“I like tramping alone, but a companion is well worth finding. He will add to the experience; perhaps double it.” The words came from Stephen Graham whom Morris Marples (Shank’s Pony: a study of walking) called “the greatest prophet of 20th century walking.”
Still Graham had his critics. Famous walkers like Hazlitt, Rousseau and Thoreau insisted you must go alone. Robert Louis Stevenson was adamant: “If you go walking in a group or even in pairs, it is no longer a walking tour but “something else more in the nature of a picnic.”
Are you thinking what I’m thinking? RLS must have been somewhat of a recluse.
That said, those of you who have been walking for years know it is a false choice anyway. You can walk sometimes alone and other times with companions and enjoy the unique benefits of each. Annabel Streets argued the psychological benefits of the latter, mostly as an antidote to loneliness (although Thoreau said one is never alone in Nature).
“When we walk in company, wrote Streets, “we drift freely between individuals and conversations shifting when we change direction or turn a corner, sometimes talking but sometimes walking in silent synchronicity.
I get it. I’m thinking of family walks in the Palo Duro where I sped up or slowed down to walk alongside a child or grandchild. And I get the “silent synchronicity” thing. When you come out of the forest to first glimpse a stunning alpine landscape, you don’t need words to explain your feelings to a hiking buddy.
In tomorrow’s blog I’ll tell you why Mark Twain enjoyed walking with others.