There is something about an autumn walk that feels different.
Perhaps it’s the light.
That low, golden light that catches the edges of leaves and makes even the most ordinary footpath look briefly beautiful.
Perhaps it’s the air. Cool enough to make you walk a little faster, but not yet cold enough to make leaving the house an act of determination.
Or perhaps it’s simply that autumn gives us so much to look at.
Conkers scattered beneath horse chestnuts. Blackberries lingering in the hedgerows. Acorns crunching underfoot. Mushrooms appearing overnight. Spiders’ webs strung with tiny beads of dew.
The landscape is changing almost every day.
And if there were ever a season that encouraged us to slow down and notice what’s around us, surely this is it.
I love walking at any time of year, but autumn walking may just be my favourite.
And it turns out that getting outside for a walk at this time of year isn’t simply good for the soul. It’s rather good for the rest of us too.
Why autumn is perfect for walking
Summer walks sound lovely in theory.
In reality, there can be heat, sunburn, hay fever, crowds and the slightly sticky business of applying sun cream to every exposed limb.
Winter walking has its pleasures too, but getting out of a warm house when it’s raining sideways requires a particular sort of moral fibre.
Autumn sits rather beautifully in between.
The days are often still mild, but the intense heat has gone. The countryside is changing colour and there’s that wonderful freshness in the air that makes you want to breathe a little deeper.
Walking also requires remarkably little preparation.
No membership.
No Lycra unless you happen to like it.
No instructor shouting encouragement.
No complicated equipment.
A comfortable pair of shoes, something waterproof — we do live in Britain, after all — and off you go.
For women in midlife, when we’re repeatedly being told about all the things we should be doing for our health, there is something wonderfully uncomplicated about walking.
Put one foot in front of the other.
Repeat.
Walking is exercise — even if it doesn’t feel like it
Perhaps because walking is so ordinary, we sometimes forget that it counts as physical activity.
It absolutely does.
A brisk walk gets the heart working harder, helps build stamina and contributes towards the physical activity we need to stay healthy.
Regular walking can support cardiovascular health, help maintain a healthy weight and improve general fitness. It’s also weight-bearing activity, meaning you’re moving your body against gravity — something that becomes increasingly important as we get older and start thinking more seriously about maintaining strong bones.
Walking also keeps us moving through the world in a very practical way.
There is a great deal of conversation around longevity at the moment, but I’m increasingly interested in healthspan rather than simply lifespan.
I don’t just want more years.
I want to be able to use them.
To walk up hills. Carry shopping. Travel. Garden. Explore a city. Get down onto the floor and, importantly, get back up again.
Walking isn’t the only exercise we need as we age — strength work becomes particularly important in midlife too — but it’s a very good foundation.
And unlike many forms of exercise, it’s something we can easily weave into ordinary life.
A walk can change your mood
There are days when the last thing I feel like doing is going for a walk.
Usually those are the days when I most need one.
You know the feeling.
You’ve been indoors too long. You’ve spent too much time looking at a screen. Your thoughts are circling around the same problem and somehow another cup of tea hasn’t solved it.
Then you go outside.
Nothing particularly remarkable happens.
The problem is still there.
But twenty minutes later it somehow feels different.
Walking can help reduce stress and support our mental wellbeing, while spending time in nature has also been associated with improvements in mood and feelings of wellbeing.
But you don’t necessarily need the research to know that.
Most of us have felt it.
The slight unclenching.
The deeper breath.
The sense of perspective that arrives somewhere between the front door and the first muddy puddle.
Sometimes we don’t need to think harder.
We need to move.
Midlife is a very good time to start walking more
By midlife, exercise can become rather loaded.
We’re told to exercise to control our weight, protect our hearts, preserve muscle, support our bones, improve sleep, manage stress and help us age well.
All of which may be true.
But turning movement into another item on the enormous list of Things Women Should Be Doing Properly isn’t always terribly motivating.
I prefer to think about what movement allows us to do.
Walking means independence.
It means being able to explore.
It means saying yes to the coastal path, the city break, the woodland trail or the afternoon wandering around somewhere you’ve never been before.
And walking is wonderfully adaptable.
You don’t have to march for ten miles.
Start where you are.
Ten minutes counts.
A walk around the block counts.
Walking to the shops counts.
A slow wander with a friend where you spend more time talking than exercising definitely counts.
You can build from there.
Autumn gives you a reason to pay attention
One of the things I particularly love about walking in autumn is that the same route never seems quite the same twice.
Go back to a familiar woodland a week later and something has changed.
The canopy has thinned.
The bracken is turning brown.
Beech leaves have shifted from green to gold.
There are mushrooms where yesterday there were none.
Acorns and sweet chestnuts lie beneath the trees.
Hawthorn berries glow red along the hedgerows.
Later come the bare branches and that wonderful moment when you realise you can suddenly see through a wood that felt completely enclosed in summer.
This is one of the pleasures of having a regular walk.
You begin to know a place.
Not in the way you know its name or where the footpath goes, but through its small seasonal changes.
You know where the blackberries appear first.
Which tree turns before the others.
Where the puddle will be after heavy rain.
Where the light falls in late afternoon.
It turns walking from simply covering a distance into noticing where you are.
Try a noticing walk
We’re very good at walking while doing something else.
We walk while talking on the phone.
We walk listening to podcasts.
We walk while mentally composing emails, solving problems and wondering what we’re having for dinner.
Sometimes that’s exactly what we need.
But occasionally, try walking without filling the silence.
Put the phone away.
Take the headphones out.
And notice.
What can you hear?
Birdsong may be quieter than it was in spring, but listen for robins, wrens and the sudden clatter of pigeons leaving a tree.
What can you smell?
Damp earth. Fallen leaves. Woodsmoke. Rain.
What can you see?
Look up as well as down.
Notice the clouds, the shape of bare branches beginning to emerge and the changing colours above you.
It sounds almost ridiculously simple.
That’s because it is.
We spend an enormous amount of modern life somewhere other than where our bodies actually are.
A walk brings us back.
Walking with someone is good too
Not every walk needs to be a solitary communion with nature.
Some of the best conversations happen while walking.
There is something easier about talking when you’re side by side rather than sitting opposite one another.
Perhaps it’s because there are pauses.
You don’t have to maintain eye contact.
There’s always something to point at when conversation falters.
And somehow the important things often emerge when you’re halfway up a hill.
For women in midlife, friendships matter enormously, yet they can also require more effort than they once did.
Lives are busy.
Families pull us in different directions.
Friends move.
Work gets in the way.
“Let’s meet for a walk” can be much easier than organising dinner, and nobody has to tidy the house first.
A walk and a coffee is one of life’s great combinations.
Don’t wait for perfect weather
This is Britain.
If we only went outside when the forecast promised sunshine, we’d spend a considerable amount of time indoors.
Autumn weather is unpredictable.
That’s part of it.
A grey morning can turn golden by lunchtime. A sunny walk can end in rain. Paths become muddy and leaves become extremely good at concealing puddles.
Wear the right clothes.
Take a waterproof.
Choose footwear that can cope with mud.
And go anyway, unless conditions genuinely make it unsafe.
There is something surprisingly satisfying about returning home slightly windswept and pink-cheeked.
Especially when you know there’s tea waiting.
Walk in daylight when you can
As autumn progresses, daylight becomes increasingly precious.
By late autumn, it’s entirely possible to start work in the dark and finish in the dark.
That can make a lunchtime walk particularly valuable.
Even a short spell outside breaks up the day, gets you moving and gives you some natural light.
If you work from home, it’s also a useful substitute for the commute.
Walk around the block before you start work.
Come home.
You’ve arrived.
It sounds faintly ridiculous until you try it.
Then, at the end of the day, do the same thing in reverse.
Sometimes our brains need a physical signal that one part of the day has finished and another is beginning.
You don’t have to go to the countryside
When we talk about walking in nature, it’s easy to imagine rolling hills, ancient woodland and an conveniently placed country pub.
Lovely if you have them.
But nature isn’t confined to beauty spots.
Walk through a park.
Along a canal.
Around an allotment.
Beside the sea.
Through a cemetery.
Along a tree-lined street.
Follow an urban footpath you’ve never taken before.
Notice the plants growing through cracks in walls and the trees changing colour outside people’s houses.
Some of my favourite walks begin at the front door.
There is a particular pleasure in discovering somewhere close to home that you’ve somehow never noticed.
Make walking something you look forward to
If the word exercise makes you want to sit down, don’t make your autumn walks about exercise.
Give yourself another reason to go.
Walk to get coffee.
Walk to see the sunset.
Walk to collect conkers with absolutely no idea what you’re going to do with them.
Walk to photograph the changing leaves.
Walk to forage.
Walk to listen to an audiobook.
Walk because a friend needs to talk.
Walk to explore somewhere new.
Walk because there’s a pub at the end.
Movement doesn’t have to be miserable to be worthwhile.
In fact, the forms of exercise we enjoy are probably the ones we’re most likely to keep doing.
Watch autumn happen
Perhaps that’s the real reason I love walking at this time of year.
Autumn is fleeting.
We talk about it as though it’s a fixed season, but it never really stands still.
The green leaves begin to turn.
Then suddenly the trees are magnificent.
Then there’s a windy night and half of it is on the ground.
A few weeks later we’re looking at bare branches and wondering how winter arrived so quickly.
If we stay indoors, it’s remarkably easy to miss.
But walk regularly and you see the whole thing unfold.
The first conker.
The first red leaf.
The first morning you can see your breath.
The first frost.
Tiny markers carrying us from one season into another.
There is something reassuring about noticing them.
The world keeps turning.
The seasons keep changing.
And perhaps, especially in midlife, there is comfort in being reminded that change doesn’t always mean loss.
Sometimes it means colour.
Sometimes it means space.
Sometimes it simply means it’s time to put your boots on and see what’s happening outside.
So don’t wait for the perfect day.
Pull on a jumper.
Take a waterproof.
Leave the phone in your pocket.
And go for a walk.
Autumn won’t be here for long.
Further Reading: What’s in season in September? A guide to Britain’s early-autumn harvest, The Autumn Equinox, The September Reset: Why Autumn Feels Like a Second New Year, The Autumn Equinox, Foraging in September: a taste of the wild harvest,
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