. People wave to thank me for standing a meter or two from the roads, but I stand so far from the road because they drive like homicidal maniacs. It’s not safe to walk near the road.

Dedicated Walking Routes

I will keep repeating myself. We need safe walking roads that are banned to cars, for cycling and walking. It is counterproductive to say “if you drive to this parking, and walk along that loop you will encounter no cars. These cars are dangerous around me, a solitary male, which is normal. What horrifies me is that they behave the same with women walking with prams, couples and more.

It is counterproductive to speak about wanting people to have a walking culture, if to walk, or cycle, is to expose yourself to people speeding by you, too fast and too close. The environment won’t benefit from people like me, for as long as people speed and drive too close to pedestrians.

The Pandemic Honeymoon

During the pandemic I had enormous walking freedom, because the mental illness of driving had vanished for a few weeks, so walking was safe. When the mental illness of driving came back so all the routes I had enjoyed became dangerous and emotionally toxic. I went from having dozens of walking route down to a single circuit now, that I can do clockwise, or anti-clockwise, for diversity.

I had the mental illness of getting into a car to do an 8km walk two hours from home, instead of just walking eight kilometres from home. It frustrates me that so many walking routes that I enjoyed are too dangerous to walk now.

Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg are speaking of 30km/h limits in town, but it’s not in towns that you need to lower the speed. You need to make it enjoyable to walk from villages, into towns, and vice versa. You need to get people to forget about their cars. You need people to feel safe walking from Cheserex to Nyon, from Borex to Grens, and from Céligny to Arnex.

And Finally

When you walk from home, you see more. You see the migration of cows from their fields, to be milked. You see sheep in one field one day, and in another field three days later. You see the crops grow, get harvested and new crops planted. You notice the beehives and the plants that the bees love. You also get to know every single local road. If you look at the heat map I generate by walking and cycling you will see how well I know the local area.

Walking is a pleasure, but too many people are driving like maniacs, because they’re in a rush. If they left the car parked, and walked to where they need to be, they’d be calmer. People need to learn to leave their cars parked, and walk.

I don’t want to see my old habit of driving every day come back. I like that I walk and cycle three to four days in a row, using the car just to shop, and only because of the 15 minute rule. If not for the 15 minute rule I wouldn’t use the car for shopping.