← Guides 30 October 2026 · Aloud

How to turn your daily walk into reading time

A daily walk is one of the easiest places to find reading time. Your eyes are on the path, but your mind is mostly free, and a book gives the walk a reason to happen on the days you’d rather stay in. Thirty minutes a day is more than three hours of reading a week, which is plenty to get through a novel every few weeks.

Choose books that suit walking

Walking takes a little attention, so the best books are ones that carry you along:

• Novels with a strong plot, where you want to know what happens next.
• A small cast of characters, so you don’t lose track of who’s who.
• Short chapters, which make natural stopping points for short walks.
• Memoirs and narrative non-fiction, which read like a story.

Books thick with facts, footnotes and figures are harder to follow while watching for cyclists. Keep those for the couch.

Many classics walk well. Short novels like The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde or a Sherlock Holmes collection fit a week of walks. Which classics are easiest to listen to.

Stay aware of the world

Listening shouldn’t cost you your awareness of traffic.

• Keep the volume low enough that you can hear cars and bikes.
• Use transparency mode or open-ear headphones near busy roads.
• Pause at crossings. Missing a sentence is better than missing a car.
• Choose quieter routes when you can. Parks and back streets are easier on the ears and the book.

Keep your place across short walks

Short walks mean lots of stops and starts. A few habits keep the story together:

• Rewind a little when you start. Going back thirty seconds reminds you where you were.
• Stop at the end of a chapter where you can, so the next walk starts fresh.
• Bookmark lines you like, and look at them later on screen.

Make the walk a habit

The book can be the reason to go. Some people keep a particular book only for walks, so the only way to find out what happens is to get out the door. Pairing the walk with something you already do, like after dinner or before work, helps it stick.

On days you really can’t get out, don’t listen to the walking book. Saving it for the walk keeps it working as a pull.

Plan for no reception

Walks often go through parks, bush tracks and valleys where reception drops. Some reading apps send text to a server and stop when the connection goes. Before you rely on one, turn on aeroplane mode at home and press play. If it keeps going, it’ll keep going on the trail. Testing an app offline.

Walking with Aloud

Aloud is an iPhone and iPad app that reads books aloud with voices made on the phone. I make Aloud, so weigh that. Once a book is on your phone it plays offline, so a dip in reception doesn’t stop it, and there’s no account to sign in to.

It has free classics from Project Gutenberg and more than 20,000 LibriVox recordings read by volunteers. You can change the speed while you listen and bookmark passages to find later. You can also open a DRM-free EPUB or PDF of your own from Files, and the first one is free. When you finish a book, Aloud makes a card with your hours and books this year, so your walks add up to something you can see.

Common questions