Fiona’s walking story (Bums Off Seats)

“Walking is a big chunk of my life.”

“It doesn’t matter if I’m going around the block, or up to the pharmacy. It’s a little bit every day.”  

For many people, retiring means slowing down. When Fiona McOwan stopped working in 2019, she instead wondered how to fit more walking into her days. Looking for a way to combine her love of walking with helping others, she discovered she could become a volunteer Health Walk Leader. Fiona has been leading group walks with the “Bums Off Seats” programme in Fife since 2021, she’s never looked back, enjoying the way that taking others out walking lets her meet new people.

Even when she was working, and with a busy work and home life, Fiona prioritised walking, so when COVID meant she couldn’t take groups out for walks right away, she still found ways to up her step count. She started exploring new places nearby, initially by supporting the efforts of Slow Ways. She slowly extended the length of her walks, improving her fitness and knowledge of the local area. Lockdowns helped her appreciate how much walking supports her mental health, and that even at the worst of times, walking is the one thing you can always do.

A few years on, and Fiona has now taken part in Kiltwalks and has been chipping away at the Fife Coastal Path that she is lucky enough to live beside. She loves a walk with a café at the end to keep her motivated and likes to go out on a longer route by planning to use public transport to get back again. 

At 71, Fiona knows that there are many people at her age who cannot move around as easily as she still can, and she sees the benefits that staying active has brought her:

“I feel lucky that I can still put one foot in front of the other and make my way down the road”.

She would like to see more people walk because it does not cost anything, it’s safer over the long-term than higher impact exercise like running, it uses every muscle, and is great for mental health.