Walking for health in Gladstone Park
Walking for health.
There is no question about it, walking is good for you. It's good for your heart, your lungs, and for both muscle and bone growth, particularly in children. Walking is free and is without doubt one of the easiest forms of exercise in which to participate, it requires no special equipment or training and almost everyone is capable of walking, it is a safe, low-impact form of exercise, with a low risk of injuries and accidents. You don't need to concentrate on the walking itself, leaving you free to enjoy your surroundings, chat to companions or just relax
Walking is a form of exercise that can be as gentle or vigorous as you wish to make it. The intensity of walking for fitness varies with the age, fitness and health of the individual, but as a rule "brisk is best". An easy way to work out how briskly you should walk is the "talk test"; you should just be able to hold a conversation with a companion whilst walking. A brisk one-mile walk in 20 minutes burns up around 100 calories, you would need to swim for 10 minutes, play football for 12 minutes or do aerobics for 16 minutes to achieve the same result!
Walking to regain health after an illness.
Many Doctors are recommending gentle walking for people suffering from a range of medical conditions, if you have been ill or are recovering from surgery always ask your Doctors advice before embarking on any form of exercise as it is important not to increase the heart rate too suddenly.
What better place to walk in than the 97 acres of parkland that makes up Gladstone Park added to which is the 27 acres of the William Gladstone open space situated in the east of the park, just north of the railway. This gives a total of 124 acres of countryside, an uninterrupted 2½-mile, traffic free perimeter walk and it's on the doorstep of thousands of Brent residents!
Brent Council organise free "health walks" in Gladstone Park. For an up to date list of times and locations of scheduled walks visit the Brent Council Website on www.brent.gov.uk/sports and follow the link "Health Walks" or phone 020 8937 3722 for full details.
According to medical evidence, walking for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week can help protect against such illnesses as:
| Walking can also provide all of these benefits:
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A walkers guide to Gladstone Park. This guide has been produced and published by the GPCC primarily for walkers, who use the amenities of Gladstone Park for exercise, it will enable you to calculate the distance you have walked using the pathways highlighted in either blue or green and to select circuits within the park suitable for your own level of fitness and health. All of the footpaths shown in blue are gravelled and are therefore passable in most weather conditions. There are three paths indicated in green that are grass trails and may be muddy in wet weather, they are the routes M-D and M-G; situated north and south of the railway line and E-F alongside the allotments in the William Gladstone open space. |
To download a FREE printable version of this map, go to the bottom of the page and click on the icon - Walking map.pd |
The red spots on the map, A, B, C etc, are individual "milestones" to allow you to choose a route on selected pathways and know the actual extent of your walk by adding up the individual distances. If for instance you start at any point on the route A,B,C,D,G,K,L,M,P,Q and complete the circuit you will have walked a distance of 1.77 (1¾) miles or 2.85 kilometres. If you include the pathways D-E-F-D situated in the William Gladstone open space you will have travelled around the full perimeter of the park, which is a distance of 2.4 miles (just under 2½ miles) or 3.8 kilometres. The footbridge over the railway line at point "M" has a total of 81 steps to navigate and may be quite strenuous if you are not fit, this should be taken into consideration when planning a route. Any approach to point "A" along the routes Q-A, M-S-A, T-B-A and C-B-A are fairly steep and can also be physically demanding, once again depending on your fitness and health. If you wish to avoid these steep paths choose a route beginning and ending at the car park via "Q-R-S and T" (depending on the distance you are able to do) then returning through "M & P" and back up to "Q". In both the south of the park and the William Gladstone open space none of the routes have any inclines of any significance. You will need to tailor your route to suit your personal requirements depending on the time you have and your health and fitness levels. If you are unsure as to the extent you should exercise be sure to consult your Doctor before you undertake any but the easiest of the walks described on this web page. Before setting out on any route within the park make sure your clothes and footwear are comfortable and suitable for the prevailing weather conditions, it is also advisable to take a small bottle of drinking water with you. | |
You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your machine to read the attached PDF. If you do not have it click here to download a copy.
Due to the file size of the map (58MB) and dependant on the speed of your Internet connection it may take a few minutes to download a copy for printing.
