Tired of the old route, Ridgefield woman takes stroll to Wilton
RIDGEFIELD — There are easier ways to get from Ridgefield to Wilton, but Georgann Frey chose to walk. That’s right, she walked 9.9 — let’s call it an even 10 — miles from Copps Hill in Ridgefield to the Village Market in Wilton Center on May 12.
It was just a one-way trip. Why did she do it?
“To be honest, I was tired of walking around in circles in Ridgefield to get enough miles in,” she said. “I said, ‘I just want to keep walking until I can’t walk anymore.’ [Route] 33 is a straight shot and I was determined.”
Frey, who is retired after a
38-year career as an elementary school teacher in Danbury, usually walks three to four miles a day and has logged as many as six. She figured this journey would top that.
“I didn’t check it out at first. I didn’t want to be put off,” she said. At one point ,she met a woman in Wilton who asked her what she was doing.
“I told her I had this grand idea, that I wanted to walk from Ridgefield to Wilton,” Frey recalled. “She said, ‘well, you’re almost there. You have
2.1 miles to go.” Walking at a leisurely pace,
Frey admired many of the houses along the way.
“I’m thinking of changing my yellow door to orange,” she said, so every time she passed one she took a good look. She took some photos, too.
Frey got to Wilton Center after about four hours. “I was surprised when I finally looked at my phone,” she said, to see how far she’d gone.
“It was a beautiful day, it wasn’t hot,” she said. There wasn’t a lot of traffic and drivers gave her a wide berth. Sometimes she could walk on the grass.
“I wanted to do it during this time,” she said, referring to how most people are staying indoors. “I won’t do it again as traffic increases.”
Her husband picked her up at the Village Market, but before going home they went inside for a treat.
“I was shocked at how I didn’t ache at all,” Frey said. “I did sleep well that night.”
Instead of taking the next day off, Frey was at it again, walking from Ridgefield to Cross River, N.Y.