Every-Day Explorer Podcast Ep. 2: Surrender to the Drift – exploring spaces on foot
In this episode, we’re joined by author and filmmaker John Rogers, and we’re talking about walking. The large majority of us are blessed with two feet and the ability to walk, which gives us everything we need to travel and discover within our immediate surroundings. Humans have been walking for thousands of years – the activity is travel at its most primal and fundamental level.
As this podcast is all about giving people ideas for accessible ways to explore – things you can do around a work schedule or with limited resources – walking was high on our list of priorities when planning out the episodes.
// Haven’t heard our mantra for the Every-Day Explorer Podcast? Read this. //
If you’re not familiar with John Rogers, we highly recommend checking out his blog, The Lost Byway. We found John through a simple Twitter search for UK walking fanatics, and knew almost immediately that we wanted him to be a part of this series. His most recent post at the time we first visited his website was a video of a walk he’d taken around the Plashet Park, East Ham, and Little Ilford area of London. We watched as he examined the things he found along the way – park gates named after poets, Hindu temples and 12th century churches. Towards the end of the video he looked to camera and said:
“I didn’t even intend going for a walk today, but look at all the amazing things I’ve seen already. It’s incredible… It just goes to show when you kind of surrender to the drift, things open up to you.”
This is, of course, where the title for this episode came from. “Surrender to the drift” – we loved that. We knew then that we could learn a lot from John.
During our chat we speak about our experiences with walking, and more specifically exploring cities on foot. We talk about the joys of discovering urban spaces by walking, and just how much you can stumble upon if you’re willing to give yourself the time to let your curiosities run wild.
John also shares a few tips about how to start out with urban walking and find interesting routes in your area. His advice shows that even if you’re in the most grinding, gruelling job, you have time for discovery – and walking could be your golden ticket.
More inspiration:
In this episode, we touch on getting lost and how that’s the aim for many people who choose to discover places on foot. We were inspired by that piece of the conversation, so wrote this post:
In Praise of Getting Lost (and not giving a damn about it)
In this article, we make an argument for how getting lost should be seen as a success, and how it can help you to tune in more deeply to the world around you. We take snippets from other people who have written about the subject to create a fuller picture of the beauty of losing yourself.
Do you often explore new (or familiar) places on foot?
Can you recall some of your favourite walks?
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