All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost.
-- J.R.R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings
Our ability to walk upright is thought to date back to the Early Stone Age, a period more than one and a half million years ago. It was then that our ancestors stood upright and gingerly took their first steps. These small steps would prove to be a proverbial giant leap, allowing humankind to fast-track its development along evolution's long and winding road. Walking on two legs allowed our forebears to develop and use sophisticated tools, quickly turning them into a dominant hunter-gatherer society.
So it was that mankind became walkers, striding proudly upright across the vast plains of ancient continents. As hunter-gatherers, they walked out of a necessity to support their nomadic lifestyle rather than for pleasure, searching the wilderness for food and shelter. Slowly this natural landscape changed as evolution marched on, with first agriculture and then industrialization taking its toll. Vast cities of concrete and steel mushroomed throughout the developed world, replacing trees, rivers, grasslands and forests with tarmac roads and soaring skycrapers. Green belts and parklands all but disappeared in some places and soon many city dwellers found themselves captives of an unnatural environment of their own making.
If you packed any fresh fruit or food items which might bruise or spoil easily, now is a good time to eat these. A muesli or granola bar and some dried fruit will also go down as well. Brew a pot of tea if you have the time, or enjoy a cold drink or fruit juice if the weather is hot.
