It’s Oscars season, so we thought we’d take a look at the A-list names who’ve said that walking is what keeps them sane when the lunacy of Hollywood gets too much. And watch out for Harrison Ford next time you’re wandering in the Peak District...
Benedict Cumberbatch
I love hiking. It’s great to get away in nature. It’s grounding. I go up to the country a lot, but I also love the coasts… shooting Richard III [was] the most amazing heritage tour in the English countryside, with all the castles and manor houses and nunneries. It’s stunning.”
Kate Winslet
The countryside is very good for my head. I love that I can go for a walk, pick blackberries and feed them to the baby as I go along. I love that, as I’m doing this, I get to notice that the ones growing closer to the sea taste slightly saltier than the ones on the other side of the hedge. That’s a pretty gorgeous thing to observe of an afternoon, wouldn’t you say?
Harrison Ford
I’ve always loved the quiet and the solace of nature. I’ve been fascinated by the complication of nature and in a way… although I was raised without a formal religion, I’ve found an ethical reality in nature and the preservation of it and I think that informs me in every way.
Rami Malek
I usually find myself hiking in a place that not a lot of people go hiking, just trying to find some solitude. I like being out in the middle of nowhere. Not always, but it’s a good place to go to just reflect and think, and it’s something I really enjoy.
Natalie Dormer
What makes me really happy is a walk in the English countryside. A nice sunset, that British countryside – it means I’m home.
Stephen Fry
My walks are early morning affairs. The mixture of elation and sheer pleasure that comes with rhythmical striding, and the achievement, come rain or shine, of a good distance walked at a good pace, seems to set me up for the day.
Christina Hendricks
I really do love being outdoors – I mean, you’d never think it in my high heels and pencil skirt! But I really do miss the smell of hay and farms, and I like milking a cow.
Nick Offerman
The world wants us to consume stuff, and walking is a great way to disobey. If I’m walking, I’m not buying anything. I’m not destroying anything. I’m just providing myself with an incredibly rich and nourishing pastime, and at no cost to the planet.
Oprah Winfrey
I’ve been hiking every day. Hiking my butt off… And here’s one of the things I learned. It’s a great metaphor for life, this hiking, it’s that when you have the steepest hill on the mountain, you don’t look at the mountain or what’s ahead. You just concentrate on one foot in front of the other. One foot in front of the other. And when you really want to make yourself feel good about where you’re going, look at how far you’ve come and not how far you have to go.
And last but not least... BRIAN BLESSED!
The trouble with me is, everyone thinks I’m a loud person. The reality is, I need quiet and stillness, and that is what I get from going walking. Honestly – I’ve walked out of rehearsals to go for a walk, many times. It doesn’t matter if it’s a pond in a wood or a mountain in the Alps: I find the same peace at either.