Happy World Poetry Day!

As today is World Poetry Day we thought we'd share one of THE classic poems written about the beautiful thing that is walking.  We know that to many the beauty of their surroundings is one of the best thing about hiking and we think this poem by William Wordsworth pretty much sums up the simple pleasures of a walk...

Sweet was the Walk

Sweet was the walk along the narrow lane
At noon, the bank and hedge-rows all the way
Shagged with wild pale green tufts of fragrant hay,
Caught by the hawthorns from the loaded wain,
Which Age with many a slow stoop strove to gain;
And childhood, seeming still most busy, took
His little rake; with cunning side-long look,
Sauntering to pluck the strawberries wild, unseen.
Now, too, on melancholy's idle dreams
Musing, the lone spot with my soul agrees,
Quiet and dark; for through the thick wove trees
Scarce peeps the curious star till solemn gleams
The clouded moon, and calls me forth to stray
Thro' tall, green, silent woods and ruins gray. 

It is estimated Wordsworth walked 175,000 miles in his lifetime, both alone and with his sister, Dorothy.  He had many of his best thoughts while walking - ‘I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud’, his most famous poem, was inspired by a walk in the Lake District in 1802 and to this day his walks can be followed in the Lake District.  In fact, Wordsworth’s ‘Guide through the District of the Lakes’ which was published in 1820 sparked off the first beginnings of mass tourism to the area.

Do you have a favourite poem about the great outdoors?  Do you have a favourite place to walk?  Whether its near or far, short or long, we hope this might inspire you to get walking this weekend.  Need some new gear?  Check out the Simply Hike range online now, and find many items at reduced prices.