Going out for a walk is really a process of going into ourselves.
When done alone walking allows us to spend time in our own company away from daily distractions where we re-engage with something essential and vital to who we are. Only the present is ever real, and it is the present that takes shape and finds a focus as we stretch out and commit to an hour’s stroll or an afternoon walk or a full day’s hiking.
Once the day’s weather is reckoned with, we choose a walk to suit a purpose we are not always conscious of. A short testing pull up the side of a hill to burn off some bad feeling.
A quick spin around the local loch to sort out a problem or a long perambulation to somewhere remote and wild where something of the transcendent is sought. We learn after a while what works for us, what we need to do occasionally to sort ourselves out, or to boost our spirits or to just find the solitude we sometimes crave.
Part of this process is how walking can immerse us in the landscape and take us from ourselves when small events grab our attention to bring surprise and delight.
A heron stands erect at the water’s edge, beak poised ready to pounce. A buzzard hovers overhead, its distinctive call drawing your attention, a quick movement ahead sees a deer and its fawn cross your path and disappear into woodland.
These distractions are part of the walking experience, often taking us by surprise and shifting our focus to the present and the immediate. The process of walking itself, the simple effort of one foot before another, finding your own stride creates a rhythm and tempo that both creates and matches our mood.
We find a way to fit with the day and the feeling it brings. Do we create the day, or the day create us? A bit of both I suspect. Whichever it is, there is much more to walking than simply’ going out’.
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