By Mark Mason

Long-distance walking is all the rage1 these days. There are all-nighters2 staged by charities， for instance the annual MoonWalk in London， which raises funds to fight breast cancer： participants of both sexes walk marathon and half-marathon routes. The outfits might have changed， but when it comes to foot-slogging3， long-distance has a long history.

Charles Dickens liked a nocturnal ramble.4 He did it to combat sleeplessness， and on one particular night in October 1857 walked the 30 miles （48.3 km） from his house in Tavistock Square to his country home in Kent.5 In the essay Night Walks he describes passing Bethlehem Hospital （the psychiatric institution from which we get the word “bedlam”）， and wondering how different its inhabitants were from the rest of us：“Are not the sane and the insane equal at night as the sane lie a dreaming？”6 At dawn Dickens would head for a railway station to watch the mail come in. Only when daylight appeared would he feel tired enough to go home and sleep.

Many writers use walking for inspiration. Thoreau7 said that “the moment my legs begin to move， my thoughts begin to flow”. It isnt just writers， either—Erik Satie composed his music while walking， often at night， and when Pariss streetlamps were blacked out during the First World War， he found it difficult to work.8

Another motivation is money. During the 18th and 19th centuries Britain enjoyed a boom in“pedestrianism”， the undertaking of long-distance walks for wagers.9 Originally aristocrats pitted their footmen against each other （please dont let Jacob Rees-Mogg read this—he might get ideas）.10

But then along came people who were prepared to do the legwork themselves. In 1788， Foster Powell walked 100 miles in 21 hours， 35 minutes. One of the most celebrated pedestrians was Captain Barclay， who in 1809 walked 1，000 miles in 1，000 hours for 1，000 guineas.11 That was one mile （the same one， laid out on Newmarket Heath12）， once every hour from 1 June to 12 July. A crowd of 10，000 turned up to watch. In 1864 Emma Sharp of Bradford copied the feat13. People threw red hot coals in her path and tried to trip her up， and for the last two days she carried a pistol for protection.14 When she finished， her supporters roasted a celebratory ox.

Several years ago， hearing of someone whod taken seven hours to run the London marathon， I thought： “I could walk it in that.” So one autumn day I tried. You always hear about average walking pace being four miles an hour—its nonsense. You really have to motor15 to achieve that， and I only just completed the course in the seven hours. Later， for a book， I walked the whole London Underground system overground16. Up to 20 miles， I found， gives you a real buzz17. Between 20 and 30 you start to come back down， and much beyond 30 is a real struggle. My longest days trek18 was 39.5 miles. It would have been over 40 if you could walk to Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3： its the only Tube station to which you cant.19

Perhaps the most bizarre long-distance walk was accomplished by Albert Speer， who during his time in Spandau prison did more than 2，000 laps of the garden to simulate a walk from Berlin to Heidelberg.20

1. be all the rage： 流行，風靡一時。

2. all-nighter： 通宵達旦的活動。

3. foot-slog： 艱難行進，跋涉。

4. Charles Dickens： 查爾斯·狄更斯（1812—1870），英國作家，著有《大衛(wèi)·科波菲爾》《霧都孤兒》《雙城記》等，其作品深刻地反映了當時英國復雜的社會現(xiàn)實，為英國批判現(xiàn)實主義文學的開拓和發(fā)展作出了卓越的貢獻；nocturnal： 夜晚的；ramble： 漫步，閑逛。

5. Tavistock Square： 塔維斯托克廣場，位于倫敦；Kent： 肯特，英格蘭東南部的郡，西北與倫敦毗鄰。

6. 在狄更斯的文章《倫敦夜行記》里，他描述了自己經(jīng)過貝特萊姆醫(yī)院（單詞bedlam正是出自這家精神病醫(yī)院）的情景，并寫下這樣的句子來探討醫(yī)院的病人和我們其他人有何不同：“在夜里，那些做著夢的正常人和精神病人之間又有什么區(qū)別呢？”Bethlehem Hospital： 貝特萊姆醫(yī)院，又稱貝特萊姆皇家醫(yī)院（Bethlem Royal Hospital），位于倫敦，14世紀時致力于精神疾病的治療，是歐洲首家專門治療精神病患的機構。這個醫(yī)院常被稱為“瘋人院”（Bedlam，其發(fā)音與Bethlem發(fā)音類似），bedlam現(xiàn)在被用來形容混亂或瘋狂的情境；psychiatric： 精神病的，治療精神病的。

7. Thoreau： 亨利·梭羅（1817—1862），美國作家、哲學家，著有《瓦爾登湖》。

8. Erik Satie： 埃里克·薩蒂（1866—1925），法國作曲家，代表作品有芭蕾舞劇《游行》和交響戲劇《蘇格拉底》；black out： 燈火管制。

9.18—19世紀的英國盛行一種被稱為“徒步主義”的活動，即人們通過徒步來打賭下注。undertaking： 重要活動（或工作等）；wager：賭注，籌碼。

10. aristocrat： 貴族；pit against： 使競爭，使相斗；footman： 仆從；Jacob Rees-Mogg： 雅各布·里斯-莫格（1969— ），保守黨議員，因為他以不合時代的上流社會習慣和傳統(tǒng)主義態(tài)度著名，被稱為“18世紀的榮譽會員”，所以作者如是寫道。

11. celebrated： 著名的；guinea： 幾尼（英國舊時金幣或貨幣名稱，約為1.05英鎊）。

12. Newmarket Heath： 位于英格蘭薩?？丝ぜ~馬基特的一片荒地，約為280公頃。

13. feat： 壯舉。

14. trip sb. up： 絆倒某人；pistol： 手槍。

15. motor： v. 乘坐汽車。

16. overground： 在地面上的。

17. buzz： 快感，成就感。

18. trek： 艱苦跋涉。

19. Heathrow： 希思羅機場，位于倫敦；terminal：航站樓；tube：（倫敦）地鐵。

20. 也許最離奇的長途步行是由阿爾伯特·斯皮爾完成的，他在斯潘道監(jiān)獄服役期間繞花園走了兩千多圈，模擬從柏林走到海德堡的距離。bizarre： 離奇的，奇異的；Spandau prison： 斯潘道監(jiān)獄，位于柏林，二戰(zhàn)后用來收押在紐倫堡審判中判處監(jiān)禁的納粹戰(zhàn)爭罪犯，在最后一個犯人去世后，監(jiān)獄被廢除并改建為購物中心；lap： 圈；simulate：模擬。