“To walk is to have direct contact with the world”, in Toulouse, Joseph only travels on foot

For twenty years, Joseph Saint-Pierre traveled up to 20 kilometers on foot per day to reach his home, in downtown Toulouse, to his workplace, the interuniversity computing center, on the university campus. Paul-Sabatier. A round trip was not always enough, he sometimes came home for lunch. “I then walked almost five hours but it was a choice,” says the 67-year-old retiree.

Certainly Joseph Saint-Pierre never drove a car – “I didn’t get my license, I have too bad eyesight”. But he doesn’t take public transport for his trips around Toulouse either. “I don’t like the metro, this mode of travel doesn’t allow me to be in contact with the environment, to know the streets. I like to see the places I’ve always known, those that have changed .And if it rains hard, I take shelter and wait.”

Violets along the Canal du Midi

The former engineer, born in Toulouse at La Grave hospital, travels on foot for all his errands or to visit his brother in Balma or friends in Blagnac. “It’s no further than going to Rangueil,” he emphasizes. Joseph Saint-Pierre likes to walk for economic reasons, for ecological conviction and for pleasure.

“I think we need to have more direct contact with the world around us, to know the streets, the buildings, to see the changes of season, to hear the birds or sometimes the sound of the language of oc. Walking along the Canal du Midi is to see the violets in February, the daisies in spring and it is also to inscribe one’s steps in a story, it is a way of connecting with our heritage We are not. not just anywhere, the streets of Toulouse have meanings and there are so many beautiful places to walk: the gardens, the banks of the canal or the banks of the Garonne”, says this tireless walker, member since 2005 of the branch local association of 60 million pedestrians of which he is the secretary.