How 2020 became the year of the walker

First we could only go out for an hour a day, so relished that escape. As the year wore on, walking came to represent life, liberty and health, both physical and mental

Forget, just for a moment, the restrictions placed on all our lives by the Virus and reflect on how this has become the Year of the Walker. If such a thing looked unlikely in the deep lockdown of the sunnier months, it makes sense in the sharp light of these winter days.

Yes, we’ve cut right down on trains and buses, as the edicts on confined spaces said we should. Shocking for the national economy, but surely good for personal health. Yet another instance of the swings-and-roundabouts logic imposed by the Plague. Government figures show that by the summer, 39% of people said they were walking more than before the pandemic struck. Now, signs of a new dawn can even be sensed in the Department of Transport’s sober pronouncement: “The Covid-19 pandemic has had a substantial and potentially sustainable impact on active travel.”