T-Time: Volksmarching

Wednesday 1/9/2013

Walkabout Camp & RV Park

Woodbine, GA

(NOTE:  DUE TO A RECENT LAPTOP MALFUNCTION, WE’RE SLIGHTLY BEHIND ON OUR BLOG.  CHECK BACK OFTEN WHILE WE GET CAUGHT UP.)

Have you ever heard of Volksmarching? Mike and I never heard of it until Susan from Travel Bug blogged about it. And we’re glad she did! After reading about a couple interesting walks she completed in San Antonio, it piqued my curiosity to learn more. So I googled it, found the official website for The American Volkssport Association, and proceeded to read about it. Quoting in part from the website:

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Volkssporting started in Germany and simply defined, is a personal fitness sports and recreation program offering noncompetitive walks, hikes, bike rides, swims, and in some regions cross-country skiing.  Walking – also called volksmarching – is the most popular of all the volkssporting activities.  Each volkssport walking event has a pre-marked  trail and/or measured distance normally 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) or 5 kilometers (3.1 miles), that allows participants to exercise at their own pace.  Participation is open to the general public.  No need to be an athlete.

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Some walks, designated as “Traditional Events” are scheduled on particular dates, and other walks, designated as “YRE” (year-round events) and “SE” (seasonal events) are established routes that can be walked throughout the year or seasonally at your convenience. The more I explored the website, the more excited I became over the realm of opportunities these walks could offer us in our travels. What a great way to tour a location while reaping the rewards of some good healthy exercise at the same time! The fact that someone familiar with the area has already pre-planned the route is an added bonus for us. I proceeded to click on the “Events” tab to see if there were any year-round or seasonal events available near our next destination of Woodbine, GA and happily discovered a year-round walk available in St. Mary’s just a short distance away. From what I could gather, it appeared that there is no fee unless you’re enrolled in an incentive awards program in which you keep records of distances walked and events completed. (Susan or anyone else in-the-know please correct me if I’m wrong.)

Today promised to be a warm day near 70 degrees – a perfect day for a walk – so we jumped in the car and drove to The St. Mary’s Convention & Visitors Bureau, the starting point of our first Volksmarch. The friendly lady inside asked us if we wanted the route for the 10K or 5K walk (5K please ), cheerfully handed it to us (no fee charged), and off we went.

Our 5K walk took us past historical sites and markers,

          

  

   

through some residential areas,

   

a cemetery,

   

   

a park,

   

and past the St. Mary’s River.

   

I can never pass one of these by without enjoying a little swing.

We walked by this unique looking tree

and back through downtown St. Mary’s

to the Visitors Bureau.

What fun this walk turned out to be! Novice long-distance walkers that we are, I admit that we were weary once we’d completed the 5K. However I’m happy to report that we were able to walk – not crawl – back to the car and didn’t even suffer any ill effects the next day. Hopefully, we’ll eventually be able to work our way up to a 10K. 

Thanks, Susan, for opening our eyes to this new found interest of Volksmarching! I should point out, by the way, that in her blog entry which inspired me to explore this activity, Susan reported that she completed TWO 10K’s in ONE Day! Way to go Susan!