远足苦乐

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，风靡一时。

2. all-nighter： 通宵达旦的活动。

3. foot-slog： 艰难行进，跋涉。

4. Charles Dickens： 查尔斯·狄更斯（1812—1870），英國作家，著有《大卫·科波菲尔》《雾都孤儿》《双城记》等，其作品深刻地反映了当时英国复杂的社会现实，为英国批判现实主义文学的开拓和发展作出了卓越的贡献；nocturnal： 夜晚的；ramble： 漫步，闲逛。

5. Tavistock Square： 塔维斯托克广场，位于伦敦；Kent： 肯特，英格兰东南部的郡，西北与伦敦毗邻。

6. 在狄更斯的文章《伦敦夜行记》里，他描述了自己经过贝特莱姆医院（单词bedlam正是出自这家精神病医院）的情景，并写下这样的句子来探讨医院的病人和我们其他人有何不同：“在夜里，那些做着梦的正常人和精神病人之间又有什么区别呢？”Bethlehem Hospital： 贝特莱姆医院，又称贝特莱姆皇家医院（Bethlem Royal Hospital），位于伦敦，14世纪时致力于精神疾病的治疗，是欧洲首家专门治疗精神病患的机构。这个医院常被称为“疯人院”（Bedlam，其发音与Bethlem发音类似），bedlam现在被用来形容混乱或疯狂的情境；psychiatric： 精神病的，治疗精神病的。

7. Thoreau： 亨利·梭罗（1817—1862），美国作家、哲学家，著有《瓦尔登湖》。

8. Erik Satie： 埃里克·萨蒂（1866—1925），法国作曲家，代表作品有芭蕾舞剧《游行》和交响戏剧《苏格拉底》；black out： 灯火管制。

9.18—19世纪的英国盛行一种被称为“徒步主义”的活动，即人们通过徒步来打赌下注。undertaking： 重要活动（或工作等）；wager：赌注，筹码。

10. aristocrat： 贵族；pit against： 使竞争，使相斗；footman： 仆从；Jacob Rees-Mogg： 雅各布·里斯-莫格（1969— ），保守党议员，因为他以不合时代的上流社会习惯和传统主义态度著名，被称为“18世纪的荣誉会员”，所以作者如是写道。

11. celebrated： 著名的；guinea： 几尼（英国旧时金币或货币名称，约为1.05英镑）。

12. Newmarket Heath： 位于英格兰萨福克郡纽马基特的一片荒地，约为280公顷。

13. feat： 壮举。

14. trip sb. up： 绊倒某人；pistol： 手枪。

15. motor： v. 乘坐汽车。

16. overground： 在地面上的。

17. buzz： 快感，成就感。

18. trek： 艰苦跋涉。

19. Heathrow： 希思罗机场，位于伦敦；terminal：航站楼；tube：（伦敦）地铁。

20. 也许最离奇的长途步行是由阿尔伯特·斯皮尔完成的，他在斯潘道监狱服役期间绕花园走了两千多圈，模拟从柏林走到海德堡的距离。bizarre： 离奇的，奇异的；Spandau prison： 斯潘道监狱，位于柏林，二战后用来收押在纽伦堡审判中判处监禁的纳粹战争罪犯，在最后一个犯人去世后，监狱被废除并改建为购物中心；lap： 圈；simulate：模拟。