Feel the difference

You might have thought lockdown marked the end of all kinds of plans, hopes and ambitions for 2021. In fact it’s made one incredible adventure more important than ever.

ONE OF THE biggest surprises of last year was the power of #walk1000miles not just to survive under lockdown and travel restrictions, but to thrive. The challenge was transformed overnight, yes, but in a way that left its grand ambition and its accessibility – its enormous power to boost resilience, hopefulness and community – unharmed. And it only became more and more important as our horizons shrank and the morale-eating magnetism of the sofa, and the telly, and the news grew ever stronger. In those conditions, the magic of walking and of striving for that 2.74-mile-a-day target, no matter what the weather or the world threw at us, and doing so in fellowship with so many virtual friends, shone brighter than ever.

And now here we are again, life – in some ways – on hold, yet #walk1000miles ready to do its duty, and turn whatever back garden or block or field-edge you can access ready to gold; transform whatever grey day or scrap of a half-hour ready into purposeful, pleasurable time.

Remember: yes, walking is wonderful in beautiful, far off places (and we’ll get there, and be fit as fiddles when we do) but it’s no less potent a medicine in whatever form it comes, and its job has never been more important than now: to keep us facing forward, to feed our capacity for wonder and optimism and good cheer, to build our resilience and our determination to make the best of ourselves and our circumstances. So come on – let’s turn our faces into those headwinds, raise a wry smile toward everything that would have us do nothing but despair, and do something extraordinary instead: let’s walk 1000 miles. It’s always the perfect time to start, and the journey starts right at your door.