6. Medal for Marching

When I arrived at my usual starting point this morning, I noticed that Ray was already on his way back from his own early walk.  I usually start walking at 6 each morning but Ray and some of the others are often there much earlier.

Setting out on my own walk, it wasn’t long before I encountered Brian and Viv, sitting in one of the shelters along the waterfront, having a cup of coffee. Further along still, I came across Sam and Matt, standing next to the path, deep in conversation with some of the other dog walkers while their faithful companions sat waiting patiently in front of them. All in all, it was a very relaxed scene.

This feeling of relaxation was carried along as I reached the pier twenty minutes later and sighted a very large cruise ship in the distance. Ever since my earliest experiences at sea all forms of travel on the water have had a great appeal to me and in my mind I have equated them with adventure and relaxation. This cruise ship was about to enter the river, having been there for an hour or so, waiting for the high tide, according to Jules and Logan.

Large ships, on their way to the cruise terminal, further up the river, sometimes wait outside on the Bay until the river water is deep enough for them to proceed. At low tide there is very little clearance. Huge container ships are also careful at low tide, but they only go as far as the container port at the mouth of the river, having no need to go further up. 

We were all standing there, looking at this cruise ship as it was slowly moving towards the river entrance, while Logan was entertaining us with a story about his great-great-grandfather, a Scotsman who had sailed on Tea Clippers to Ceylon. Tea Clippers were fast sailing ships, especially built for speed, which operated in the middle of the nineteenth century.

The pier is an ideal place to meet and spend a little time together, whether we are fishermen, dog-walkers or simply walkers (I am one of those) who enjoy the early morning exercise.

I’ve often wondered what makes us get up so early to walk. I know that the medical evidence shows us that a good morning walk can have wonderful effects on our physical and mental health and that it also helps our creativity and boosts our immune function. That’s all true and a good enough reason for us to continue with our morning walks. However, it seems to me that it is more the prospect of meeting the other early risers, our daily friends, which attracts us and motivates us to keep coming back, day after day.

Although I often prefer to walk alone, sometimes Molly joins me for part or all of the way and I really enjoy that too because it allows us to talk about the things that interest us most.

Nonetheless, I do think that walking alone can often be beneficial. It provides a break from some of the many pressures of today’s world. Walking solo gives me the opportunity to have some “quiet time”, a chance to be aware of myself and of my surroundings, without distractions.

Walking with others can often become more of a social occasion than a focus on walking itself. Such social walking does have its own pleasures and can also be very beneficial. So, it seems to me that there are benefits all around.

I remember that I did a lot of walking during my time as a young soldier, doing my national service in the Dutch army, more than 65 years ago. We did a lot of marching, which I quite liked because it meant getting away from the barracks for a while. I know marching is not “social walking” but, for me, it felt very much like it. As we marched, we sang songs and people lined the streets to wave us on. We were happy to do this because we were in it together and we felt alive and involved. There was plenty of talking as well as walking!

We trained for many weeks to prepare ourselves for the “Internationale Vierdaagse” (International Four Days) in the city of Nijmegen. This is the largest multiple-day marching event in the world. About 40,000 people took part in it, including many in military units. It is still popular today, with people from 60 different countries taking part.

We, as soldiers, had to be in full uniform, carrying our heavy Lee Enfield rifles and bricks in our ammunition bags and we had to march for 40km each day for four days. The country roads in the east of Holland are pretty, with plenty of trees and I found the whole experience very enjoyable. At the end I received a medal, my first and only military medal! I totally loved those four days.

I even remember being very excited, as a child, when columns of German soldiers (our enemies!) marched past our house during the Second World War, with their banners and with guns over their shoulders. Sometimes they sang songs while marching and sometimes there was a band with drums and music. We liked to walk behind them and mimic them, with our own makeshift drums and sticks.

Back to social walking. There is evidence, and this does not really surprise me, to show that those walking with other people are more likely to keep it up than those walking solo. I suppose that this is because people are motivated by the social interaction which is afforded when walking together.

Perhaps I’ve found the best of both worlds. When I walk alone, I benefit from the exercise and the “quiet time” but, once I reach the Shorncliffe Pier, I meet the fishermen, the dog-owners and the other walkers and sometimes I walk back with some of them. Then, the talking is just as important as the walking. It’s great that I have the chance to do both!

O.P.

P.S. Next week we’ll visit the Dutch village of Katwijk.