I used to carry around a pedometre when I did my urban hikes on the Douglas-fir trail in Calgary. It would tell me (approximately) how many steps I had taken and the distance covered, in either miles or kilometres. These days it’s all about the technology and the old-fashioned pedometre has been usurped by Fitbits.

This technology, out of San Francisco, offers a myriad of devices that help track your activity.

https://www.fitbit.com/ca

But who needs another digital gadget on their persons fielding wireless signals when you can keep track by other means. Here are some interesting tidbits to keep in mind as you actively tour your destination on foot:

• It takes about 8 seconds to cross a conventionally sized road walking at a moderate pace. If you are on the big boulevards of Buenos Aires or Paris, make that an average of 17 seconds. And if you are darting in and out of traffic on the busy streets of Cairo or Bangkok, you will probably end up running across in spurts. Consider it ‘interval training’.
• It take 20-25 minutes to walk 2 kilometres at a moderate pace.
• And what exactly is a ‘moderate pace’? Often known as ‘brisk walking’, it can vary depending on your fitness level, age and leg length. Ideally, you should aim to elevate your resting heart rate and increase your breathing to the point where you are able to utter a few short phrases but not carry out an extended monologue.
• And you can always get more steps by taking the stairs instead of the elevator.