Nick Ryan wants to walk more than 1550km over the next 12 months.

Audiobooks are helping Nick Ryan go the distance with Walk1200km.

Nick had just started a walking fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House when the country went into lockdown and he was restricted to exercising in his neighbourhood.

Bored of the same streets, his wife suggested he listen to audiobooks while walking and he’s been hooked ever since.

One morning he was so enjoying an audiobook on the Mongol Empire that his planned 5km walk turned into a 16km effort.

Nick, a life-long walker, grew up alongside the Remutaka Range in Wainuiomata and later enjoyed orienteering when he lived in the UK.

He saw the Walk1200km challenge in a copy of Wilderness he picked up at the supermarket and decided it would encourage him to keep striding.

“I have the tracker on the side of my filing cabinet and if there’s an empty space on it, it makes me feel like I better get out there,” Nick says.

The data analyst works from home most days but walks to work via Wellington’s town belt when he’s called into the office, an 8km round trip.

He likes to build on his regular morning walks during the week with longer weekend trips and he finds it easier in the cool of winter than the heat of summer.

Nick walked 1550km in his first year of the challenge and is hoping to top that in 2023.