Walter will be joining us in Canberra for the fifth time this year. “I like to walk in Canberra partly because of the temperature but also because I love this city. It’s hard to explain why, but I do, and it’s nice to come back again once a year,” he says.

As usual he plans to walk the marathon on Saturday, followed by the 30-kilometre route on Sunday.

No stranger to Australia, Walter lived in Sydney between 1980 and 1991 where his two daughters still reside. He also has a half-brother in Cairns.

In Norway he is the leader of the Tromso Turmarsjhelselag walking club. The club sponsors a summer and winter series of weekend walks, including a Christmas walk on Boxing Day. Club members participate in walks throughout the city and country, including a set of nine different walks totalling 120 kilometres in and around Tromso, “the capital of the Arctic.”

But the cold weather doesn’t deter Walter who regularly walks 20 to 30 kilometres each week of winter and “about double I think” during the summer.

Walter, an IVV and IML walker, has also participated in IML walks in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, Holland, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan. A sheet metal worker and welder by trade, Walter is also a keen photographer.

For more info about Tromso:
http://www.visitnorway.com/en/Where-to-go/North/Tromso/