Walking Alone Versus Walking With Someone
I go out on my own most weeks and with a friend maybe twice a month. The two are not versions of the same activity, and I got into trouble the year I tried to treat them as interchangeable.
Wade Holloway
The Hour That Changes a Walk
I walked the same three mile loop at six in the morning and at four in the afternoon for most of a summer. It was not the same walk. Here is what the hour actually changes, and what it does not.
The Waterproof Trousers I Was Too Proud To Wear
I carried over trousers for a year without using them, mostly out of vanity, and got cold for it. What finally changed my mind, the three features that made them wearable, and what they are still genuinely bad at.
Five Kinds of Mud on a Farm Road
Mud is not one thing. Some of it walks fine and some of it will take a boot off your foot and keep it. After a lot of ruined afternoons I can name five kinds by sight, and I test for the rest with a stick.
What Mud Season Taught Me About Timing
A March walk that ended with me carrying about four pounds of clay on each boot, and what I worked out afterwards about drying time, where water leaves a field, and why walking the grass edge is not always the polite thing to do.
The People You Meet on a Farm Lane
A quad bike idling in the gateway, a question about a missing ewe, and twenty seconds of conversation. Notes on the farmers, dog walkers, riders and workers you actually run into on a country lane, and how to not be the annoying one.
What Waterproof Actually Means Once You Are Standing In It
Three winters of wet feet taught me that a waterproof boot is a claim about the boot, not about your leg. Where water really gets in, why old boots fail at the crease, and the drying mistake that killed a good pair.
The Gate I Left Open, and What It Cost Somebody Else
A March walk on a hill lane, a gate I thought I had shut, and sheep on the road two hours later. What that afternoon taught me about latches, hinges, and the difference between closing a gate and actually closing it.
What a Hard Frost Does to a Dirt Road
A hard freeze is the only weather I know of that makes a farm road better instead of worse. It is also on a timer. Here is how I read a frost morning, how I plan around the thaw, and the two freezes I skip.
How I Pick a Lane Worth Walking
After a few years of scouting dirt lanes and field edges near home, I have a rough system for telling a route that will be worth the morning from one that just looks good on a map screen.