What a year...
If anyone would have told me a year ago, that we will spend weeks and months of 2020 in Lock-Down, that a virus, the so called "COVID-19" is spreading all over the world and the pandemic of the century will take place...  - ...I probably would have said: "dream on".

Anyway - it did happen and our new reality changed a lot and we are adapting to a somewhat new normality we'll have to endure for another period of time until vaccinations will arrive in Europe and hopefully result in what we hope for: winning the fight against Corona. 

Spending several weeks mostly at home, renouncing of social life and lots of week-end activities also made me realise, that the lockdowns didn't stress me out as much as I thouhgt initially. We were still allowed to leave home for important things - and excercising, respectively getting some fresh air and a change of scenery in nature, always was allowed for us during these periods. 

During second lockdown I challenged myself to walk the same 2 k - loop every single day of November resulting in the decision, that it is about time to revive "Walkability" - seven years after it's inception - without any pressure but with a great sense of curiosity what might happen if I start devoting a bit of my time focusing on what I love most: walking. Stay tuned. 

It is nearly a year now that I completed the wonderful MOON WALK in London, UK  together with my friend Jo. For sure it was a challenge, it was exhausting to walk all night after waiting all day for the event to start - and also a bit crazy to walk a  Moonlight-Marathon dressed up in a Bra :-) BUT - I did promise myself to enter an "active" Fundraising Event every year, as long as possible. 

Since walking the OXFAM Trailwalker Sydney, Australia in 2013, I am very much attracted to long distance walking. However having a busy life and family commitments I am unable to walk several hours a day, so I try to sign up for at least one (crazy) challenge every year.  In 2014 I walked - together with my husband the half distance of the  "WIENRUNDUMADUM" - a back then brand new long distance walk around Vienna - as the name suggests. We managed to stay just under 12 hours for the 64 k's - and already back then I knew, that I really want to try the full distance as well. 

Wien Rundumadum is an Ultra Trail Run around the City of Vienna and is happening for the third time this year. The event will take place on October 29th , 2016  which is a wonderful date this year, as my kids school will be closed on the Monday after due to the public holiday on Tuesday. I therefore will take the day off work as well - which means there will be some days to recover - because walking takes a LONG, LONG time. If I want to walk the 130 k's - I have to take into account that this will take at least 30 hours - if not longer. Starting on Saturday at 7am would therefore result in finishing (hopefully) somewhen Sunday afternoon - and no way I would be able to go to work on the monday after such an effort...  
Again I could convince my husband to join in which is great - when walking (especially long distances) there always is a lot of time to talk and reflect - and it is good to have company. We also invited our neighbour from Upper Austria - how is 66 years old (!) but really fit - he completed the 68 k's last year - and I think that he could do the 130 as well...  - but we don't stress about finishing anyway, one never knows what happens on such an exhausting, long distance walk - important is, that we are attempting on finishing, and that we ARE entering the challenge... 

To make it worth while - we'll do it for a good cause, and people can donate! 
Lot's of things to prepare, too many creative ideas at the moment - but there is still time - and for now it is only physical training that has to start - and did start already. I'm now running 5 k's at least once a week - and I will have to increase distance and frequency. Therefore there will be a few little interim-events before the big event - I keep you posted :-) 

 




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Vienna is at the heart of Europe and was proud host of the Walk21 conference from 20 to 23 October 2015. The motto “stepping ahead” promotes activities and innovations towards the future of  resilient cities and healthy living environments. 

A bit of background: about "Walkability" & WildUrb 

Vienna is  is a very walkable city and with my website I want to highlight the contribution that walking makes to peoples mental health, a  city's walkability and therefore it's community. After discovering many areas on foot in Sydney, Australia during maternity leave - I also discovered my love for using walking as a primary mode of transport and decided to to build this website www.walkability.com.au to spread the word of how walkable Sydney is. Not long after my family and I moved back to Austria -  how exciting to be able to do discover "walkability" now in beautiful Vienna, the capital of the country I am from... 

Very often the simple act of walking is overlooked as a serious mode of transport as cities focus on vehicle based transport. The WildUrb Walking Guides, a series of books centred around the main focus of discovering your environment while walking,  positions walking as the primary mode of transport in the city. I was lucky enough that the WildUrb ownders Doris and Jine engaged me for this tour as a guide - so I got to know another amazing little district in Vienna while preparing for the "WildUrb Guerrilla City Walk" through the 15th district of Vienna. 

A quick note on the tour... 

The 15th district enjoys a vibrant social and cultural scene with a lot of city development and urban renewal happening. On our tour we could discover how the (wild) urbans create their districts - with artworks, markets, shops, events, guerilla gardening and many other activities... 

Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus is an up-and-coming district with particularly busy, creative and imaginative people. A lot of them live and work in this area and care for a sustainable urban development that brings people together - it is an own special village within the city. 

A colourful variety of urban furniture and seating opportunities in the public space serve as meeting places where people do hang out actively and care for communication in the neighbourhood. 

A few impressions of the tour... 

​Proudly walking again - this time guiding the international crowd through Viennas 15th district on behalf of  Wildurb. 

A stroll through the south of Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus, Vienna’s 15th district. A forgotten part of town, finally waking up from its slumber. Starting at the underground station Längenfeldgasse, we will visit a ‘guerrilla gardening’ project in a hidden corner near a skate park. The walk continues to Sparkassaplatz – an area which is more than just a roundabout, and has the potential of a traffic hub. The revitalization of the street Reindorfgasse was based on creativity and was intended to induce the revival of the shopping street. An attractive meeting place in the neighbourhood is Schwendermarkt, where the future of a rescued market can be discovered. A few steps away the tour will end at Schwendergarten, where the participants can see an evolving community garden amidst the concrete jungle.

Registration for the conference, and the opportunity to be part of my walk here, or just turn up at U4/U6 Längenfeldgasse on Friday, 23rd Oktober, 3pm and walk with me :-) 

On Monday I made an effort to join the very first AFTER WORK WALK, organized by Wildurb that great company/community I already told you about on this blog. It was a great little event, hosted by Bella, a passionate "URB" who guided us - more or less  along the "Stadtwanderweg" through the Prater Allee... 

To me, still a newbie to Vienna, this was an amazing insight in how green Vienna is just a few steps away from the very busy, and not so attractive Prater Stern. It was great to see that  "URBS" who joined the event on Facebook, did turn up in "reality" as well. Although we'll have to work on those numbers. It was 17 "going" - at the actual event we were 7 walkers... joined by Nicolas - a "WALK IN" - who happily joined our little walking community along the way... 

If anyone out there is interested in the "Walking topic" - and I guess you would be, why would you read this otherwise - I'd suggest you like them on facebook here to join the community and be up to date with their work... and walks :-)

I'll be definitely trying to join the next Event again!