<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Geneva; panose-1:2 11 5 3 3 4 4 4 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:7 0 0 0 147 0;} @font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-font-charset:78; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; mso-themecolor:hyperlink; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; mso-themecolor:followedhyperlink; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} </style> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">“We are bored in the city, we really have to strain to still discover mysteries on the sidewalk.” – Ivan Chtcheglov. </span><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J8ocMnv0M_..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J8ocMnv0M_..." width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A couple of sources have directed me to a rather good piece<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on Londonist.com, under the headline:</span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span><span style="color: #1a81b5; font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;">How Far Can You Walk From Trafalgar Square Without Crossing A Road?</span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;">  </span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;">With the subheading</span><span style="color: #494949; font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i> </i></span><i><span style="color: #494949; font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Extreme walker Victor Keegan reckons you can journey over 17 miles without setting foot on the bitumen.</span></i> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Keegan sets off from Trafalgar Square, and by using bridges, underpasses, and the banks of the Thames, manages to avoid crossing roads, and he ends up 17 miles away “somewhere in the Lea Valley.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Of course at times he’s often walking on pavements (that’s sidewalks for my American readers) that are very adjacent to bitumen, but it’s a great expedition, and we all know the attractions of the “constrained” walk. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Here’s Keegan’s map: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t5E8qL2kIF..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t5E8qL2kIF..." width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;">And here’s a link to the piece:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><a href="http://londonist.com/2012/01/how-far-..." target="_blank">http://londonist.com/2012/01/how-far-... </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I have nothing but respect for the man, but I fret about that term “extreme walker.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>I think, and hope, it’s the Londonist’s term rather than his own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>It seems to be asking for trouble, like that band called Extreme Noise Terror.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>You listen to them and think, “I’ve heard more extreme, more terrifying noise than this.” And so with walking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However extreme your walking, you can be damn sure that somebody somewhere is doing something far more extreme.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VcomE6NMdx..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VcomE6NMdx..." width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Keegan says, reasonably enough, that he doesn’t think his 17 mile constrained walk would be possible in any other city, and I imagine he’s right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>You could certainly clock a fair distance on the west side of Manhattan but I’m not arguing.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XByq7LcJys..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XByq7LcJys..." width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;">In LA I think you’d be lucky to do more than a few hundred yards before you were forced to “set foot on bitumen.” And here where I live on the lower slopes of the Hollywood Hills there are no sidewalks at all (that’s pavement for my English readers). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>You step out the front gate and you’re immediately in the road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The nearest sidewalk – I just measured it - is a little over half a mile away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>True, you don’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cross</i> any roads for that distance but that’s because you’re in the middle of one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>If you had a mind to, you could cover a good few sidewalk-free miles around the area's tight corners and blind bends.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tnSGZYMoyu..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tnSGZYMoyu..." width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qpvkibfIoF..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qpvkibfIoF..." width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;">There are a lot of Victor Keegans on the internet but this seems to be the man:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><a href="http://www.londonmylondon.co.uk/"... style="font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;">http://www.londonmylondon.co.uk</s... style="font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I see he has a blog post titled, “Walking from Trafalgar Square to Margate – without crossing a road.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>That does sound fairly extreme.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheHol..." height="1" width="1" alt=""/>