Last week, John and Julie asked us to take them on a walk. We had met John and Julie for the first time shortly after our arrival in Menton, nearly seven years ago. They were already familiar with our little corner of the world back then, but freely admit that they still have relatively little experience hiking the back country.
They are eager, however, to find out more about that “other” side of the Riviera, as they assured us last week, and had always enjoyed a good walk.
Requests such as theirs we have had a few over the years. Generally, we agree politely that this is a wonderful idea and then try to make sure that the topic never comes up again.
Not because we do not like to hike in company or even in larger groups – we do, we do …
… but mainly because we shy away from exposing the inner workings of our hiking-and-life-partnership to our friends.
Mrs Easy Hiker and I, for example, constantly bicker about which route to take on ambiguously marked forks and then blame each other when we lose our way – and we do not want our friends to think that we are a dysfunctional couple.
Okay: perhaps we are, but then we have been one for 35 years. This is the true reason why we rarely arrange walks for any group which is larger than the two of us.
John and Julie’s request, however, was more difficult to turn down than most. We have known them for a long time, and they count among the best friends we have in the area.
So we said yes. Which made me think for the first time in a long time of how to design such a walk.
Here are my thoughts on this.
Tips to Make Your Hiking Group Happy
Listen to what your friends say
People always say that they like walking. Before carefully adding some sort of qualification: they like hiking “up to a point”, they often say – to discourage you, just in case you were mistaking them for experienced Alpinists, from taking them up Nanga Parbat on the particularly tricky north-western route.
If somebody says (or even silently implies) that he or she likes hiking “up to a point”, it is for you to discern where that point actually lies. Sometimes you have to listen very, very closely to accomplish this, but sometimes less so.
John was very frank about his personal red lines: he made it clear that he would only walk in the flat and that any trail with an uphill section was therefore out.
This did not exactly make it easier to find the right walk for our little group: most hikes in our area, after all, not only involve hills, they are their very point …
… but out they all went, right from the start. Because there is no point in insisting.
Imagine you have friends from India or Mexico, and you are asking them to recommend a dish in a native restaurant that was not too hot: how grateful would you be if they picked one that made smoke coming out of your ears after the very first bite?
Pick something you know …
This should go without saying. Your friends are putting – well, not exactly their lives, but their hopes for a happy day-out-experience into your hands. The least they should be entitled to expect is responsible leadership.
… but also introduce a fresh element
Just to demonstrate that you are not ferrying them along as an act of charity, but because you, too, expect to enjoy this.
Work in some variation, some loop that you have not taken when you first did that hike and inform them about all of this at an early stage of your hike.
That will make them feel reassured (that they are safe in your hands because you know where you are going) and still allow all of you to bond over the unexpected.
Nothing bonds as a common voyage into the unknown. (Which is, of course, also the secret of all successful marriages. But that is a topic for another post.)
Give them a shortlist and make them pick
Fairly early on in the process of picking the right walk, it became clear that John and Julie had set their minds on Ospedaletti, for some reason.
Actually, I know what that reason was: we had told them about an excellent restaurant in town that we could visit before or after the hike. (The restaurant is called Byblos and is really good, particularly the antipasto seafood platter for two. The setting is quite splendid, too. And no: we do not get a cut.)
From here, the idea was to walk to Sanremo on the old railway route that has been converted into a cycling / hiking path.
Be straightforward in telling them what to expect
This walk is 5 km long, which seemed about right, but there was only one problem: for a little over 1 km – roughly one quarter of its entire length – the route leads through an old railway tunnel.
That could be a problem under any conditions, but it is compounded by the fact that the walls and the ceiling of the tunnel are – to break up the monotony, presumably – decked out with cycling memorabilia.
John and Julie, however, are not great cycling fans. John, when pressed on this, could only name one professional cyclist that he knew: Lance Armstrong.
I wish to God he had said Louis Armstrong, but he did not, and I am not going to say he did. Here is another piece of unrelated advice: Never ruin a friendship for the cause of a joke.
Be flexible
So we have a schedule, a route, we may even be carrying bulky backpacks with drinking water and supplies: but this is where the analogies to a military campaign stop.
Above all: a group walk should have no sergeant major, someone with the self-given authority to shout out instructions and bully around everybody.
My idea was to cross Sanremo on the coastal path, past the Genovese fortress and old harbour in the direction of the Alfred Nobel villa (which we had never visited because it was closed when we first went there), but as soon as we entered Sanremo, the wives – who were walking about 50 metres ahead of John and myself – veered off to take pictures of the Russian Church …
… and when we caught up with them, they had already decided that it was time for a cup of coffee.
Once women have made of their minds like that, all resistance is futile. To come back to the metaphor of the military campaign: all that was left was to concede defeat.
Be modest in your ambitions
Initially, I had been a bit sceptical: this is not the greatest walk one can pick on the Riviera coast, but it turned out nearly perfect.
Above all because its supposed weakness is also its strength: being pleasant and sweet rather than spectacular …
… it provides the perfect background for a relaxed afternoon among friends, much like a bland, guaranteed-to-displease-nobody wine is the ideal complement for a large family meal.
On top of that, Sanremo is a lively and bubbling destination: something to look forward to, while Ospedaletti is pretty and charming, …
… setting the right tone from the start.
Both of these are important features to make your hiking group happy and for a successful outing, .
Pretty and lively, after all, are widely shared concepts, while opinions diverge about what constitutes a beautiful landscape – and even more so about the level of pain one should be able to endure for experiencing such beauty.
Walks with a great deal of historical interest also pose a problem if you want to make your hiking group happy: always ask yourself “of interest to whom?” Never forget that not everybody will share your fascination with Minor Skirmishes of Some Half-Forgotten Border War (or with professional cycling).
And even if you have detected a spark of interest: you will not want to spend the entire day explaining. Or lecturing, as this is also known.
You see, organizing a successful outing for friends is not difficult at all. All you need is common sense and some consideration for the needs and wishes of the people around you to make your hiking group happy.
Throw in some sunshine, blue skies and splendid views over the Mediterranean, and you are off to a winner.
