City councils finally walking the walk

WALKING in Ireland has found its feet.

RTÉ broadcaster John Murray, with his Walking Club, is doing for the body what fellow jock Ryan Tubridy’s Book Club did for the mind — exercising it. Murray’s ‘walks’ over the summer made for easy listening, local yarns, and harder trekking for those who joined him off-air, and after a few days on the Camino de Santiago (and at the risk of him being the next Donncha O’Dualing) the affable Murray’s walking club is back on the byroad beat come October 2, in Doneraile.

To walk doesn’t mean having to tog out in all-weather gear, donning ankle-protecting boots, carrying a stout stick and watching out for snapping dogs: it’s as healthy, stimulating and productive to do in a town or on an urban street.