Yay! Newstalk’s 100 days of walking is back! Starting on New Year’s Day, this is a great way for me to merge my love of walking and photography. I’ll be walking my way through 2020 anyway, but this 100 days of walking initiative is an extra motivation. And it pushes me to stay awake to interesting photo opportunities as well.
“Just walk as fast or as slow as you like, for at least 30 minutes a day, for 100 days,” said Newstalk presenter Dr Ciara Kelly. She started the initiative three years ago and I’m guessing it will be even bigger this year.
It’s also a great way to admire Ireland’s fantastic landscapes. I followed several people on the hashtag #100daysofwalking and got to enjoy sunsets in Galway and mist in Mullingar.
Honestly, I found the #100daysofwalking a great way of forming a community around my interest in walking. Yes, it was mostly an online community but people would also comment, ‘I see you’re doing the 100 days of walking’. Interestingly, a few of those are now going to take to the highways and byways this year.
It’s a very easy undertaking. You don’t have to be a slave to it. But it’s nice to feel you’re part of something that hundreds of others are doing as well. And it pushes you to find somewhere new to photograph, so you end up getting to know your own locality and county well. I liked it. And, yeah, I’ll be out again this year, looking over ditches and along coastlines for something to photograph.
We could be up to an awful lot worse!
Register for the challenge here and, after 100 days, you will have walked for a total of 50 hours! “Everyone can do it – old, young, fit, unfit, all shapes and sizes,” said Dr Kelly in a news release to mark this year’s event.
Cover photo: Dr Ciara Kelly. Pic: Newstalk.com
