THE SINGING WALKERS
Peter Gillman takes a tuneful tour through the home counties
Two of the best ways to keep the effects of ageing at bay , it is said , are by walking and singing . As I edge uneasily into my 80s , I have found a way of combining both .
For OWPG members , the walking part goes without saying . For a long time , my walking was focussed on climbing the Munros . I extended my Munros campaign through four decades , completing for the first time in 1997 , when I was 55 . When the Munros list was revised shortly afterwards , I at first resisted adding the new four that I had not previously climbed . Finally I succumbed again , and climbed the last of the four – Sgorr an Lochain Uaine – in 2010 , when I was 68 . I climbed my two last Munros in 2014 , when I was 72 ( I will return to this venture shortly .)
Since then my walking ambitions have reduced in scale . These days I go for walks in the southern Home Counties , mostly in Surrey and Kent , notching distances of around six miles . Here is where the second anti-ageing strategy comes in . Every three weeks or so I do so in the company of members of the Croydon Male Voice Choir .
I joined the choir in 2005 , after meeting a long-time friend who extolled its virtues . I used to sing in my youth , in my school choir , in a folk-song club and on protest events such as the Aldermaston marches . But my singing had fallen into abeyance . Now I rediscovered its pleasures in the choir , whose repertoire ranged from folk-song , showbiz classics , spirituals and male voice anthems . I joined the
Crossing a meadow near Westerham , Kent
4 outdoor focus / autumn 2023