Creative Walking: Repetition, Rhythm, and Respite in Pandemic Times

This chapter explores the creative walking experiences of people in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown restrictions, with a focus on repetition and rhythm. Drawing on data from Walking Publics/Walking Arts: Walking, Wellbeing and Community, an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded research project, it explores how creative engagement could go some way to mitigating feelings of boredom, isolation and fear many people experienced during lockdown, providing respite to many. The article follows this thematic thread through data from the project's public survey, as well as two case studies from artists’ walking practices: Gill Russell and Alison Lloyd. Tracing the connections between contexts of extreme global events and the ruptures that they bring to everyday life (including walking) with the coping mechanisms that people employ to find solace, respite, and leisure can help us to understand the vital role that activities such as creative walking played during and recovering from a pandemic.