Things to do outside alone

Walks with a purpose

A walk with a destination is a different thing from a walk. It doesn't matter how small the destination is.

1. Walk to the edge of town Set out and keep going until the buildings thin out, or until you're two and a half kilometers from your front door in a straight line, whichever comes first.
2. As far as the mailbox, then one more Walk to the nearest mailbox, then to the next one you know of. It's an easy kilometer with a shape to it.
3. A loop that comes out where it started Plan a circuit of five kilometers or so that you've never closed before. Loops feel shorter than out-and-backs.
4. Carry something Take a full bag or a stack of books and walk a kilometer with it. The walk changes character completely.
5. Three kilometers under trees Find the route between two points that keeps you under branches as much as possible.
6. Uphill, three times Choose three points that are each higher than where you started, and visit them in turn.

Games you play with your eyes

You can't do these with company, or at least not well. They need the kind of attention that conversation eats.

1. The pattern with a fault Find a repeating pattern, tiles, bricks, railings, and locate the one place where it breaks.
2. Two eras on one wall Look for a facade where two building periods meet: old brick against fresh stucco, a modern window in a Victorian frame.
3. Something mended with the wrong thing A fence fixed with a bedframe, a gutter patched with tape. Once you start seeing them, they're everywhere.
4. A row where one thing differs Parked bikes, bollards, windows, chimneys. Find the odd one out and photograph it.
5. Six legs or more Find and photograph an insect or a spider. Takes about four minutes in summer and forty in March.
6. The sign that's half gone Look for lettering so worn that you have to guess the word.

Things to do sitting down

Being outside alone doesn't have to mean moving. A bench is a fine place to spend twenty minutes if you give the twenty minutes a job.

1. Count what passes Pick an intersection and tally bikes, dogs, strollers and delivery vans for ten minutes. You'll learn something about the street.
2. Draw the thing opposite One page, one pen, whatever is in front of you. The result doesn't matter; the looking does.
3. Read a chapter outside Bring a book, find a bench in the sun or under a roof, and read until the chapter ends, not until you feel like stopping.
4. Watch one cloud until it's gone Choose a cloud and follow it until it dissolves or leaves your view.

A solo half-day, step by step

If you have a free morning or afternoon and want it filled without thinking too hard, here is a plan. Adjust the distances to your legs.

Start by walking a kilometer before you eat or drink anything, then have breakfast or coffee somewhere you've never sat before. From there, head for the nearest water and follow it in one direction for as long as feels right, two kilometers or so. Turn inland and find the highest public point you can see. Sit there for ten minutes and do one of the sitting-down ideas above. Then come home a different way from how you went out, and bring back one small thing you didn't set out with.

That's roughly six kilometers and three hours, and it contains a walk, a meal, a view, a rest and a souvenir. Most days out with other people don't manage all five.

Going alone, sensibly

Solo doesn't mean secretive. If you're heading somewhere new, tell someone roughly where, and take a charged phone. Stick to daylight and to paths that are meant to be walked. The ideas on this page are chosen to work in ordinary streets, parks and paths; they don't need you to go anywhere you'd hesitate to be on your own.

Company that isn't a person

A lot of people who like being outside alone still want someone to set the task. That's the gap RLQuest fills. Each morning it picks three to ten quests for you from a library of more than 2,700, fitted to your age, interests, the weather and the time you've said you have. A walking quest runs with your phone in your pocket. Photo quests are checked by looking at the photo, distance quests against the recorded route, and every walk uncovers new tiles on a hexagon map of where you've been. Every quest carries an age limit, a risk level and a night permission.

It's free to download for iPhone and Android, with a Premium subscription that adds more quests per day. The ideas above stand on their own; the app is for the mornings when you don't want to choose.