Multiple-choice walks

When I leave this building, turn left and walk for around 100 metres, I find myself in a huge park, all 70 hectares or 700,000 square metres of it. It's so big that it contains a cemetery - which has the feel of a park, it is so beautifully maintained - and the German versions of allotment gardens, Schrebergärten. 

The park consists of various areas that were then melded together: a park that was first opened in the late 19th century, a plot of wasteland, along with the allotments and the cemetery and some fallow land [Brachland]. Anyway, in the late 80s, they were all redesigned so that you can walk around all those areas freely. The result was 22 km of pathways. 

When I go for a walk there - and I can easily do 5 km just walking round the park once - I have a usual route that takes me past all my favourite parts, such as the water features and the dahlias in late summer. However, just for fun, I sometimes decide to mix things up a bit and go down paths I've never been down before. In fact, I believe I could walk in that park every day for the rest of my life and create a new variation every time. I really do. It's lovely when you have so much choice right on your doorstep.