Life's Little Adventures

Let's Go For A Healthy Walk

Here are some of my experiences in hiking, from 1950 to now:

Hiking the Appalachian Trail. A 1950 adventure with three friends from school, in which we covered some 50 miles of woodland across Pennsylvania in nearly a week.

The Conquest of Japan's Mount Fuji. In 1959 two army buddies and I climb to the top of the sacred mountain in two days.

Innsbruck Mountain Walk. Walking along a ridge line high in the Austrian Alps, and what I wrote about that Little Adventure back in 1979.

Stoke Bruerne, England. A nine-mile stroll along the towpath of the Grand Union Canal to a lovely old village with a great pub.

A Mountain Walk Near Vaduz, Liechtenstein. An easy daytrip from Zürich in Switzerland takes you through the woods of a tiny nation, with great views.

Backpacking in New York State. Two three-day hikes in the 1970s, on by Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks, the other in the Catskills.

Why Walking Tours? Why I focus my travel writing on healthy walks.

Schneeberg, Austria. Ride up a real mountain in Vienna's backyard on an ancient steam train, then hike to its summit for a view.

More coming...stay tuned!

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Why Walking Tours?

According to the health "experts," I should have perished long ago. But I'm still here, 73 years young and still in excellent shape. And I've never been seriously sick.

When I was a kid, back in the 1930s and 40s, we used to play with lead toys, little balls of mercury, and fistfuls of fluffy asbestos. And we ate lots of candy, soda, and hot dogs. Not exactly "healthy" living. To make matters worse, I started smoking as a teenager and didn't stop until my mid-50s. And then there's all that lovely beer.

So why am I still around?

BECAUSE I WALK.

I have always walked a lot as a kid, from the Appalachian Trail to the streets of Manhattan. To and from school, even when high school was well over two miles each way. When I moved to New York City in 1952 I quickly discovered that walking was often the best way to get around.

So when I started writing travel guides in the mid-1970s it was only natural that I organize them around walking tours. Not only is walking a key to good health, not only is it economical, but it is also the very best way of experiencing a destination. At a walking pace you can absorb the ambiance of a place more completely than when traveling in a car, bus, or even on a bicycle. And you get to meet more people.

Walking not only keeps me healthy, it also makes me happy — as seen in this very recent drawing of me by my nephew's 6-year-old daughter Haley, which really captures my spirit. Picasso could not have done better.

All it takes is decent footwear, which needn't cost much. In this regard I am partial to walking sneakers by New Balance, mostly because I have very wide feet, and because they last practically forever.

The only other thing needed is, of course, a place to walk. Fortunately, my town in the suburbs of Philadelphia has some really good trails. The top photo shows one of these, on which I walk several miles nearly every day, usually keeping up a 4 mph pace. That's my fellow walker Charlie just ahead.

By the way, I do not advocate that we go back to playing with lead, mercury, or asbestos — or eating junk food, smoking or overindulgence in booze. These are of course very unhealthy and must be avoided. It's just that they didn't manage to kill me, largely because I made up for their destructiveness by daily exercise in walking.

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