• Join walking clubs/groups  -  See Clubs/Associations on WalkGPS;  Walking Group contacts (DPI);  and also

  “Walk there Today 2006-2007 Walking Guide” (DPI et al) which has an extensive list of about 60 organisations that conduct walking programmes and other walking activities in the Perth area.

• Build a sense of community & friendship and a supportive network through shared, relaxed activity.

“The true charm of pedestrianism does not lie in the walking, or in the scenery, but in the talking. The walking is good to time the movement of the tongue by, and to keep the blood and the brain stirred up and active; the scenery and the woodsy smells are good to bear in upon a man an unconscious and unobtrusive charm and solace to eye and soul and sense; but the supreme pleasure comes from the talk.”

- Mark Twain  [Samuel Clemens]

 (1835–1910), American humorist, satirist, writer, lecturer; In A Tramp Abroad, Ch. 23 (1880).

“All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.”

- Friedrich Nietzsche

(1844–1900), German philosopher

“I can only meditate when I am walking.  When I stop, 
I cease to think; my mind works only with my legs.”
-  Jean-Jacques Rousseau

 (1712-1778), Genevan philosopher; from Les Confessions.

“To find new things, take the path you took yesterday.”
- John Burroughs

(1837-1921), American naturalist.

“Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.”
- Henry David Thoreau

(1817–1862), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist.

“The rhythm of walking generates a kind of rhythm of thinking, and the passage through a landscape echoes or stimulates the passage through a series of thoughts.  This creates an odd consonance between internal and external passage, one that suggests that the mind is also a landscape of sorts and that walking is one way to traverse it. A new thought often seems like a feature of the landscape that was  there all along, as though thinking were traveling rather than making.” 

- Rebecca Solnit  

American writer, historian, environmental activist; from Wanderlust: A History of Walking, p. 5; 2000.

“I was the world in which I walked.”
- Wallace Stevens

 (1879-1955), American modernist poet; from Tea at the Palaz of Hoon, in Collected Poetry & Prose, p.51.

“It is solved by walking.”
- Latin proverb

“Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along,

 listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.”

- A.A. Milne

(1882-1956), Pooh's Little Instruction Book, publ. Methuen 1996.

“It is not talking but walking that will bring us to heaven."
- Matthew Henry

(1662-1714), English non-conformist clergyman.

“Walking meditation means to enjoy walking without any intention to arrive. We don't need to arrive anywhere.  We just walk. We enjoy walking.  .....  Usually in our daily life we walk because we want to go somewhere.  Walking is only a means to an end, and that is why we do not enjoy every step we take. Walking meditation is different.  Walking is only for walking. You enjoy every step you take.  So this is a kind of revolution in walking.  You allow yourself to enjoy every step you take.”

- Thich Nhat Hanh

 (b. 1926), Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, author, peace activist; from Resting in the River

“One step at a time is good walking.”
- Chinese Proverb

“Nature is shy and noncommittal in a crowd. To learn her secrets, visit her alone or with a single friend, at most. Everything evades you, everything hides, even your thoughts escape you, when you walk in a crowd.”

 – Edwin Way Teale

(1899-1980), American naturalist, photographer, writer;

Circle of the Seasons: The Journal of a Naturalist’s Year - May 4. (1987).

      Improve your knowledge of your local environment and feel a part of it.

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, 

but in having new eyes.”

- Marcel Proust

(1871-1922), French intellectual, novelist, essayist & critic.

“The country was all wrong and I felt cheated.  This wasn't what I had come back for; where were the ferntree gullies, the high plains, the trout?  All the plants scratched your legs.  The jarrah was a grotesque parody of a tree, gaunt, misshapen, usually with a few dead limbs, fire-blackened trunk, and barely enough leaves to shade a small ant.  If you went camping in the summer, you carried water – you couldn't take a running stream for granted. It was slowly borne in on me that I wasn't Australian at all, but a Victorian…. Slowly I came to understand the land better.” 

- George Seddon

(1927-2007), Australian academic; writing of Western Australia in the Foreword to his “Sense of Place”; 1972.

“There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a country.  A fine landscape is like a piece of music; it must be taken at the right tempo.  Even a bicycle goes too fast.” 

- Paul Scott Mowrer

  (1887-1971), U.S. newspaper correspondent; from The House of Europe; 1945.

“If the day ever comes when they know who
They are, they may know better where they are.”
- Robert Frost

(1874-1963), American poet; from A Cabin in the Clearing; 1951.

“We shall not cease from exploration

 And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.”

- T. S. Eliot

 (1888-1965), American poet, dramatist, and literary critic; from Little Gidding.

“The beauty of nature includes all that is called beautiful, as its flower, and all that is not called beautiful, as its stalk and roots.  Indeed, when I go to the woods or the fields, or ascend to the hilltop, I do not seem to be gazing upon beauty at all, but to be breathing it like the air. I am not dazzled or astonished; I am in no hurry to look lest it be gone. I would not have the litter and debris removed, or at the bands trimmed, or the ground painted. What I enjoy is commensurate with the earth and sky itself. It clings to the rocks and trees; it is kindred to the roughness and savagery; it arises from every tangle and chasm; it perches on the dry oakstubs with the hawks and buzzards; the crows shed it from their wings and weave it in to their nests of coarse sticks; the fox barks it, the cattle low it, and every mountain path leads to its haunts. I am not a spectator of, but a participator in it. It is not an adornment; its roots strike to the centre of the earth.”

- John Burroughs

(1837-1921), American naturalist; from Birds and Poets, 1877.

“Go outside and walk a bit, long enough to take in and record new surroundings.  Enjoy the best-kept secret around - the ordinary, everyday landscape that touches any explorer with magic.”

- John R. Stilgoe

 Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places, 1998.

“After a day's walk everything has twice its usual value.”

- G.M. Trevelyan

(1876-1962), British historian.

·       Regular moderate to brisk walking decreases risk of :

-        Heart disease and stroke (by boosting ‘good’ blood cholesterol and lowering ‘bad’ cholesterol, and reducing blood pressure). Walking half an hour a day will reportedly reduce your risk of developing heart disease by around 30% compared to not exercising.

-        Type 2 Diabetes (by improving the body’s ability to produce insulin).

-        Osteoporosis (by increasing bone density).

-        Osteoarthritis (due to beneficial effects of weight loss).

-        Some cancers (e.g. colon & breast cancer).

·       Increases metabolic rate (therefore burns calories).

·       Reduces risk of falls and injuries (including leg or hand fractures) - because joints have a better range of motion, the muscles gain more flexibility, and the bones are strengthened.

·       Increases physical  fitness

-        Posture, muscle tone, strength, mobility,  flexibility, and stamina.

·        Gets and keeps you looking good. 

·        Reduces excess body fat & weight naturally, without unrealistic dieting (provided that food intake also isn't increased!).

·      Build fitness comfortably and steadily as an alternative to more vigorous forms of activity.  

·      No need for a punishing exercise regime (the old "no pain, no gain" adage).  -  A "brisk but comfortable pace" is sufficient to raise the heart rate to recommended levels. Low impact but dynamic activities such as walking are also more effective in burning  fat in the healthiest manner.  The fat-burning effect apparently kicks-in about 30-40 minutes after the start of walking.

·      No pressure to perform. 

·      Set your own goals.  

·      At your own pace, in your own time.  

Regular walking:

·        Reduces stress, anxiety, tension.

·        Enhances confidence and sense of well being. i.e. Helps you feel positive and lifts the spirits.

·        Combats depression.

·        Builds self-esteem.

Regular moderate-intensity exercise such as brisk walking can result in improved quality of sleep.

Steadily and naturally build up your fitness through increased walking distances and/or reduced times. 

Low risk of injuries. Not hard on joints. Low risk of muscle strains.

·      Age, ability and  background not relevant.

·      No special athletic skills or training  required – just get started! 

·      Solitude or social interaction according to your personal choice. 

·      Easy to fit into a schedule.  

·      Walking opportunities are almost anywhere, anytime. 

“The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready, and it may be a long time before they get off.”

- Henry David Thoreau

(1817–1862), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist.

·        No expensive equipment or amenities required and no (or minimal) fees.

·        Key essential is a pair of proper, comfortable walking shoes (or boots plus additional requirements for Bushwalking).   

Also see:    Why Walk?    Why Off-track Walk?    Why Day Walk?    Why WalkGPS?

Bushwalkers gain all of the benefits of walking as above and more:

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” 

- John Muir

(1838-1914), Scottish-American wilderness preservationist; from Steep Trails, 1918.

“I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend four hours a day at least - and it is commonly more than that - sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements.”

- Henry David Thoreau

(1817–1862), American philosopher, author, naturalist.

“It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.”

- Robert Louis Stevenson

(1850-1894), Scottish writer, critic, naturalist.

“My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing.”

- Aldous Huxley

(1894-1963), British writer.

“It is not enough to just "love nature" or want to "be in harmony with Gaia." Our relation to the natural world takes place in a place, and it must be grounded in information and experience.”

- Gary Snyder

(b.1930), American poet, essayist, environmental activist.

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and places to pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.”

- John Muir 

(1838-1914), Scottish-American wilderness preservationist & naturalist.

"The Hetch Hetchy Valley" Sierra Club Bulletin,Vol. VI, No.4, Jan. 1908.

“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 own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”

- John Muir

(1838-1914), Scottish-American wilderness preservationist; from Our National Parks, 1901, p.56.

“Not to have known - as most men have not - either the mountain or the desert is not to have known one's self. Not to have known one's self is to have known no one.”

- Joseph Wood Krutch

(1893-1970), American writer, critic, naturalist.

“The wilderness is a place of rest - not in the sense of being motionless, for the lure, after all, is to move, to round the next bend. The rest comes in the isolation from distractions, in the slowing of the daily centrifugal forces that keep us off balance.”

- David Douglas

American writer, water issues advocate;

from Wilderness Sojourn; 1987

“Away, away, from men and towns,
To the wild wood and downs,
To the silent wilderness,
Where the soul need not repress
Its music.”

- Percy Bysshe Shelley

(1792-1822), British poet. The Invitation; 1820.

“When we walk, we naturally go to the fields and woods:

what would become of us, if we walked only in a garden or a mall?”

 - Henry David Thoreau