Author Archives: admin_TW

Richard Smith talking walking

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Although quite a few inches shorter than Andrew Stuck, Richard Smith was one of the few people Andrew has interviewed who has walked faster than he does.  Andrew had to stop a couple of times while recording the interview just to catch his breath!  Not only a fast walker, Richard is someone who packs a lot into one life: a gynaecology cancer consultant and surgeon, internationally acclaimed womb-transplant specialist, academic author and father of four.  However, it is his enthusiasm for walking long distances, chanting while walking, and discovering pilgrimage sites that has drawn Andrew to him.

Andrew was introduced to him by one of his neighbours, fellow Scot, Tim Ingram-Smith whom Andrew has also interviewed previously for Talking Walking, and who invited Andrew to the book launch of one of Richard’s books: The Journey: Spirituality, Pilgrimage, Chant.

Garroch Head, Bute: a ‘thin place’ & place of pilgrimage

Richard accompanies Andrew on a short walk along the Regent’s Canal and within the breadth of their conversation, they discuss the value to him of walking, chant and walking in silence, as well as the benefits that walking can bring to women as they grow older, whether cancer sufferers or not. 22’48” 10.7MB

Download notes of items mentioned in the interview of Richard_Smith

 

Listen to Richard Smith’s 20×20 Vision for walking in 2040.

Bibi Calderaro talking walking

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Participant on a sensory walk

On a Skype call, Andrew Stuck talks to Bibi Calderaro, an Argentinian artist and forest therapist, living in Brooklyn, USA, who has recently devised a number of sensory walks on behalf of the US National Park Service in 2015/6. She explains her own practice and how it has evolved, and what are the key elements that she includes in her sensory walks, that tackle the urban maladies of stress and anxiety, and the reaction of participants to them. Such has been the demand for her walks, she has been recommissioned to devise more. Our conversation also explores ‘shinrin-yoku’ the Japanese healing practice of ‘forest bathing’, that as an accredited forest therapist, Bibi has been incorporating in her practice. 23’20” 10.9MB

Download notes of items mentioned in the interview with Bibi_Calderaro

Grace Adam talking walking

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

On an icy December day, walking with a friend in Queen’s Wood in north London, Andrew Stuck came across an intriguing set of pedestrian signs on which were written lines of poetry, lyrics, and instructions. His curiosity got the better of him, and when he got home, he tracked down Grace Adam, who had created the signs.

Returning to the wood in January, when the muddy ground was as slippery underfoot, Andrew interviewed Grace Adam to find out what had been her motivation, in creating the installation called “Out of the Woods…Words to navigate by”. 20’05” 9.5MB

Download notes of items mentioned in the interview with Grace_Adam

If you are reading this entry before the Spring Equinox (20 March) 2018 then you will still find Grace’s work in Queen’s Wood.

Listen to Grace‘s 20×20 Vision for walking

Nick Hallissey talking walking

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Andrew & Nick walk along “The Backs” in Cambridge with King’s College chapel in the background

A warm mid-summer’s day stroll through the Grantchester Meadows beside the river Cam should have been the idyllic setting for an interview by Andrew Stuck of Nick Hallissey, Deputy Editor of Country Walking magazine.

A professional walker and writer who has an encyclopeadic knowledge of walking routes throughout Britain.  For many, his must be the dream job, but as he reveals it is not just endless walks in the beautiful countryside, there’s research and meticulous preparation.  Neither of which Andrew appears to have done for this walk.  In addition, there are office-bound days prepping monthly issues of the magazine. We are also accompanied by a photographer, as Nick is keen to use images from our walk in a future feature. It is an experience Andrew has not encountered before. 11.4MB 24’19”

You can read Nick’s account of our walk in the March 2018 issue of Country Walking magazine. Want to read more of Nick’s adventures?  Country Walking Magazine are offering listeners to this podcast a discounted rate on subscriptions (including a trial package of 3 months for just £5) – just follow this link

Download notes of items mentioned in the interview with Nick_Hallissey

Why don’t you take up the Country Walking Walk 1000 miles challenge in 2018?

Listen to Nick Hallissey’s 20×20 Vision of walking in 2040

Photos were expertly taken by Richard Faulks.

Maggie O’Neill talking walking

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Maggie O’Neill is a leading academic researcher in criminology and sociology.  Walking is a key element of her ethnographic research into the lives of asylum seekers, the homeless, refugees and sex workers in England’s northern cities.

Maggie walking on Lindisfarne

A recent recipient of a Leverhulme Scholarship, she invited those she had encountered through her research to walk with her, along and across borders of significance in their everyday lives.

Andrew Stuck caught up with Maggie on a brief visit of hers to London. Just as they set our for a walk, the heavens opened, and they sought shelter, so the interview took place in a crowded hotel lobby. 20’05” 9.4MB

Download notes of items mentioned in the interview with Maggie_O’Neill

Terence Bendixson talking walking

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Terence Bendixson, journalist and author, is probably the longest serving campaigner for pedestrians  throughout the world, and is now the President of Living Streets in the UK, the charity formerly known as the Pedestrian’s Association.  He was recruited to the cause in the 1960s by Tom Foley, the Association’s co-founder, after an article he had written in the Guardian about the dominance of cars in our cities and towns. He his a strong believer in encouraging people to walk their daily errands, being aware of how street pattern and layout can influence travel behaviour and enhance or limit the experience of travel on foot.  He has lived almost all his life in Chelsea, now a prized neighbourhood of London, our conversation takes place there one sunny morning along roads he has walked since he was eleven.26’34” 12.5MB

Download notes of items mentioned in the interview with Terence_Bendixson

Julie Poitras Santos talking walking

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Chatting to Julie Poitras Santos, you can’t help but be enthused by her sheer exuberance about her work in bringing people together to walk and tell each other stories. A lecturer at an art school in Portland, Maine, on the east coast of the United States, she has travelled a lot to embed herself in many different communities.

Map & Universe (photo Josima Quintilier)

She is currently exploring people’s sense of getting lost and the techniques they use to find their way again, both physically and metaphorically. In part she uses a labyrinth, and in our conversation, we discuss how group walking of labyrinths can bring clarity in thought and a strong sense of camaraderie, amongst strangers. We are walking on a warm summer’s day in La Romieu in south west France, one of the entry points to the long distance pilgrimage route known as the Camino de Santiago. 24’ 31” 11.5MB

The interview was recorded in August 2017 as part of “Made of Walking” at La Romieu in south west France. Published in December 2017.

Download notes of items mentioned in the interview with Juilie_Poitras_Santos

Listen to Julie’s 20×20 Vision for walking in 2040

Geert Vermeire talking walking

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

 

 

 

 

As the five day 2017 Made of Walking event in La Romieu, south west France drew to a close, Andrew Stuck had an opportunity to talk to Geert Vermeire, it’s organiser and a walking poet and philosopher, in his on right.  We sat in an ‘echo-ey’ dining hall, in front of a small audience of Made of Walking participants, a couple of whom contribute to the interview by asking questions.  Throughout Made of Walking, Andrew had been trying to pin Geert down for an interview, but he was never still for long enough, so on the off, Andrew wanted to explore his role and how he came to make Made of Walking happen. 26′ 12″ 12.3MB

Download notes of items mentioned in the interview of Geert_Vermeire

Duncan Speakman talking walking

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Duncan Speakman, modestly describes himself as an ‘outsider artist’ and a ‘jack of all trades’ with no formal arts training and experience gained as a composer, sound engineer, documentary post production, digital artist and now writer.  His ‘walking pieces’ have delighted Talking Walking producer, Andrew Stuck, who thought he might describe them as immersive taking you away from your surroundings, Duncan likes to think that his work is making you more present in the city, using sounds and music in ways to shape our experience.  Andrew was lucky to catch him between ‘performances’ of his latest work, “It Must Have Been Dark By Then” which was being played at the British Library. We tried to find some quiet streets away from the busy Euston Road, covering much of the territory that this latest walking piece may draw you through. 11.5MB 24’29”

Download notes of items mentioned in the interview of Duncan_Speakman

Bruce Mowson talking walking

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Andrew Stuck, producer of Talking Walking, may have been podcasting for ten years, but he always has a little bit of trepidation when he is about to interview an artist who works in sound.  Out and about on a walk, he can use the ambience to cover up some of his clumsy editing, but in conducting an interview over the Internet there are few ways to conceal his inadequacies. When it came to interviewing Australian sound artist Bruce Mowson, Andrew had arranged to walk with him in Greenwich Park while he was in the UK on a family holiday, but fate played its hand in the guise of a train strike, and we never got to do that walk.  So what follows is a call Andrew made to Bruce once he had returned to Coburg, Melbourne, in which they talked about his enthusiasm for walking and how he has put years of studio recording experience behind him in making a piece called “Adventures in Sightlessness“. 23’26” 11MB

 

Download notes of items mentioned in the interview with Bruce_Mowson

Matthew Beaumont talking walking

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

It is a busy summer lunchtime in Bloomsbury, and we are within a ‘stone’s throw‘ of where Charles Dickens once lived.  Andrew Stuck, producer of Talking Walking, is in the company of Matthew Beaumont, a scholar and Professor in English Literature at University College London and author of the bestselling book called “Nightwalking, a Nocturnal History of London”. His research interests go far beyond literature as he is also Co-Director of the University’s Urban Lab where he is responsible for the Cities Imagined strand.  22’17”  10.4MB

Download notes of items mentioned in the interview with Matthew_Beaumont

Listen to Matthew Beaumont’s 20×20 Vision of walking in 2040

8 Breaths talking walking

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

8 Breaths Oxford is produced by Katherine McGavin and Mariana Galan Tanes

8 Breaths participants don masks as Mariana talks about air quality.

Air quality is an issue which is grabbing media interest both here in London and elsewhere.  It is a nebulous, hard to grasp concept, and leaves many of us disempowered – what simple actions can we do to improve the air we breathe?  Katherine McGavin and Mariana Galan Tanes, are two post-graduates studying social sculpture at Oxford Brookes University who have come up with an imaginative, entertaining and thought-provoking way to get us more engaged.

It is an inter-active walking tour of Oxford in 8 Breaths, in which you travel in time and place to discover more about the air we breathe, as well as being a call to personal action.  Andrew Stuck joined a group of twenty on the inaugural 8 Breaths tour at the beginning of July 2017 and spoke to Kat and Mariana immediately afterwards, recording the interview on a busy street corner surrounded by passing tourists. 16′ 34″ 7.8MB

Download notes of items mentioned in the Interview with 8 Breaths

Want to join an 8 Breaths tour? – click here for more details.