Christmas Presents for Hikers

Christmas Presents for Hikers originally appeared in easy hiker

Better Late than Never  
My Choice Christmas Presents for Hikers
This Christmas may already have come and gone, but it is never too late to receive presents, is it? Which is why today’s post is filled with little gifts from the international travel press that may have been overlooked in the hustle-and-bustle of our busy everyday lives when they were first published, but are certainly worth a second look – particularly at this time of year when we have the leisure to read them.

And, as under all Christmas trees up and down the world, there is something for everybody: something whimsical and something practical, some things to think about and some to simply gaze at in wonder. (Just click on the image to open your presents.)

It may be a bit late to buy a gift for this year’s holidays, but are you aware that there are only 300-or-so shopping days left until Christmas 2014 ?

Anyway, here is a suggestion: a book, not on the mother of all hikes, but the grandmother of ‘em all.

This is a strange little thing. The author, it seems to me, gets carried away somewhat, driven by the power of his own momentum (and the need to spin the article out to 2000 words), but the essential idea is quite interesting and original: just like noir detective stories are fantasies of urban living, spy movies are fantasies of travel.

No Christmas celebration would be complete without a couple of seemingly uninspired but practical gifts. They may fail to raise much of a smile, but Dad will still walk around in his new pair of socks when that miniature organ which plays his favourite Christmas song has long been exiled to the attic. So here we go: out for walks in two of the world’s greatest cities – to get your feet itching if you live in one of them, and to put aside for later if you are planning a visit in the new year. First, New York City …

… and then London.

Next, two articles from the same online magazine and the same author, which, oddly enough, do not appear to have all that much in common – apart from the fact that they both deal with “walking” in the broadest possible sense of the word. One advises us to be careful about what we give away by adopting a specific way of walking, while the other points out how the speed of walking is perfectly suited to the speed of developing thoughts.

And finally, now that you have exercised your thinking gear a little, it’s time to relax and simply look at some beautiful images: the Guardian’s collection of the world’s most beautiful bridges.

Hope you liked your late Christmas presents !

Read the original post and more of the same at easy hiker