3 things I love about walking

Skylarks

It’s a source of shame I can’t identify more than a handful of all the birds I see on walks, but there’s one I know whose song roots me to the spot every time. A speck of skylark simply pelting music at you from out of a high blue sky is the sound of a fine day in the offing – sonic optimism spurting out under high pressure, yet expertly controlled by this virtuosic little bird. It captures the whole heart-soaring business of walking in sound.

Beer gardens

I’m not sure there’s ever been a happier pairing of words in the history of human language. But what I really prize about a beer garden is its ability to act as an instant developing room for the memories and pleasures of the walk. The slaking of a deserved thirst, the satisfying of a need for rest after honest exertion, the prolonging of just being outside under the sky and the colour of the world through a golden lens part ale, part satisfaction at a day well spent.

Trig points

6500 trig points (or ‘trigonometric pillars’) were erected on Britain’s high points in the 30s and 40s, and 5500 still exist today. They allowed Ordnance Survey to measure heights and distances with unprecedented accuracy, and gave children something to look forward to slapping in triumph at the top. I’ll always associate them with the precise moment dismay at all the effort transformed into pride at having achieved something Big and Official – and the onset of lunch!