Ursula Martin, Wales (and a long walk away)

“I’m not sure that I particularly like walking more than other people do. The first walk I did was in Spain when I was in a period of reducing the complexity and stress of my life, to live in a philosophically different way: getting rid of expectations, giving up control of the future. Walking is kind of what’s left when you strip down everything else. It is financial simplicity to walk and sleep on the ground, but also psychological simplicity, emotional simplicity as well. It was appealing. It doesn’t have to be some big adventure that you fly off to do with loads of kit, Machu-Picchutrip-of-a-lifetime stuff; for me it was seeing this river on a map and thinking, I want to walk the length of that. You’ve got the freedom of time, when you let go of money as a priority. Most people can’t prioritise both.

“I don’t know how much longevity writing has, but it’s a career right now, weirdly enough! I’ve definitely been writing diaries for a long time, but writing as a career was a faraway dream – I might as well have said I wanted to be a princess in a castle when I grow up; it had a similar degree of attainability!

“Walking is always bringing you something new around every corner, and even if it’s a view that you know and love it’s still a surprise to see it every day – the act of journeying brings inspiration and appreciation.

“It hasn’t been spoiled by making it my life. I still go for a walk. Well, not just at the moment – I only just finished the 5500-mile walk across Europe and I’m recovering. But there are things planned.”