“The walking of which I speak has nothing in it akin to taking exercise, as it is called, as the sick take medicine at stated hours …but it is itself the enterprise and adventure of the day.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walking
This October, a group of 25 Canadians ages 25-80, will walk together – many never having met before. Though our goal is to be accessible to all levels of experience, walking Hadrian’s Wall can be demanding, yet the ‘enterprise ’quickly bonds the hikers into a supportive community.
After an adventurous week at the Wall, we’ll visit the 2000-year-old city of York, with side trips climbing the paths around coastal Whitby. Those miles of trails will then give-way to boarding a ferry towards northern France, and four days touring the D-Day beaches in Normandy, before finishing in Paris.
Whether walking the paths, city walls, climbing bluffs & crags or slowing down through markets and shambles, this is less about counting steps than experiencing the wonders of history – natural and man-made.
This is how we’ve come to brand our CanHist trips as ‘heritage-walking’ tours – truly immersive experiences that stimulate the mind, body & spirit, often simultaneously.
In the end, it always about the social experience for a community of walkers over several days learning, hiking and sharing stories in a totally different context than Canada. Many patrons return year after year.
These tours are deeply moving adventures that feed all the senses. Though they challenge & stimulate us, each day immersed in the history of place & time, most would agree with Thoreau – it is so much more than exercise – it is soul-affirming.
For more information about our ‘Walking-with-History’ Tours, please visit: canhist.ca
Neil Orford, President, CanHist.ca
Orangeville
