Three ways to take the long way.
These are notebook routes, measured in pauses rather than distance. Leave space for a turn you did not expect.
The blue doorway loop
I begin near Atocha before the pavements become busy and wander into the smaller streets of Las Letras. The task is to find three shades of blue: one painted door, one ceramic number, one piece of sky caught between buildings. I stop to sketch the door shapes, usually badly, and buy a loaf on the way home. This is the route for a morning when the notebook feels intimidating. Drawing a rectangle is an easy place to begin.
The bench with no assignment
I enter the park with a book and give myself permission not to read it. A broad path, a quieter turning, and a bench with a view of moving leaves are the whole itinerary. My favourite pages from these walks contain no observations grander than the colour of a scarf. When the light starts to flatten, I leave through a different gate and work out the way back at the next corner.
The one-street survey
I choose a street I think I know and walk it twice, once on each side. On the first pass I look above eye level; on the second I look at thresholds and door handles. Familiar streets are generous when asked a specific question. Last week I found a little metal fanlight I had walked beneath for three years. There is more about my small collecting habit on the about page, or return to the journal.