Retired teacher walking every street in Calgary
Retired teacher, guide book author on track to tread every street in city
Some people prefer to run, but others like to walk.
David Peyto is one of the latter. So much so, that he is undertaking an “every street” walk in Calgary.
This type of walk is just like what it sounds like: a walk down every single street in the city.
“I’ve always enjoyed just getting out, and I’ve led historic walks in the past years in older communities. And I thought, I would give this a try and see how much I can do and learn more about the city,” said the retired phys- ed teacher.
Peyto has walked approximately 1,530 kilometres throughout Calgary since he started the project in September 2013, although he has not worn out a pair of shoes yet.
He was inspired to do the walk through Calgary after reading a blog by Matt Green, who is doing an every street walk through the five boroughs of New York City.
“I know the city fairly well, so it’s a matter of getting out there and actually walking and just seeing what’s there.”
To document his progress, Peyto has been taking pictures and uploading them to ‘ walk calgary communities’ on Flickr.
“I’ve got ( day) 85 up today, but I’ve walked 181 ( days) … I only decided back in December to start putting the photos up,” he said.
Despite the backup, there is no denying that he has had plenty of interesting subjects. Yard art, sidewalk stamps, murals and free libraries capture the essence of the neighbourhoods he has visited.
“In some of the areas there are lots of photos. Like when I went and did the downtown streets, there’s always interesting stuff downtown. Decorations on the buildings, and older buildings, different buildings and parks and that.”
Getting lost in Calgary’s numerous neighbourhoods isn’t a problem. Peyto has written several walking guide books, including Calgary LRT Walks: The Northwest Stations and Discover Southwest Calgary’s Parks and Green Spaces, and is now working on another LRT walking guide.
He brings a map and clipboard with him when he goes through an area, marking off where he has gone. But the trick to this considerable walk is to not do too much of it at a time — the longest Peyto has walked is three and a half hours.
“Don’t do it every day, I don’t think you can become obsessed with it … It’s not just the only thing you’re doing.”
Peyto has been walking for 90 minutes to two hours a day, three to four days a week. He expects to be done in six to 10 years.
“I don’t really have a method, I’m just enjoying it.”
According to walkscore. com, Calgary is a car- dependent city. But “that doesn’t mean it’s not a walkable city,” according to Dan Rubinstein, author of Born to Walk.
“Calgary is a big sprawling city ... it takes a long time to get from downtown to get to the furthest street in the furthest subdivision. But if you do have time, it’s a worthwhile journey.”
While the city was designed with cars as the primary transportation, individual neighbourhoods are very walkable and often have trails connecting them to others or are linked to LRT stations. Peyto is including these paths in his walk.
So far, he has walked the area north of the Elbow and south of the Bow, from Fort Calgary to stampede park to the west side of the city, as well as North Hill from the University to Deer Foot south of Confederation Park and Queen’s Park Cemetery.
In total, he has walked about 20 per cent of Calgary.