‘An active line on a walk moving freely, without goal. A walk for a walk’s sake.’

Paul Klee, Allegorizing Drawing

The How to Live project will be leading a philosophical walking tour from Hay-on-Wye to Hay Bluff, on Tuesday 26th May 2009. You are invited to join us, walking and talking at the same time, as we make our way along Offa’s Dyke to navigate philosophical landscapes. We will be thinking about philosophy and walking, and the philosophy of walking. Setting off from The Globe at Hay (Newport Street, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5BG) on TUESDAY at 11AM, the walking tour will chart a course towards Hay Bluff (4 ¼ miles or 6.8 km from Hay), resting at sites of interest and for spectacular views, as well as pausing for thought. We’ll see how far we get. On returning to Hay, walkers may wish to swim with us at The Warren on the River Wye. Walkers will be provided details of the route and a pack of reading material. The packs will be made available beforehand to interested parties who may email nemonie.craven@htlblog.com to register. There will be no charge. Solitary walkers and groups welcome.

About the Walking & Talking Group

Nemonie Craven

In the early hours of a November morning in 2004, I set off with my friends Sam and Pinny, from our house in Stamford Hill, London, to Paddington, where we met up with a group of strangers and boarded a train to Gerrards Cross. From there, we walked - friends and strangers - through Buckinghamshire, to a beautiful village hall, where we ate lunch together, then watched performers read from Werner Herzog’s Of Walking in Ice – an account of the German filmmaker’s journey, on foot, from Munich to Paris, in November 1974, to the bedside of his beloved Lotte Eisner:

‘My boots were so solid and new that I had confidence in them. I set off on the most direct route to Paris, in full faith, believing that she would stay alive if I came on foot. Besides, I wanted to be alone with myself.’

Of Walking in Ice (New York: Free Association, 2007)

During this magical day (organised by experimental theatre company 1st Framework), the rhythm of our walking leant energy to our thoughts, and, through our talking, shared ideas formed as visibly as the clouds of our breath.

This event inspired the creation of Goethe’s Elective Affinities Walking Group (London, New York, Bridgend). Goethe is our mascot of Walking & Talking, and this summer Emma Townshend will lead a walking tour of Kew in his honour. The Walking & Talking group is an energetic variation on the reading group: we read before we walk; we walk and talk.