Walking to work - It's also good for your ears

[Willeh85]

I moved house recently which means I'm now only two miles from work.

I decided it would be a good idea to help keep me fit and healthy long term if I walked to work. There was also a recommendation from my doctor that this would help recover from a crippling bout of reactive arthritis due to illness I had last year.

So for the last month I've been doing exactly that. Nearly one month later I've felt much better physically and mentally, walk the distance 10 minutes quicker than when I first started, and I'm alert and awake as soon as I get to work. I also have an excuse to eat more food.

That's all well and good, but walking to work has also exposed me to seeing, and more importantly hearing some wonderful sounding cars that I wouldn't have been able to appreciate during my 15 mile dual carriage way commute.

I've seen a few special cars once, but the regulars I've seen are a Nissan GTR, a V8 Land Rover Defender pickup, and this C63 AMG that I managed to capture on my phone this morning, which I see at the same time every day and brings a smile to my face when I hear it rumbling up behind me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhIboUSaS4A&fe...

I'm really looking forward to the summer months walking and seeing, and more importantly hearing some of the garage queens. I might invest in a nice camera to capture some of these on the move.

[bennyboysvuk]

I used to do a regular walk to a local supermarket and quite often a black R8 used to come past as well as a black Granturismo, both with very loud exhausts. They sounded fabulous.

[Conscript]

I'd love to be able to walk/cycle to work, but I live a good 20 miles away.

Not only do I need the exercise and fresh air, but at the moment my car is both a fun car and a daily driver, and it would be nice to be able to only have to use it at the weekend and not spend the week sitting on the motorway gathering stone chips. And save myself the fuel costs, too.

[WinstonWolf]

Conscript said:

I'd love to be able to walk/cycle to work, but I live a good 20 miles away.

Not only do I need the exercise and fresh air, but at the moment my car is both a fun car and a daily driver, and it would be nice to be able to only have to use it at the weekend and not spend the week sitting on the motorway gathering stone chips. And save myself the fuel costs, too.

A 20 mile cycle commute is only just over an hour once you're fit. Try it, you might be surprised

(Don't try twenty miles the first day, you'll arrive at work dead! )

[budgie smuggler]

WinstonWolf said:

A 20 mile cycle commute is only just over an hour once you're fit. Try it, you might be surprised

(Don't try twenty miles the first day, you'll arrive at work dead! )

And triple check that your work clothes are actually packed in your bag.

[WinstonWolf]

budgie smuggler said:

WinstonWolf said:

A 20 mile cycle commute is only just over an hour once you're fit. Try it, you might be surprised

(Don't try twenty miles the first day, you'll arrive at work dead! )

And triple check that your work clothes are actually packed in your bag.

And that your only pair of shoes aren't SPDs

[Conscript]

WinstonWolf said:

A 20 mile cycle commute is only just over an hour once you're fit. Try it, you might be surprised

(Don't try twenty miles the first day, you'll arrive at work dead! )

"Once you're fit" being the key phrase in that statement. Although I can (or could, last time I rode) ride 20 miles, it would take a huge amount of training before I could reliably average 20MPH - especially on the route I'd have to take which would involve a lot of climbs. I'm very much a fair weather/leisure rider, so it's not really a practical commuting option. Especially as I often give my girlfriend a lift to/from the station as well. And we don't have any shower facilities at our office.

If I lived within say, 10 miles of my office and the commute was relatively quiet, I would definitely consider it though.

[Smiler.]

Willeh85 said:

....crippling bout of reactive arthritis......

I've just been diagnosed with this.

I'm scared stless. Almost overnight, I've lost full control over my hands, arms & legs.



Would you mind telling me a little more about your experience.

How bad did it get?

What treatment did you have?

How long did it last?

Any lingering symptoms?


Even typing this is a bit of a struggle, hands/fingers not doing what they're supposed to.

One thing it has given me though - a much higher regard for the less than full able-bodied.

[mackie1]

Sometimes I wish I could drive past myself in the C63. Tunnels and bridges work ok though :P

[Willeh85]

Smiler. said:

Would you mind telling me a little more about your experience.

Sure I've got plenty I can tell you about it. I'll send you a PM this evening as I started replying the other day and realised I'd written quite a lot.

[Swanny87]

Part of my commute involves either walking or getting a bus from/to East Finchley tube in London. For those of you that don't know, it is a fairly well off area. Seeing/hearing a 'garage queen' is an everyday occurrence and it makes the commute bearable! It's even better when there's traffic up the High Road and I'm waiting at the bus stop, get to have proper look at some of the cars!

[J4CKO]

I take the hound for 2 to 3 miles most nights, I stick headphones in and put work related podcasts on, amazing what you can learn in otherwise dead time.

I generally either walk from home or cycle, but have been a bit lazy on that front for the last month or so.

We are designed for physical activity, thing is there is a lot of focus being put on really intensive training, lifting heavy weights and being competitive, which is all great but for those that arent that physically able it is quite demoralising and offputting, in reality, compared to dong nothing, walking a couple of miles is fantastic.

People say they don't have time (but are sat on here ), I generally go at between 8 and 10 o clock, usually walk for between 45 mins and an hour.

Thing is, the OP's commute is pretty typical but so many drive that distance and spend 20-30 minutes in traffic when walking it may well be on par time wise, doesn't work for everyone but anything under three/four miles is walkable, between say three and 12 is easily done on a bike, sometimes more is doable if someone is fit enough.

[Riley Blue]

I wear out a pair of slippers every 6-7 months walking downstairs, along the landing and into my office.