The Joy Of Walking In Your Neighbourhood
One of the benefits of the COVID-19 epidemic will be that humans discover the joy of walking. I have been an avid walking most of my life - I’d rather walk than cycle or drive. Why? Because I get to see fun things or meet people I would never otherwise. I used to walk one hour to work and one hour home for 10+ years, because I love walking so much (no it wasn’t uphill both ways).
Over the past week I have seen more people walking in Calgary than ever before, because A: they have the time and B: their gyms and other pastimes are closed.
I hope this will be a lesson for them to incorporate more walking into their everyday lives on a permanent basis.
There are lots of fun things to discover right in your own backyard, you don’t need to go to park or a formal pathway all the time.
Walk don’t drive!
While many people are driving to Calgary’s numerous parks and pathways to go for a walk, I would recommend you forget the car and walk in your neighbourhood. There is a wonderful world out your front door.
One of the advantages of Calgary’s urban sprawl is we have lots of empty streets that make it easy to go for a walk and still practice social distancing. You can wander the sidewalk of any Calgary community and easily pass by others safely by wandering to the road as you pass by and say “Hi.”
An added bonus is you will get to know your neighbourhood and perhaps even a few new neighbours. You might even find a new hidden gem, like happened to me.
Take the path least travelled
I loved finding this retro secret playground recently -unfortunately it is now closed - but it is still fun to walk by and think about the past.
This past week, we decided to go for a walk and headed west across Crowchild to the community of Parkdale.
When we got to the end of 7th Ave NW we decided to wander down a back alley rather than taking the sidewalk along 37th Street. After only a few meters I realized the alley intersected with another alley and there was a hidden open space.
Lo and behold wasn’t there a hidden retro playground in the little triangular left-over piece of land. I have been wandering the streets of West Hillhurst and neighbouring Parkdale, since the early ‘90s and I never knew about this playground.
Imagine having your own private city playground.
This is not the only “secret” playground in our ‘hood. There is one at the border between West Hillhurst and Briar Hill, that is only accessible from Sumac Rd NW. It even has its own skating rink in the winter and sometimes even a fire pit. I expect there are lots of them in Calgary’s older established neighbourhoods waiting to be discovered.
Be a Flaneur
One of the things I love to do is to wander the streets looking for “fun flaneur finds” photographing them and then tweeting them out to others. Flaneuring is a French term for a person who walks a city streets with no particular destination in mind other than noticing the little details of street life along the way.
For me it can be a fun kids swing on a tree in a front yard, or some garden ornament, maybe a fairy garden or an old sidewalk stamp. For a while I was taking pictures of the fun mid-century iron railing on the steps of houses in my ‘hood, which I eventually converted into a blog.
Or I might wander back alleys looking for garage door artworks. It is amazing what you can find if you are hyper observant. Let your imagination be your guide.
Explore a new community
If you are tired of walking in your community, then why not drive or take transit to a new neighbourhood for a walkabout. If you live in the suburbs you might want to go to an established or historic neighbourhood and see what their streets and alleys have to offer. If you live in Calgary, I would recommend places like Ramsay, Inglewood, Bridgeland, Scarboro or Roxboro.
If you live in the inner city, perhaps now is the time to explore a new suburb and see what they are all about. It might surprise you. In Calgary many of the houses in the new community of Livingston are similar to the infills of older communities like Killarney or Mount Pleasant.
Walking is faster than you think
One of the barriers to walking is that people think they don’t have enough time. Most of us have lost the sense of how far they can walk in say 15 or 20 minutes. The average person walks at a pace of about 5 km/hr which means you can walk over a kilometer in 15 minutes. While driving or cycling is faster, it might not be that much faster when you factor in the time it takes to find a parking spot (lock and unlock your bike, find your helmet) and walk from the parking spot to where you want to go – especially for short trips.
Walking is the best medicine
Most of us know that walking is probably the best form of exercise, especially if we push ourselves to walk a little faster than normal. It is the cheapest form of exercise as all you need are a good pair of walking shoes – no other special equipment or membership is required. There are lots of scholarly studies out there about how walking everyday can help your mental health, help you with sleeping, better digestion and preventing illness.
Perhaps the new saying should be “A walk a day will keep the doctor away!”
Walking in nature is perhaps even more healthy than urban walks. Recently when in Portland and at the beginning of the outbreak we decided to look for somewhere different to walk and I found on Google Maps a witch’s castle located on a trail in a park nearby.
We were pleasantly surprised to find out the trail was along a creek in a deep lush ravine that was like a temperate rain forest.
While I am an avid urban trekker I had to admit that walking this nature trail was one of the highlights of our two weeks of flaneuring Portland’s different communities.
There are lots of scholarly studies documenting that humans who have contact with nature on a regularly basis are happier and healthier. We recently went on a walk in a nearby off leash dog park area with a small forest area and discovered some interesting fallen tree trunks.
You don’t always have to go far to have contact with nature.
Calgary has over 5,000 parks of all different shapes and sizes for citizens to spread out without having to be near each other.
Walk & Talk
Another advantage of walking is that you can talk to people, be that the people you are walking with, or easily stop and talk with a neighbour or a stranger. On one of our walks this week, a neighbour was out chipping some ice so we said “Hi” (I always try to say Hi to people when walking by them, seems like the friendly thing to do) and soon we were into a robust conversation of how the world is going to change. We learned he is in the business of putting together remote work teams i.e. working without a central office of any kind. Indeed, walking can be a fun learning experience.
While out for a walk we found this Mom reading and her son doing some construction. We had a lovely short chat about what he was building. Two days later we saw them again, they were off looking for icicles and told us where to find the best ones. That’s what happens when you get out and walk in your neighbourhood.
Last Word
So whether you live in Calgary or in another city or town, appreciate the opportunity you have to rediscover the “joy(s) of walking.” Perhaps the post pandemic Calgary (and other North American cities) will be one that includes more walking and less driving!
Just remember to keep your distance. Best to walk alone or in twos but 2 meters apart. And respect other people’s space when passing them, say “Hi” and thank them if they move over first.
And remember to bring your phone so you can take photos of the fun things you find and share with others.
Note: An edited version of this blog was published by CBC Calgary.
If you like this blog, you will like these links:
Calgary: Neighbourhood Walkabout Postcards