Walk-man

Walking day in day out, with a pack on your back, hurts. Your feet ache, your back and shoulder muscles get tight, the Scotsman gets angry, your Achilles plays up, and on and on the list goes. For this we carry a well supplied medical kit with plenty of painkillers. We have paracetamol, ibuprofen, Tylenol PM, Valium and, this being blue state USA, eddibles and oils.  But nothing works to take the pain away quite like music. At the end of a day, with 20 miles in your legs and one more hill to climb, the best relief is to put tunes on and just walk, man. Like meds, not all music works the same. Your top 5 all time deserted island songs will not be the same as your top 5 all time songs to get through a breakup. The same rules apply on the PCT. And so, after some Huxley-like research, I have put together my top 5 genres of music for hiking the PCT: The science  This is not about great music or shit music (as you will see from my list). Some of the best all time will miss the cut, as you will see, because it doesn't fit  these rules:  Hiking music needs three key elements: Some music has that ability to slow down time and take you away, music like the Pumpkins' Melancholy and Infinite Sadness (with zero the exception). No good. Music to hike by needs to speed up time, make 6 minutes feel like 3, turn a mile into a kilometer.   Hiking music needs to be up beat, to make you feel strong. REM's Everybody Hurts, incredible song, terrible panacea for tired feet.  Finally, to hike the PCT, music needs to tell you a story, bring back memories or just be great to sing along to. 5. House It's counterintuitive that I would recommend listening to house music INSTEAD of taking a pill, but here we are, House Music (of the funky and hard variety) at number 5. This is the music I grew up on. I began my twenties in dance music's halcyon days, the very early naughties, at its epicenter of London, and what a time to be a white guy without rhythm! House music let those of us who couldn't dance just jump up and down or, like me, run on the spot to the beat. And, back then I ran plenty of 'Brixton marathons' between the hours of midnight and 6am.  To be honest, I initially thought house would top this list, but, while it makes you feel strong, it's a bit weak in speeding up time and, well, no one ever sang along to house music...around the world, around the world, around the world, around the world... you get my meaning. 4. Crappy Pop On the PCT no one can hear you sing. There's no point in crossing your arms and pretending you're too alternative to listen to Pink or Brittany. No one believed you in the pub, no one cares out here. It's upbeat, you know the lyrics (if despite yourself) and they're cheery tunes. Oops I did it again, I played with your heart, My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.... Just keep it in moderation. One crappy pop somg per playlist. 3. 90s alt rock I went to a ninties party a few years back. It was at the house of some young lawyers, who were barely born in the ninties, and thought it fun to dress in happy pants and fluro shirts and dance to Criss Cross and Miley Cyrus' dad. First, we wore hypercolour and second, did you forget about Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Spiderbait etc etc etc? 90s rock has it all, great lyrics to sing to or just listen to, it's strong and up beat, and it's the last decade to produce rock bands the old way...in a garage, and not on TV. If 90s rock sn't quite your thing, then 70s rock is a good substitute. 2. Daylight 1. Hip Hop I've listened to hip hop, some, and I've had a couple of awesome hip hop teachers over the years. Jess, when we lived together, would play it while we drank wine, smoked and schemed to sell coal mines to the Russians. Sylvester, the 3am version, taught us all the difference between east and west coast. But, despite this education, I wasn't expected hip hop to top, or even feature, in this list.  The lyrics are teaming with life, history and story, the chorus is always something to sing to and the beat makes you feel strong, walk big, and just go. Hands up fo hip hop. Special Mention - Don't Fight It My single most important rule of travel, and life, is this: if you ever arrive at a point where all seems hopeless, before you 'break the glass' and punch the alarm, make straight for a cafe and have yourself a short black with a shot of conac. After that your problems will seem smaller, solvable. And it works. On the Camino, Finchie and I walked into a small town, broken and disconsolate, and skipped out, arms over shoulders, singing a made up heavy metal song about La Meseta. It was, of course, the cafe con conac we'd had (provided gratis on account of our crestfallen appearance). Unfortunately, the PCT does not come with regular trail side cafes (and the US is not the place to drink, or dare to order, short blacks).To resolve this, I have again turned to music. My MP3 has, under the playlist 'cafe con conac', Dont Fight It, by Perth's own the Panics. It's my go to.