a new book challenges readers to get outdoors and explore Vancouver on foot

Much has been made about Vancouver’s natural surroundings, but it can also be a very walkable city. And what better way to get to know the city than on foot? That is the thinking behind the book A Perfect Day for a Walk: The History, Cultures, and Communities of Vancouver, on Foot.

“We can experience these things cheaply, simply, easily, minimizing our carbon footprint. It’s all here on offer, if we’re open to it,” said author Bill Arnott.

A Perfect Day for a Walk details a series of strolls through Kitsilano, Granville Island, False Creek, the West End, Coal Harbour, Yaletown, Gastown, Chinatown, and the Downtown Eastside.

“My wife and I live more or less on the west side, in Kitsilano, so I really wanted to, if I could, stay on brand and ensure that I was walking to all these destinations,” he said.

“So, I did tie in some historical links, traditionally, from a settler perspective, what folks would consider the quote-unquote birthplace of a modern-day Vancouver, what was Gastown, what was Granville for a while, more or less west of our current Main Street, more or less north of West 16th Avenue, and then I kept things south of Burrard Inlet. So, it’s very much in that sort of crescent shape around the water.”

A Perfect Day for a Walk is a travelogue through various neighbourhoods but also reads like a guidebook.

“Some folks have been treating this as a bit of a loosely based guidebook, others just enjoy it as an armchair escape,” he said.

While Arnott leads the tour, he also enlists the help of various experts. For instance, radio and TV personality Terry David Mulligan talks about Kitsilano and West 4th during the hippie era, while novelist and former Vancouver poet laureate Evelyn Lau comes along for a stroll through Yaletown. Visual artist, writer, and heritage advocate Michael Kluckner and civic historian John Atkin are also consulted.

“And I thought, what a neat opportunity to visit with people that I’ve admired, artistically, creatively, who have had influences on me,” Arnott said.

Arnott combines their expertise along with his own wit and personal anecdotes, like the time he talked a man out of jumping from the Cambie Street Bridge. Arnott was out for a jog during the pandemic when he discovered a person who was clearly in distress.

“Very few of us are equipped to deal with such a situation. So, I did what any of us would do and just basically listened to this poor individual,” he said.

“He was having a challenge that we can all experience at times, that sense of despair and loneliness. And perhaps just having another ear there, someone who genuinely cared, that seemed to make a difference. And that ended, I felt, in a very positive manner, and I do hope that individual remains alright to this day.”

He hopes A Perfect Day for a Walk inspires readers to get out and explore.

“We can have a great expedition, a micro excursion, where we live, where we work, where we commute. There’s so much to see and experience right here, the unique flora, fauna, art installations, culture, and layers and layers of history underfoot,” he said.

Arnott feels some people need permission or licence to simply wander around, which his book provides.

“I think for many of us, it’s just easier to watch something streaming on a device than lacing up shoes and going out the front door. And not every day is going to be perhaps the ideal weather. And that was also my way of saying, you know what? Irrespective of the climate, the conditions, rain, snow, as we experience here, windstorms, it’s always a perfect day for a walk.”

A Perfect Day for a Walk: The History, Cultures, and Communities of Vancouver, on Foot, is published by Arsenal Pulp Press.