I've been an avid walker for many years, although I had a period of jogging for about 2 years--a story for another day. Aside from the obvious benefit of physical activity, there is the vitamin D produced by sunlight. This is especially important as you age since your kidneys become less effective at converting the vitamin D from sunshine into the form needed by your body.
Another benefit, at least for some, is the scenery. This one doesn't particularly attract me as I'm not what you might call an "outdoors person." After I've seen a sight once or twice it no longer holds my interest enough to go back, stop, and see it again. When I'm walking I enjoy keeping a steady pace more than watching my surroundings. Perhaps this is because I've always been more oriented towards concepts rather than images.
There is also the social benefit. If you are retired or not working outside the home this can be especially important. As a grad student at Loyola Chicago I used to walk on Saturdays with a friend and fellow student. Starting from our apartments in Rogers Park, we would make our way to Evanston, passing Calvary Catholic Cemetery on our way
to the Baha'i temple in Wilmette--about a 10 mile round trip.
Although we were both doing philosophy, we had quite different interests. He was reading Hegel, Nietzsche and Deleuze; I was reading Carnap, Wittgenstein and Davidson. We couldn't have been further apart philosophically, but we found plenty to talk about and the miles flew by.
Nowdays I walk alone and listen to Audiobooks, which I started listening to around 2006. I had changed jobs and went from a 15 minute commute to 60 minutes. I started out listening to the radio. I enjoy music--everything from big band jazz to classical, but that soon became monotonous. I tried listenting to talk-radio. Too annoying listening to people complain about problems over which they have no control. I switched to public radio. Just news--boring.
Then I just happened to chance upon the perfect solution on a visit to the library. I came across the audiobook section and checked out something on cd--they even had some older sets of books on cassette--remember those? I popped a cd in the following Monday and was instantly hooked! Today you don't even need to visit the library since you can download audiobooks directly to a phone with an app called Libby. On a related note, I've also become an avid Kindle user, The physical appeal of holding a paper book in my hands is not enough to make up for the ease of use of the Kindle. I've tried listening to audiobooks while sitting down at home, but it doesn't work for me. I prefer the kindle at home, usually light classical music for background from one of the cable tv music stations.
The minimum time I have found for listening to audiobooks is at about one hour uninterrupted. Less than that is not enough to get me sufficiently involved. But for those who haven't tried them, be warned--audiobooks can be very engaging. There have been a few times when I have driven past my exit for several miles before coming to my senses.
My current daily walk is about 13 miles and takes about 3 hours 20 minutes. Since I'm not focussing on scenery, I keep it simple by walking the same route every day. Starting from home, I make my way over to the Hollywood Reservoir.
There is a wide asphalt walking/biking path around the perimeter. No need to worry about cars, which helps for concentrating on the book.
For speakers, I've tried wired earbuds, wireless earbuds, and over-the-ear headphones. The wireless earbuds would occasionally fall out. Perhaps I didn't use the right size gasket for my ear. With the headphones I could hear every one of my footsteps hitting the pavement.
So I'm back to the wired earbuds that came with my phone, a Google Pixel. The design works better than the wireless earbuds. The wire forms a small loop over the top of the bud which tucks up into the ear to help keep them in place.
Being an early riser--I'm usually up at 5--I like being out of the house by 8. There are fewer people on the path at that hour. Although I don't consider myself unfriendly, I don't normally greet passersby, but I do respond when greeted. I find that to be another benefit of the wired earbuds--most people won't greet you if they see you are otherwise engaged.
I use an app called MapMyWalk for mapping and tracking. The desktop version lets you map out routes and shows you the distance. The phone app tracks your progress by satellite and gives you all sorts of statistics about pace, calories burned, etc. It won't give you turn by turn prompts, so you do need to remember where you want to go. But you can always just look at the map to see where you are. I've never found this to be a problem. And since I'm always listening to a book, the audio directions would be annoying. There is also a Community section where you can add Friends you want to follow. If you're interested, you can follow me here.