Katrina Naomi talking walking

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In this episode, Andrew Stuck talks to Katrina Naomi, a poet and walker who lives in Penzance, Cornwall.

Her latest collection is The Way the Crocodile Taught Me (Seren 2016)  She is currently poet-in-residence at the Leach Pottery in St Ives. She has just returned from an Arts Council writing project in Japan, where she was walking in the poet Basho’s footsteps. Katrina has a PhD in creative writing from Goldsmiths and has previously been writer-in-residence at the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Yorkshire, at the Arnolfini in Bristol and at Gladstone’s Library in North Wales.

The interview was recorded in September 2011 on a walk across Streatham Common close to where Katrina lives. 16’32” 7.8MB

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STOP PRESS – Katrina was commissioned by BBC Local Radio to write and record a poem for National Poetry Day 2018 – you can watch a video of her reciting ‘Countrywoman‘ set in Cornwall or download the poem form Katrina’s website

Adam Shaw talking walking

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An interview with Adam Shaw, who having worked for 13 years on the ‘front line’ of the NHS as a nurse on a heart ward, has used his experiences there to develop Walk Innovation, a health and personal development programme to help people overcome stress and avoid heart disease. WalkInnovationlogoThe interview was recorded on a walk around St Albans on a sunny afternoon in May 2011. 19’48” 9.3MB

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What has Adam Shaw done since our interview?

Adam Shaw has gone on to write “The Lunatic Gene – How to make sense of your life.”

“ I’m targeting stress at work these days, as well as running my own alternative business networking group – join me.“

 

Phoebe Taplin talking walking

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Phoebe Taplin, a freelance journalist and international walk route author, talks to Andrew Stuck. At the time of the interview Phoebe had recently returned from Moscow, where she and her husband had lived for the past 4 years. In her effort to discover the city, she formed a walking group and researched where to walk in Moscow. MoscowWalksSpringMany of these walks were published in the Moscow News, a local paper, and Phoebe is selecting 48 of these to be published in guide book form. The interview was recorded in May 2011 on a walk around residential streets in Bishops Stortford, a marked contrast from many of the walks in Moscow. 20’39” 9.7MB

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BookcoverWhat has Phoebe done since our interview

“2011 onwards: I have a walking group, composed of random friends and contacts, and I lead walks most weeks all over the South East and beyond… We’ve walked the Capital Ring, London Loop, Thames path, Herts Way, Essex Way, Icknield Way and many others… Last year we also explored (among other things) ‘Global London’, following on from several years of ‘Russian London’…

2011-2012 – Wrote four seasonal walking guides to Moscow; 11,000 copies of each one were published! The Summer guide has now sold out and Autumn is almost gone; Spring and Winter still available (for now) on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Moscow-Walks-Winter-Phoebe-Taplin/dp/5905600023. Since we talked, the international arm of the old state news agency Ria Novosti, which published my books, has been closed down by the Russian Government and the Moscow News is long gone too. I think they were both a bit too independent for the increasingly authoritarian regime there.

2013 – Wrote a little book about Henley-on-Thames for Pitkin Press and the Rowing Museum https://www.amazon.co.uk/Henley-Thames-Pitkin/dp/1841654299/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Since the interview, I have explored the area I now live in very thoroughly and been involved in the local Footpath association…
2014-2015 – Wrote two walking guides to the lovely Harcamlow Way (a long distance route through Essex, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire), also available on amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=harcamlow+way

Regular contributions to various travel magazines including Country Walking Magazine, covering East of England and beyond.

2018 – two forthcoming books of film-related walks upcoming with Pitkin Press. One of these is a Film Lovers Guide to Oxford, including walks along the Thames Path and beyond. The other is a guide to locations for the TV series Outlander (!) around Glasgow and Edinburgh.

My other latest project involves researching car-free travel guides across the UK for a new website, Good Journey, which promotes and celebrates getting about on trains, buses, on foot and by bike, https://www.goodjourney.org.uk/.”

Graham Stevens talking walking

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Utopia_AndrewT

Photo credits: Andrew Tweedie

Graham Stevens an environmental scientist, avant garde artist and inventor walks the Robert Hooke trail as part of the “Freshwater Dialogues” for Dimbola on the Isle of Wight in September 2010. 19’56” 9.4 MB

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Photo credits: Andrew Tweedie

Tim Wright talking walking

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An interview with Tim Wright who describes himself as a digital author and producer, recorded on a Blake walk devised by Tim from nearby Waterloo station in London. 21’48” 10.2MB

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Len Banister talking walking

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Len Banister, former Founder member and chair of the Greater London Ramblers’ Forum, and a prolific walk route deviser and author, accompanies Andrew Stuck on a walk through Walthamstow.

Recorded October, 2010 Published November 2011 20’08” 9.5 MB
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What has Len been doing since our interview:

“Since we last spoke, although I have continued writing walks – particularly for magazines, I have ceased working for the Greater London Ramblers’ Forum.  The Ramblers‘ work in London has become increasingly difficult for two reasons:

  • The responsibility for the upkeep of the Strategic Paths has reverted to the Boroughs which results in the need for complex negotiation, time consuming monitoring, and the difficulty involved in the identification of anyone within the authority willing to take responsibility.
  • The paradox that most Ramblers’ organised walking in London is enjoyed by those on the periphery of the Capital whilst those members living centrally, because of better transport networks, tend to walk more regularly in the countryside.

I now give talks to other organisations on the history of the Ramblers and have responsibility for Rights of Way Liaison in Essex.  In this latter role I have been setting up volunteer groups across the county which take responsibility for clearing, signing, and maintaining path furniture.

I’ve just had an experience which might be worth relating.  At the very end of November, I entered hospital for open-heart surgery to replace a heart valve and insert two bi-passes.  I am now back walking 5 or six miles a day with every prospect of returning to 12-mile outings in 2 or 3 months’ time.  My reason for mentioning this is that my consultant attributes my fast recovery to my walking history.

I’ve just written a walk over the Walthamstow Wetlands…it may yet appear in Country Walking Magazine.”

Leo Hollis talking walking

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Leo Hollis, author and historian, leads Andrew Stuck on a walk through the City of London, discussing how walking has revealed the history of this fascinating city. The interview was recorded in the summer of 2010 and published in September 2011. 20’45” 9.7MB

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Fran Crowe talking walking

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Fran Crowe has been collecting 46,000 pieces of plastic that have been washed up on the beach near Thorpeness in Suffolk – she goes out for walks each day to collect the detritus of our modern world.

“My walking has been the inspiration for my last 12 years’ work as an artist – it’s amazing to think it all started just because of the plastic objects that I saw whilst walking on my local beach. I never would’ve guessed where a washed-up piece of plastic debris would lead!”

Andrew Stuck from the Museum of Walking joins her on a walk along the shingle beach as she goes prospecting. Recorded August 2010. 20’02” 9.4MB

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What Fran has been doing since our interview

“Since her interview, Fran has exhibited widely both here and overseas, including as part of the acclaimed GYRE exhibition, which was commissioned by the Anchorage Museum in Alaska and toured in the USA 2014/15.

One of Fran’s walks on Orford Ness was featured on BBC Coast in 2015.

In 2014 Fran launched the Museum of Beyond, a provocative and tongue-in-cheek imagining of what people might think of our plastic waste still washing up on beaches in a future beyond oil:  “a sea of plastic seen through future eyes”… Described by visitors as “absolutely mind-blowing” and “extraordinary and moving”, the Museum uses humour to deliver a powerful message about the way we live now.

Recently Fran created a ‘roaming gallery’ in a lovingly restored vintage horsebox.
The gallery features The Museum of Beyond including many of the plastic items that Fran has found on her walks. For news of where the gallery will be popping up next and to browse the museum’s collections, see http://www.museumofbeyond.org. Fran welcomes additions to the museum – so if you find something interesting whilst walking on the beach and would like to add it to the museum, do get in touch!

Fran is particularly interested in how creativity can be used as a catalyst for change and how it can help people (of all ages) imagine how things could be different – and better…

For more than 10 years Fran has been campaigning about the impact of plastic in our seas so is delighted that BBC’s Blue Planet 2 has succeeded in making this front page news in recent months. She hopes real change will result from this and her work on plastics will become redundant.

Research is an important part of Fran’s work. In the last two years Fran has been studying: Social Sciences and, more recently, Evolutionary Biology. Keep an eye on her website to see what direction Fran’s work takes next!”

Photo credits: Fran Crowe

Tom Bolton talking walking

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Tom Bolton is seeking out on foot the routes of eight hidden rivers in London, compiling a treasure trove of little known facts, which he is bringing together in a book, part guide part journal that will be published in May 2011. Andrew Stuck accompanies him along part of the route of the River Effra, from Crystal Place to Norwood, in south London – we only encounter the sound of the river as it flows beneath a manhole cover in Norwood New Town. 19′ 50″ 9.3MB

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Meet and walk with Tom on one of the Museum of Walking’s London’s Loss walkshops and keep up to date with Tom’s activities: by checking his website

Cover imageWhat has Tom Bolton done since our interview:

“Since 2010, when this interview was recorded, I have published “London’s Lost Rivers“, which I was writing at the time, and two more books on hidden London culture and history: “Vanished City“, about London neighbourhoods that have disappeared from the map, and “Camden Town: Dreams of Another London“, about a London everyone thinks they already know. I have also completed a PhD at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, entitled ‘Wrong Side of the Tracks? The Development of London’s Railway Terminus Neighbourhoods‘, which shows how railway lines and stations have shaped the places around them. I am now writing a book about the Essex coast, Low Country, due for publication in late 2018.”

Listen to Tom Bolton’s 20×20 Vision of walking in 2040.

Ben Rossiter talking walking

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VitoriaWalkslogoBen Rossiter, Executive Officer of Victoria Walks, an Australian walking promotion body based in the state of Victoria, accompanies Andrew Stuck from Rethinking Cities on a walk from London’s Covent Garden across the Thames. 20′ 30″ 9.6MB

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Danielle Wilson talking walking

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Danielle Wilson, a labyrinth facilitator based in London, talks to Andrew Stuck about labyrinths and how through walking them, people can experience a walking meditation. 9.7 MB 20′ 46″

Simply click here for: Danielle_Wilson interview notes.

Geoff Nicholson talking walking

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Geoff Nicholson talks to Andrew Stuck about how he came to writing about the Lost Art of Walking – listen to this intriguing interview in which Geoff talks about some of the eccentrics from the world of walking. The interview was recorded over the Internet in March 2010 and is published to coincide with the UK publication of the Lost Art of Walking. 19’04” 8.9MB

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STOP PRESS – July 2023

Walking on Thin Air – Geoff Nicholson 

Geoff Nicholson was one of the first authors with whom we recorded an over-the-Internet Talking Walking interview, at the time he had just written his second non-fiction book on walking. Geoff now has another walking title coming this summer from Saqi Books.

Walking On Thin Air consists of 99 vignettes: previously unpublished pieces, sometimes linked directly, sometimes connected by free association. Topics include John Cage’s woodland walks to collect mushrooms, a consideration of walking stick users – Winston Churchill, Tom Waits, Virginia Woolf, Jean Genet’s love for an ill-fated tightrope walker, a walk undertaken  in Chiswick, London, to the site where the first V-2 rocket bomb landed, a walk in Los Angeles with Mary Woronov (the Warhol Superstar), another walk (very short indeed) with Werner Herzog.

The book addresses, often in a sceptical or subversive way, topics such as walking for physical and mental health, what it means to walk in or out of nature, walking and creativity, walking and spirituality. And, for reasons that will become clear, walking and extinction.

In October, 2013 Geoff made a 5 year walking forecast – listen here

What has Geoff Nicholson done since our interview?

“I see that I was researching ‘Walking in Ruins‘ at the time of the interview – now published – Read a review here.

Last year I published ‘The Miranda’ – a novel about walking and torture – about a man who tries to walk around the world without leaving his own back yard.” Read a review here. A year or so back I did a BBC Radio 4 programme with Claire Balding – for Ramblings – listen here.”