The closing date has passed in our End of 2025 quiz – a fiendish one based almost entirely on topics raised during the year’s Walking Writers Salons. So who might be the Clever Clogs the highest number of correct answers? Appropriately we have a pair: Sandra Cowan and Rachel Sloan – who each will receive either of New Door’s two WalkAbout Books, Ways of Walking (by Ann de Forest) and The Blue Door (by Janice Deal) kindly donated by Doug Gordon. 

Here’s the gen about the quiz, and should you want to undertake the quiz yourself the questions appear below with the answers discreetly supplied right at the bottom of this page.

---

Where does this expression Clever Clogs come from? Describing someone as being smart or more knowledgeable than us mere mortals, and sometime used as an alternative to ‘smug’. Shakespeare again? Apparently not, its derivation is harder to establish but is thought to be mid-Victorian from the 1860s. “Cleverclogs” was apparently the name of a racing greyhound, and we Londoners might imagine that it’s Cockney rhyming slang for dogs.

We will leave you to decide. We are using it to draw your attention to our end of year quiz – we cannot say this is an annual event as we didn’t run it last year, perhaps we can call it bi-yearly – similar to the Word Championships in Athletics, if that is your ‘bent’. We are not asking you to clasp a pole to clear any high bars, or jump into a pit of sand, but there are few hurdles that you need to leap.

We have a strong North American flavour to several of the questions, as we sourced them from guests of our Walking Writers Salons. If you have dropped into any of our Salons this year, you will know that we often have a fiendish multiple-choice quiz to close the events. It is one of the few ways in which we can gain commitment from a book publisher to contribute to the promotion of one of their authors.

So this is a quiz is made up of several multiple choice questions.

The good news is that Doug Gordon of New Door Books has offered up a prize of a copy of Ann de Forest‘s Ways of Walking, and we can add some runner-up prizes of copies of our latest edition WALKING, the anthology of new poetry and flash fiction that includes work shortlisted in our (annual) Write About Walking writing competition.

AND THE QUESTIONS WERE:

In May we went ‘wayfaring with a wandering woman’ aka Phoebe Smith celebrating her book Wayfarer about love, loss and life on Britain’s Ancient Paths
1. What runs from Radcot to Runnymede?

A. the Magna Carta way

B. the Thames Pilgrim Way

C. the Bunyan Trail

D. St. Barnabas Way

We set off with Alan Cleaver in March to find the routes of the last rural postal deliveries on foot.  We were celebrating the publication of his book The Postal Paths: Rediscovering Britain’s Forgotten Trails and the People Who Walked Them
2. Flash is?

A. slang for letters returned to sender when the addressee is unknown

B. trousers post women wear

C. the highest village in England

D. William Wordsworth’s cottage was named in Ambleside when he was postmaster and distributor of stamps.

Krista Carson was a Walking Writers Salon guest in August inviting us to ‘walk creatively through storytelling’ and she has come up with some pretty tough questions – here’s one

3. Which contemporary walking writer crawled on hands and knees through a thicket to avoid social contact with a group of golfers?

A. Emma Geen

B.Phoebe Smith

C. Chantal Lyons

D. Katherine May

Janice Deal, author of The Blue Door,was a Walking America Salon guest in April, is a whiz at quizzes – she has come up with a handful of fiendish questions – try this one:

4. Walking can boost creativity by up to what percentage?

A. 15%

B. 33%

C. 45%

D. 60%

Krista Carson was a Walking Writers Salon guest in August inviting us to ‘walk creatively through storytelling’and she has come up with some pretty tough questions – here’s one

5. In Olivia Laing’s To the River, which ailment is she afflicted by during part of her journey along the Ouse?

A. an incessant cough

B. a migraine aura

C. a rash behind knees

D. horses fly bites

We welcomed Ali Pretty, walking artist, community activist and founding artistic director of the 2025 Beach of Dreams coastal art festival
Ali hosted a cafe event on the theme of “When craft becomes art”. Taiwan Thousand Mile Trail Association Secretary Shinlee Hung and internationally-acclaimed sculptor and land artist Julie Brook discussed how their approaches to craft and art overlap.
6. This was the first of two cafe events we ran with Ali Pretty – what was the theme of the second cafe event?

A. Banner art in community engagement

B. Threads for Tomorrow

C. Recycling Textiles

D. The English Coast Path

Ann de Forest is the host of our Walking America Salons, conversations between two authors from North America.  In addition Ann has edited Ways of Walking(New Door Books, 2022) anthology and been our editor for an edition of our WALKING chapbooks. We asked he to conjure up some American-focussed questions for our quiz – try this one:
7. What U.S state requires a Selectman (a town officials) to perform a Perambulation every 7 years?

A. Vermont

B. Wisconsin

C. New Hampshire

D. Delaware

In February, we held an online event to open a call for Walking Home / Walking in Transition the theme set for the next International Walking Arts Encounters in Prespa (WAC 25). 

8. Who are the key curators of these encounters?

A. Geert Vermeire and Yannis Ziogas

B. Yannis Ziogas and Aspasia Voudouri

C. Geert Vermeire and Anastasia Polychronidou

D. Yannis Ziogas and Anastasia Polychronidou

Musician and Sound Artist Jenny Sturgeon spent 37 days walking the 864 km unofficial Scottish National Trail from Kirk Yetholm in the Borders to Cape Wrath in the North West Highlands, and produced an album called paths.made.walking.
9. Apart from making ambient recordings along her route, what other media did she use to document her adventure?

A. Jenny took one photo at the same time each day

B. Jenny wrote a postcard and sent it to her home address

C. Jenny recorded a voice memo every hour

D. Jenny geolocated a sketch of her surroundings using What3Words

Historian Professor Corinne Fowler was our January Salon, talking with Richard White about her newly published investigation into “Our Island Stories: Country Walks through Colonial Britain. 

10. “Maroons” are what?

A. Escaped slaves in Jamaica’s mountains

B. Recaptured slaves in Virginia

C. Slaves traded between the Dutch and the British.

D. Containers holding 5 firkins of whisky

In January 2025, writer-in-residence Chantal Lyons whose book “Groundbreakers” had been shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize invited two other shortlisters, Polly Atkin and Sophie Yeo 

11. to discuss what?

A. the act of writing wild and wild-ish places into being

B. the act of writing about walking in the dark

C. imagining being a predator

D. imagining being prey

Historian Professor Corinne Fowler was our January Salon, talking with Richard White about her newly published investigation into “Our Island Stories: Country Walks through Colonial Britain. 
12. So what products associated with Darwin in Lancashire was said to be so fine as to be made by fairies or butterflies?

A. calico

B. silk

C. muslin

D. satin

In April, Ann de Forest hosted another in her series on Walking America Salons, this time with two novelists. There are two basic plots in literature, the late John Gardner once suggested – somebody goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town. In two new novels, authors Sharon White and Janice Deal subvert that formula; the recently arrived stranger ends up journeying – on foot – in the place she doesn’t quite yet belong. Janice is a force in quizzes so we asked her to dream up a few questions for this year’s quiz.
13. Most people will walk enough in their lifetimes to circle the Earth roughly how many times?

A. Partway

B. Twice

C. Three times

D. Five times

Krista Carson was a Walking Writers Salon guest in August inviting us to ‘walk creatively through storytelling’and she has come up with some pretty tough questions – here’s one

14. In Sonia Overall’s Heavy Time: A Psychogeographer’s Pilgrimage, she begins a ritual of choosing a daily relic to carry with her. What is the first item she chooses?

A. a pebble from the beach at Margate

B. a bone washed up on the River Thames foreshore

C. a magpie feather

D. a crucifix she found discarded in a roadside lay-by

Ann de Forest is the host of our Walking America Salons, conversations between two authors from North America.  In addition Ann has edited Ways of Walking(New Door Books, 2022) anthology and been our editor for an edition of our WALKING chapbooks. We asked he to conjure up some American-focussed questions for our quiz – try this one:
15. What American pro sports team is named after a mode of urban walking?

A. The Green Bay Packers

B. The L.A.Dodgers

C. Boston Red Sox

D. Chicago Bulls

Janice Deal, author of The Blue Door,was a Walking America Salon guest in April, is a whiz at quizzes – she has come up with a handful of fiendish questions – try this one:
16. To burn off three slices of pizza, an average person would have to walk for?

A. 1 hour

B. 1 hour and 20 minutes

C. 2 hours and 15 minutes

D. 3 hours

We set off with Alan Cleaver in March to find the routes of the last rural postal deliveries on foot.  We were celebrating the publication of his book The Postal Paths: Rediscovering Britain’s Forgotten Trails and the People Who Walked Them
17. Gongoozlers are?

A. The trousers post women wear

B. Canal Towpath walkers

C. Uniform shorts for post men

D. Letters that need to be signed for by the recipient

Krista Carson was a Walking Writers Salon guest in August inviting us to ‘walk creatively through storytelling’and she has come up with some pretty tough questions – here’s one
18. In Annabel Streets’ 52 Ways to Walk, she extols the benefits of walking in what kind of forest?

A. Tropical

B. Deciduous

C. Pine tree plantation

D. Evergreen

Janice Deal, author of The Blue Door,was a Walking America Salon guest in April, is a whiz at quizzes – she has come up with a handful of fiendish questions – try this one:
19. What do cats and walking have in common?

A. The frequency of a cat’s purr, and walking, can both strengthen bone

B. Both are considered national pastimes in Japan.

C. The qualities of a high-quality hiking boot mimic the way a cat’s paw is constructed

D. The number of hours an active walker needs to sleep is roughly equal to the average number of hours a cat naps/day.

He Yunchang is a performance artist from China, that Lori Waxman mentioned in her discussion with Babak Fakhamzadeh in our Walking Writers Salon in February.

20. What walking performance was she referring to?

A. His walk around Ireland with a fridge

B. His walk along the Great Wall of China carrying a goldfish in a bowl

C. His walk around Britain with a rock

D. His 1,000 walks to his local post office with a parcel of dried flowers

Janice Deal author of The Blue Door,was a Walking America Salon guest in April, is a whiz at quizzes – she has come up with a handful of fiendish questions – try this one:
21. What percentage of the world’s population suffers from somnambulism (sleepwalking)?

A. 5%

B. 18%

C. 25%

D. 33%

Ann de Forest is the host of our Walking America Salons, conversations between two authors from North America.  In addition Ann has edited Ways of Walking(New Door Books, 2022) anthology and been our editor for an edition of our WALKING chapbooks. We asked he to conjure up some American-focussed questions for our quiz – try this one:

22. Who walked across Gehenna on a precarious path?

A. Philip Petit on a tightrope

B. Bruce Chatwin in the Patagonian Desert

C. Bill Bryson as part of his Appalachian Trail walk

D. Marcel Marceau on stilts

Krista Carson was a Walking Writers Salon guest in August inviting us to ‘walk creatively through storytelling’and she has come up with some pretty tough questions – here’s one
23. Who wrote of her experience of walking inside a cloud?

A. Kerri Andrews

B. Nan Shepherd

C. Dorothy Wordsworth

D. Virginia Woolf

Janice Deal, author of The Blue Door,was a Walking America Salon guest in April, is a whiz at quizzes – she has come up with a handful of fiendish questions – try this one:
24. Which animals can walk almost as soon as they are born?

A. Giraffes

B. Guinea Pigs

C. Marine Iguanas

D. All of the above

Janice Deal, author of The Blue Door,was a Walking America Salon guest in April, is a whiz at quizzes – she has come up with a handful of fiendish questions – try this one:
25. The word “walk” comes from an Old English word meaning:

A. to proceed

B. to roll

C. to soldier on

D. to evolve

Early in the year, Clara Gari from Nau Côclea our Catalonian partner in the part-funded EU Walking Arts and Local Communities project hosted a Confluence on documenting walking art with Ernesto Pujol.  It was a controversial event, and subsequently a further invitation-only event took place in Spanish.  

26. However, Ernesto returned as a guest later in the year, to talk about what else?

A. Life as a Cuban American in Trump’s America

B. Walking through cemeteries

C. Performance art in the 21st century

D. Walking a dog

Janice Deal, author of The Blue Door,was a Walking America Salon guest in April, is a whiz at quizzes – she has come up with a handful of fiendish questions – try this one:
27. What French word means, “to wander with no particular destination in mind”?

A. retrouvailles

B. yaourter

C. flâneur

D. cartonner

Radhika Subramaniam invited us to tread lightly on our world in November, discussing her book:  Footprint: Four Itineraries . She told us about “pundits’: “Pundits” are people who speak with authority in a particular subject. For example, professors or teachers, but in terms of footprints the word has a different meaning.

28. What could it be?

A. A dense, sweet snack made from dried figs

B. an Indian surveyor

C. a measure of the width of the shoe’s sole

D. treats carried by local hikers in the Himalayas to offer to wild dogs

Towards the end of the year, we went walking with an apex predator, as Adam Weymouth discussed his latest book Lone Wolf: Walking the Faultlines of Europe
29. Choreographer Wayne McGregor and composer Michael Richter created a ballet called what?

A. Wolf Walks

B. In the Company of Wolves

C. Woolf Works

D. Walking with Wolfie

AND THE ANSWERS ARE:

1. A 2. C 3. D 4. D 5. B 6. B 7. C 8. A 9. B 10. A 11. A 12. A 13. C 14. C 15. B 16. B 17. B 18. D 19. A 20. C 21. B 22. A 23. B 24. D 25. B 26. D 27. C 28. B 29. C