Put your best foot forward... (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Put your best foot forward...

9:30am Tuesday 19th August 2008 in

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Keeping fit and losing weight can be a costly business, or it can be dirt cheap. You can join a gym and/or a slimming club and pay those regular fees. Or you can take up walking and not pay any fees at all.

And if you walk regularly and briskly and combine it with a sensible diet, you’ll find the ounces and then the pounds coming off you and your general level of fitness steadily increasing.

More and more people are turning to walking, partly for health reasons but also to beat the squeeze. You can see a growing number of footbound commuters heading along the main routes to or from town as it becomes increasingly important to save money wherever possible.

Fuel prices are high. So are bus and train fares, particularly at peak times, for those who don’t qualify for concessionary travel. Walking, though, costs you nothing apart from the price of a decent pair of shoes.

If you’re planning on being an urban hiker rather than a countryside rambler (at least initially), to protect your knees and hips you’ll need shoes with soles that will put some spring in your step and absorb the shock from the pavements.

Carry a fair-sized umbrella in case it rains and put those items which you might have carried in a brief case or shoulder bag in a backpack instead. It will further improve your state of fitness by encouraging you to keep your shoulders back and letting you breathe freely.

You’ll soon start to reap the benefits of walking as an alternative to driving or riding. Apart from the physical improvements there are mental-health pluses, because walking at a brisk pace boosts the hormones and helps to clear the mind. What might have seemed like an insurmountable problem in the office can sometimes be solved during half an hour of strolling.

You’ll also enjoy the bonus of being able to see a lot more as you proceed at a walker’s pace and have time to observe – something that is denied to motorists as they keep their eyes on the road.

Once you’ve got the hang of urban hiking and found that you rather enjoy the experience of putting one foot in front of another, you’re ready to move on to the next phase: leisure and pleasure walking.

Take some of the money you’ve saved by walking to and from work and invest it in the limited amount of equipment which is essential to turn you into a proper rambler who’s about to venture out into the countryside and discover why so many people, many of them not remotely well off, enjoy what is the most popular outdoors activity in the country.

You’ll need a proper pair of waterproof boots for starters, because ramblers never know when they set out on their walk what underfoot conditions they’re likely to encounter along the way. You can be striding out along a fine, dry path only to turn a corner and find that it has deteriorated into a quagmire with no way of negotiating a way round it.

There’s often no alternative other than to pick your way through it. In waterproof boots you’ll be fine. In trainers, the mud and water could be over the laceholes. Decent boots needn’t cost a fortune. You can pick a pair up for £30 or less if you shop around and wait for the sales, and they’ll last you a long time.

Socks are important. Best not to cut corners here. You’ll need some thin ones, or preferably wool, as undersocks and a pair of thick, woolly outer ones which will cushion your feet as they plod along.

You’ll need something waterproof to protect your body too – a caghoule to either keep in your backpack and pull on over your sweater when the rain starts to fall, or to wear from the start to keep out the cool breeze.

Don’t go for a thick one as they’re heavy to cart around. Invest in a lightweight one that folds up to tuck in your backpack. And don’t pay the earth. You can spend a small fortune on a big-name caghoule but you’ll be paying for the kudos of sporting a brand label. Go for an unknown brand and save your money.

And that’s your lot. It’s a small shopping list, and what’s on it will serve you for many miles.

Mind you, don’t set out to walk those miles without being sure you know where you’re going. There are plenty of walks books available describing routes in detail.

Many of them available from libraries – from where you can also borrow Ordnance Survey maps, which are essential if you’re venturing into the countryside. Or you can check out Mike Priestley’s walks which we have on our website at telegraphandargus.co.uk.

A compass isn’t really necessary, though, unless you’re planning long hikes across moorland or fells far away from any roads.

Or you could join a walking group like Senior Wayfarers or go on a weekly walk organised locally by the Rambler’s Association or Bradford Council’s Countryside Service. Most are either cheap or free.

So there you have it: the path to many hours of pleasure, a higher level of physical fitness and much-improved sense of well-being.

And apart from the modest capital outlay on the basic equipment it needn’t cost you a penny.