One of my walking goals this year is to walk a league barefoot. I had to choose some distance and a league seemed just about right. I’ve walked on beaches and lawns but those are not the same thing. My first half mile of wild barefoot walking was this week at Kirkconnell Flow. Luckily I didn’t meet anyone else so there was no need to explain.
It was a tad chilly being January and I had the burning feet of reperfusion for a while afterwards.
The first sensation was the coldness and I wondered at first if numbness would impair the experience. If anything though the cold seemed to heighten discomfort when I stepped on things.
Walking through a woodland barefoot opened my “eyes” to the ground beneath my feet. The ground from-which I had observed became the thing observed. My attention, which would usually be directed to trees, undergrowth, birds, clouds, sounds, and smells, became focussed on the ground’s texture. I had a better “feel” for the walk and noticed the texture of the ground more than I otherwise would.
It was much easier walking among the birches than the pines. Damn those pine cones. The mud I usually avoid stepping in was a pleasant soft mush, which in warmer weather might have been a pleasure.
Bare feet (but on a summer day)
