Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with walking

Hoofin' it in Buffalo

raider — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:32:12 -0800

How pedestrian-friendly is Buffalo Harbor? That and lots of other Buffalo and border-related questions.. So I'm in Toronto and just booked myself for a (likely) solo mission to the Guns n Roses concert at the Outer Harbor Wed June 5. I had no idea the "venue" existed.

The plan is drive to Buffalo, check into a hotel and get to the show. But the car stays at the hotel.

Trying to minimise budget and maximise experience here without being stoopid. All I'm committed to so far is a ticket to the concert. Not a hotel snob, clean-ish 2 stars is fine for a night.

Priceline and I haven't been able to agree on downtown Buffalo pricing but remains a strong option.

Another option is cheap hotel in Ft Erie and hike the Peace Bridge. Sounds appealing now but maybe not so much at 2am after a concert.

I realise taxi would be required for at leat a chunk of the second option if not both but any insight would be welcome.

Most specifically I'm wondering about walkability in, out and around the Harbor site. On Google Maps looks like a big jog south to mainland and maybe all freeway but hard to tell.

So even if say I was staying at the Adams Mark, would walking be doable?

Sneakers for flatfooted heel strikers

gnomeloaf — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:55:48 -0800

Please recommend sneakers for very flat, probably underpronating feet. I walk 2-3 miles a day, on a treadmill or pavement. I have very, VERY flat feet. I come down hard on my heels, and the outsides of my soles always wear down faster than the inside.

Up until now, I've always just purchased whatever Asics feel most comfortable in the store, and all has been well. I bought these not long ago. After half an hour or so of regular walking around, my back hurts. A lot. If I wear them just on the treadmill, the inside of my ankle hurts, just above where normal people have an arch. One of the reviews on that page complains there is less support than in other Asics -- are my problems with them indicative of that, or something else?

Should I look for other Asics? Another brand/style of sneaker? Or is it no longer possible to put off the orthotics consultation that I'm fairly sure my health insurance won't cover? Thanks in advance for any insights you have.

Visiting the Forest of Dean

Put the kettle on — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 06:50:17 -0800

Looking for travel advice on going to the Forest of Dean. Complication: no car. My father and I would like to visit the Forest of Dean in May. (We're both American, but I live in London and he's flying over.) I'm starting to do some research, but I'd really appreciate any advice from people who have been there. We don't have any experience driving stick or driving on the left side of the road, so we're not going to rent a car. I realize this may cause difficulties, but I'm hoping we can work around it. We'll be taking the train and are open to other trains, buses, walking, or maybe bikes. We are both pretty active and mainly just enjoy walking for hours, with bonus points for beautiful settings.

We mainly just want to explore the forest, so any suggestions for that or for other activities nearby would be great. I would like to see Puzzlewood if that's possible. Anything interesting and historical would also be good.

Where would be a good place to stay for our trip? Ideally, we'd like a B&B that we can walk to the forest from.

Any other information about the area will be gratefully received!

Walking in North Yorkshire

Fiery Jack — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 05:45:29 -0800

I'm planning on spending a long weekend walking in North Yorkshire. Ideally we would stay in a nice pub in a small town and take a couple of moderate walks (~10 miles) each day and drink beer and eat pies in the evening. Where should we stay and where should we walk?

What is the best way to track and share walking routes on an iPhone?

enn — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 10:27:44 -0800

For a personal project, I'd like to be able to track my route as I'm walking using my iPhone and then share that route in some form that can be embedded in a blog post. I see there is an app called 'MapMyWalk' that does something like this, but it seems to require a subscription fee. I don't mind paying a one-off fee for an app but I'd like to not have to worry about paying in perpetuity to keep the shared routes embeddable. (I also don't mind installing software on my own server.)

I'm not wedded to having one app that does everything—if the best approach is to track my route with an app and then export it into a file that I can load into some other software on my desktop or on a server, that is fine.

In their embedded form, I'd be ok with the routes being presented either as maps or as lists of directions. (All of these routes will follow streets and alleys in developed areas, no trails or woods.)

The ability to annotate specific points along the route with comments or photos would be nice but not necessary.

Features I don't care about: anything to do with fitness, tracking calories, telling me my total distances or speed or changes in elevation.

Well-made walking shoes with repairable soles?

letstrythis — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:06:45 -0800

Well-made walking shoes with repairable soles? This is kind of in line with cooking with cast iron, shaving with a straight razor, etc. I want well made comfortable walking shoes that will last for a decade with some upkeep and repair. I'm looking to make an investment in some shoes that I can walk in all day that also look like normal shoes. Black/brown leather, no loud branding or insignias. I have Keen shoes similar to these & love them, but Keen doesn't repair soles as I'm led to understand. Are we now in a world where good walking shoes can't be repaired, is this a fool's errand? Not looking to exceed a couple hundred. Go!

Help me find the right shoes to fix my foot pain

reductiondesign — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 08:37:29 -0800

I've hod ongoing pain for months in my right foot, and after seeing a doctor and getting x-rays and and MRI done, the best advice he had for me was to buy new shoes and hope the pain eventually goes away. My question is, what sort of shoes am I looking for? I spend about an hour each day walking between classes, work, and my car—aside from that, I'm not terribly active. I'm also on somewhat of a budget, but if I need to pay $100 to not have to limp around, I'll gladly pay.

How can I wear supportive shoes and look cool at the same time?

Dilemma — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:35:37 -0800

I need supportive shoes for lots of walking, but I want to look good too. What's a young lady in an old lady's body to do? I have terrible messed-up knees and weak arches and need very supportive shoes. I also walk extensively around San Francisco. Lately, I've been resorting to wearing my running shoes with skinny jeans and I look like a clown, or running shoes with yoga pants and I'm afraid the hipster fashion police will kick me out of SF. I'd like to find a way to feel good and look good at the same time. Please help me figure out a) shoes I can wear, and maybe put my orthotic arch supports in, that will keep my feet/knees/hips happy, and b) outfits I can wear with said shoes. I've tried more casual shoes like Keds and there's just not enough support or room in them for orthotics, and I've never found flats that have enough support either. My style (such as it is) is pretty simple, like skinny jeans, tight t-shirts, sweaters, in mostly neutral colors (lots of black), or short skirts with tights.

Unbalanced swinging arms

facehugger — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 10:46:45 -0800

When I walk, my left arm swings while my right arm stays almost immobile. Is there something wrong with me? It was only in the past couple of years that I realized the way my arms move when I walk is abnormal. In short, my left arm swings fine, but my right arm just stays to my side, almost immobile. When I become aware of this and try to also swing my right arm in sync with my left, it just feels...unnecessary. I have to constantly think about swinging my right arm, and so I end up just letting it hang. But when my left arm is unavailable - like when I'm holding something - my right arm starts swinging as if it did so all along.

I'm only in my early 20s, and this unbalance has never really been a problem (which is why I only really became aware of it recently), so I've never found the need to consult a doctor. But it's increasingly unnerving me, and I wonder if it looks strange to other people. And if there is something wrong, can this behavior be changed?

Thanks, in advance!

Perfect pedometer?

kristi — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 10:01:16 -0800

Pedometer recommendation: is there an open source alternative to Fitbit? Or should I go back to a cheap Omron? I walk 10-25 miles a week, and I like to track my miles.

A few months ago, I lost my trusty Omron pedometer. It worked pretty well for me:

Omron pros:

* pretty reliable

Omron cons:

* no data download; had to hand-log it
* only stores 7 days of data; anything older is lost
* loses lost when battery runs out

I love the idea of a Fitbit, but I'm not willing to sign up to a website to transfer data, nor do I want to pay to transfer data.

I would love an open source option that would track me reliably, but as far as I know, it doesn't exist yet.

I've tried a few pedometer apps for my iPod Touch, but they've been spectacularly unreliable - they'll work great sometimes, and other times they won't log any steps at all, or stop recording after a few minutes.

What's your current recommendation for reliability plus ease of exporting and archiving data, with no need to use a website or third party to transfer the data?

Thanks!

UK-onlyRoadSafetyFilter: how do I get a pavement put in our dangerous road for my kids and others?

KMH — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 15:38:58 -0800

I want to get a couple of neighbours (directly or via the municipality) to put a pavement in the currently pretty dangerous piece of road that connects me and my kids' house to town so we can walk there safely. UK only please. I live on a nice road in a small suburb in the UK with my wife and two very small kids.

Although it's nice (read "house prices are ridiculous so we live in a tiny apartment just off the road") it's also fairly unsafe: 2 blind corners either side of the cul de sac we have to come out of every morning, a little hill that also makes it impossible to spot people coming the other way, and notably reckless drivers (either moving without much attention to speed/each other, or parking on the road in stupid places).

And: there's no pavement. OK, there is, but on the main walking route into town there's nothing but a grassy bank on one side, and the ends of people's over-inflated-equity drives on the other.

There are only 4 or five houses between our little apartment block and the next normal paved street on the way into town, so I'm thinking: isn't it a no-brainer to get a proper pavement put in?

This is a route used by many families in our block, as well as pretty fragile elderly people, so it would benefit us and them too, without taking any significant real value from the 4 houses affected (it's literally just a couple feet of grass or gravel that's barely used anyhow as they all park in the road a lot).

At the moment we either make a big detour or risk walking on the road, which I hate and fear quite a bit, as I've seen the driving standards and I know people have been hit on an adjacent road even with a pavement; otherwise we can walk over the grass (muddy and slippery) or the fag-ends of the drives (muddy, slippery and a bit degrading because it feels like walking over someone's garden even if in a civilised area this would be the sidewalk!)...

Just put in a path, no big deal, right?

What's the best way to achieve this? Talk directly to them? Call the council? Other?

Mystery metatarsals.

Admiral Haddock — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 06:35:32 -0800

For the past few months, when I wake up in the morning (or get up in the middle of the night), I experience pain between/around my 4th and 5th metatarsals when I put any weight on that foot--more on the side and top than the sole (it is not plantar fasciitis). Within 5-10 minutes, it stops and doesn't hurt at all for the rest of the day. My GP, orthopedist and physical therapist are stumped. Any ideas? The foot never hurts if there's no weight on it, and only hurts in those first 5-10 minutes I'm getting up--though if I contort my foot (as if I were trying to walk on the joint of my pinky toe) I can kind of "find" the pain, but it's not 100% the same. One the pain clears up in the morning, I have full, pain-free use of my foot--I walk three miles a day, and use an elliptical machine at the gym most nights.

X-rays show nothing. This is not plantar fasciitis or gout, and apparently not a broken bone (which was my guess). I may have hit the foot on a car door two years ago, but this is a more recent phenomenon. Again, it doesn't feel like the sole at all; it feels like the top/side/skeletal structure of the foot.

You are not my doctor, and I am not relying on you for medical advice. However, I would appreciate any input you may have so I can take your ideas to my PT session next week. Thanks!

Videos with Walking in Them?

katinka-katinka — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 04:20:37 -0800

I work with a non-profit that promotes biking and walking in my town, and am looking for music videos or clips from movies with walking in them. Will appreciate any at all, but mostly looking for clips where walking is badass. So far, I just have this from Reservoir Dogs.

How to put other night-time pedestrians at ease?

TangoCharlie — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 23:52:55 -0800

I walk to and from work down residential streets. It's dark, especially in Winter. Evidently I walk faster than most other pedestrians as I'm often passing them, not vice-versa. Is there a way to reassure these other pedestrians that I am not hurrying up behind them to rob/murder/kidnap them? The sidewalks aren't as busy as a main street - there's at least a person or two every other block. If there were loads of people, I wouldn't think twice about it. As it is, the person in front of me and myself are usually the only people on the block. But it'll be one person on this block, then another person a block later. There are enough people that it seems crazy to zig-zag in order to avoid them, but not enough to generate a feeling of crowd safety.
I don't know that everyone I pass is worried about the footsteps approaching them from behind. But hey, sometimes I think the worst about footsteps approaching me from behind. Maybe I'm not the only one.
Is there any way to send a signal that I am perfectly harmless?

(I'm in a major West-Coast Canadian city and am an early-30s white male, more-or-less average build, but if I'm wearing a scarf under my coat and it's dark out you might mistake me for someone who looks tough and you would be wrong.)

Tips for Walking in Paris?

sudasana — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 07:21:21 -0800

Visiting Paris for a one-day workshop, a few questions. I arrive in the late morning at Beauvais (RyanAir), there's a shuttle into the city.

1) Am I crazy to plan on walking from the shuttle bus stop at Palais des Congrès to Rue Caroline? Google says it's 48 minutes, which is fine since I am used to walking and will be bringing only a light backpack. I'm used to living in NYC so big cities are not a problem, but I'm worried about standing out in an unfamiliar city, since I'll probably be wearing a suit and I'll have my backpack. I've traveled a bit in China and Vietnam so I know not to stand in the middle of the sidewalk with a map in my hand. Should I just grab a taxi?

2) The next day I need to head to the workshop location near Pont-Cardinet. Again, should I be alright walking around early on a weekday morning in this area in a suit with a backpack on?

Otherwise I won't have any time for sightseeing, but any suggestions for cafes in this neighbourhood would be great!

Fitbit for people who walk and bike?

ManInSuit — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 14:05:35 -0800

Do you have a fitbit? How to you deal with biking and/or other activities that fitbit does not measure well? Or is there a better tool for this? I recently got a fitbit one.

I'm someone who walks a lot, and bikes a lot, both for exercise, and as my main way of getting around.

The fitbit, as far as I can tell, is very accurate at logging walking and running, but no good at all for logging biking or other activities.

For some activities, it's pretty easy to just take the fitbit off and log the activity manually. (eg: If I'm going on a half hour bike ride for exercise).

But it's really hard for the day-to-day biking and walking stuff. For instance - I may go out on a series of errands that involves getting on and off my bike a few times, each time doing some walking. Of course, the fitbit logs the walking very well. But it logs just weird numbers for the biking.

It seems like a hassle to log each separate short bike ride as a separate "activity". The hassle is compounded by the fact that, near as I can tell, I have to be careful to know the exact right time I went on the bike, in order to ensure that the activity doesn't get counted twice.

Does anyone have any tips for dealing with this? Alternately: Is there anything out there that's like the fitbit, that would let me measure my biking and walking without too much effort?

not spreading yourself too thin

elephantsvanish — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 13:52:05 -0800

I'm overambitious. I spread myself too thin and it's crazy-making. Now what? At least by some standards, I'm over-ambitious. I used to take pride in being a person of many interests and an unending string of (mostly partly-finished) projects. As time goes on, I more clearly see the downsides of an endless cycle of ambitions: skepticism from friends, a lack of connection to the present moment (to desire something different is to reject what you have, that kind of thing), a decreased ability to distinguish true goals from fleeting ones, etc.

Once you realize you're at a point of "overambition," how do you get used to the actual scope of your life? What rituals, frameworks, habits, etc. help ground you in what you have going right now? I am pursuing meditation as one route, and also have always loved going on long walks, which seems to fit into this somehow or other. But yes, anything that's more about routines, practices of wellness, goal-setting without crazy-making goalsetting, etc. would be much appreciated!

(As special-snowflake details: I have a full-time job and am applying to masters programs next year, which are what I consider my big, solid commitments. I am teaching a community ed class, hosting a weekly radio show, and taking a meditation course, which I consider firm commmunity commitments. I volunteer for a homeless shelter, have a game night, and am part of a creative writing group, which are less firm but personally fulfilling obligations. I also have any number of personal project-sized ambitions: learn more on guitar, make radio documentaries, etc. Right now I feel mooostly balanced, but I do need to deliberately carve out a bunch of time on weekends to do nothing in order to not enter spirals of franticness)

90s japanese film about love in faceless corporate world

cmp4Meta — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 15:54:32 -0800

Looking for a Japanese film I saw prior to 2003. It was a dystopian picture of some people trying to have an office romance in the corporate office landscape of Tokyo - lots of shots of bleak urban concrete and highways and faceless office parks full of conformist white collar employees - in the final scene of the film one of the characters is stranded walking along the edge of a highway. It dealt with a complicated love triangle. I know this isn't the title, but it was something like "Kiss me twice, now hold me I love you" or something a little crazy like that- I believe this film was made in the 90s or the early 2000s. It was in Japanese language with subtitles. There is a slight chance it may have been Korean, but I'm pretty sure it was Japanese. This film may have been discussed by Fredric Jameson in one of his essays as it was screened in a graduate school class on Japanese cultural critique.

New Zealand hiking?

antiwiggle — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 03:18:14 -0800

Good day hikes in New Zealand? I'm travelling to New Zealand from the UK in November to go to a wedding. I'm taking three weeks off work and I plan on doing some hiking while I'm there. I'm an experienced hiker and reasonably well equipped. I'll be travelling alone and even at the best of times I'm a reluctant camper so I'm really looking at walks that I can do in one day.

The wedding is on North Island and I haven't decided whether to head to South Island yet. South Island is beautiful but last time I was in New Zealand I spent a lot of time driving and not much time walking. I'd like to reduce my driving this time.

I like hills, mountains, lakes, forests, coasts, beautiful views and I feel there haven't been enough volcanoes in my life.

Does anyone have any recommendations for hikes?

Thanks.

This is my shoe question. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

KathrynT — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 21:10:48 -0800

Comfortable, stylish, informal, professional, durable, RE-SOLABLE men's shoes recommendations needed! My husband walks a lot, and he is murder on shoes. He's bumped up his "acceptable shoe cost" tier twice ($40 --> $100 --> $150) and still ends up wearing through shoe soles in a matter of months. He has decided that what he really needs is a pair of solid, well-made, resolable shoes; even his $150 Kenneth Cole shoes couldn't be resoled, and fell to bits within a year besides.

He is a professional who works in a decidedly business-casual environment, so he doesn't need formal shoes-like-you'd-wear-with-a-suit. But the only shoes he has that aren't coming apart right now are his hiking boots, his running shoes, and his cycling clip shoes, and none of those really represent the image he'd like to present at work.

I am gathering people's recommendations for solid, durable, kind-of-elegant-and-stylish-but-not-too-formal, RE-SOLABLE men's shoes. Shoes you could put four or five urban miles on in a day without nursing blisters at the end of it, but that don't look like they should be worn with white tube socks. If they're available on Zappo's, so much the better. Ideally I'd like to keep it under $300, but if you have a recommendation that is more than that and worth it, please let me know.

Need shoes that will help me stay upright.

linettasky — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 10:18:46 -0800

Help me replace my Danskos with shoes that won't make me fall over. I have loved my black Danskos for years, except for one major thing: about every six-eight months, while wearing them, I twist my ankle and fall over. Last night's was the last straw. But now I need shoes that do the things I really wanted them to do.

Key things:
- black
- reasonably water resistant -- I live in Portland, OR, and these will be cold-weather shoes.
- good with or without socks
- looks good with pants or skirts; vaguely femme
- good for walking -- I regularly walk 2-5 miles just in my daily activities, and I'm not into heels
- not boots -- I have a great pair of boots
- I prefer shoes without laces
- not likely to make me fall over

They don't need to be especially fashionable (come on, I wear Danskos), but I'm 27 and would like to wear shoes that don't make me feel like my grandmother. I would also like them to last for as long as possible, and as a result, I am willing to spend what's necessary to buy well-made shoes. The last pair of attempted Dansko replacements were some Keen mary janes, which didn't last the year.

So, what do you recommend?

I'd like to do some light hiking in the south of England next week, but I don't have a car and don't want to hire one.

hannahlambda — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:19:53 -0800

I'd like to do some light hiking in the south of England next week, but I don't have a car and don't want to hire one. I'd like to leave London next Wednesday or Thursday with my walking shoes and a backpack and spend 3-5 days walking and seeing the countryside. I like walking from place to place, so ideally there would be a trail with a starting point I could get to easily by bus or train, and have several stages, sleeping in a cabin or hostel each night. I don't want to bring a tent and would rather not carry a sleeping bag, but that would be ok. Going near to the sea, passing through nice villages and having some great food would be brilliant bonuses. The south coast is also a preference.

Thanks!

One Shoe to Shod Them All

drlith — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 11:02:49 -0800

I'm looking for my perfect, versatile slip-on walking shoe that is comfortable without socks and not too clunky to wear with a casual skirt/dress. I have decided I need another type of comfortable footwear to bridge the gap between sandal season and boot season. My wishlist:

The essential features:
1. Not so clunky/sporty that it can't be worn with a casual dress
2. Can also be worn with jeans, leggings, and shorts
3. Can comfortably be worn sockless
4. Comfortable for walking distances of up to 2-3 miles
5. Slip-on of some sort
6. Size 9.5/Euro 41. I sometimes need to go up to a 10.

The desired features:
1. Color other than brown
2. Cute!
3. Less than $100
4. At least modest arch support--not ballet flats or moccasins.

For the past couple of years this gap is mostly being filled by a pair of fatbaby cowboy boots that I adore and wear constantly, but they don't meet the requirements of essential feature #1 (especially since I wear them at the barn a lot and they kind of smell indelibly like horse pee). I've tried a couple of different clog-type shoes in the past few weeks, and both have wound up short of the mark in terms of comfort: these Portlandia Ashland clogs, but if the "leather" is real leather I'll eat my hat, and the felt is just a covering over some sort of synthetic inner upper and they feel synthetic-y and sweaty with no socks.
I then tried these Skechers clogs, which are very comfy, but found that after 4 or 5 times wearing them sockless on walks of a mile or so, that they were starting to rub the skin off my inner arch on one foot. This may be because they're at least 1/2 size too large on me but not available in the next lower size so I couldn't exchange for smaller ones.

In my own looking around I've focused more on clogs/mules type shoes. I would also consider some sort of "loafer," but I don't like the look of mary janes.

The sockless thing is a priority for me because (1) I would like to have a pair of shoes that I can slip on with minimal fuss and be out the door without corralling a pair of socks; (2) I don't like the look of shoes + socks + dress; (3) my daughter STEALS ALL MY PRECIOUS SOCKS ANYHOW FILTHY SOCK THIEF.

Portland : help my girlfriend and I plan a couple awesome walking tours!

Afroblanco — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 11:13:53 -0800

Help my girlfriend and I plan two awesome walking tours of Portland, OR! I'm taking my girlfriend to Portland this weekend. We love to take long walks, and I'd like to show her the coolest, best, most-novel parts of the city. The plan is to take two walking tours, one on Friday and one on Monday. The walks should be about 8 miles each.

To give you an idea of where we're at culturally : 20/30-something; physically fit; tech/internet-savvy; love music, food, and art; politically liberal; residents of San Francisco's Mission district.

Feel free to suggest cool streets to walk down, as well as worthwhile points of interest. Or if you're feeling REALLY creative, you're welcome to map out a route or a partial route. This question is intentionally open-ended; show us all the great things that make Portland Portland!

(as a side-note, we'll be doing hiking and wineries on Saturday and Sunday, so you're welcome to suggest destinations outside the city for those days)

I don't want to bend over to put on my exercising shoes!

nakedmolerats — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 20:27:30 -0800

I want a women's slip-on walking shoe with enough support to walk several miles in without making my feet hurt. Suggestions for brands or styles needed. I find that sneakers with good heel support are the only shoes I can walk long distances in without my feet and legs hurting. Unfortunately, my current sneakers rubbed the backs of my ankles raw on a long walk recently, and I also am picky and/or lazy and really hate shoes that you have to buckle or lace or do anything besides shove your foot in.

So, I am looking for slip-on sneakers, like these Skechers, I tried this pair on in a store and didn't quite like the fit. I feel like this style of shoe was pretty popular a few years ago, but at the mall yesterday those Skechers were the only pair I found.

I'm OK with slip-ons that aren't sneakers as long as they give the same heel support. Ideally, I am looking for a thick, shock-absorbing outer heel as well as a soft, squishy inner heel lining for support.

Bonus points if it is semi-cute and $80 or less. I would prefer going to a shoe store rather than online shopping like Zappos (again, I am picky and lazy and don't want to bother returning stuff that doesn't fit)

Thanks for any and all suggestions, ladies who walk a lot!