Among the more significant events that would help spur growth in the budding endeavor of walking for pleasure was the publication of one of the first modern travel guides. In 1778, an English priest by the name of Thomas West published A Guide to the Lakes, which detailed the landscape and scenery of the Lake District in northwestern England. While many say the guide marked the advent of modern tourism, the book also helped to promote the idea of walking for leisurely purposes. Perhaps more importantly, it also advanced the emerging concept of seeking out sublime and picturesque viewpoints, or what he called “stations,” for purposes of appreciating natural landscapes. Modern historians contend that this was a new way of understanding nature and mountains, which in a few years would become an integral part of what is now known as Romanticism. Instead of looking at mountains with fear or as obstacles, the Romantics proposed they should be seen for their rugged beauty, and as sources of profound awe and spiritual inspiration. West underscored this notion by declaring:
Whoever takes a walk into these scenes must return penetrated with a sense of the creator’s power in heaping mountains upon mountains, and enthroning rocks upon rocks. And such exhibitions of sublime and beautiful objects cannot but excite at once both rapture and reverence.Learn more about Thomas West and how the Romantics inspired people to take walks in nature for pleasure in Ramble On: A History of Hiking.
*******************************************************************************
Virtually no one went hiking before the 19th century. What occurred that inspired ordinary people to take a walk through the woods for pleasure? Ramble On: A History of Hiking explores the rich history of hiking, and how it evolved into one of the most popular pastimes in the world.
