EILEEN ADLER

Same old same old doesn’t cut it anymore. I agree with Maira Kalman: “I truly believe there's always a solution to every problem.” Rising above the muck, French shepherds came up with a brilliant solution.
 

In southern France at the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains is a small town named Lourdes. Historically, Lourdes wasn’t a destination one would seek because of its flat and marshy terrain, even worse when it rained. Navigating this region was problematic. With keen insight and ingenuity, the population figured out a solution – they traveled on stilts, but to the locals, they were tchangues which means “big legs.” Sitting atop them, they could see far and wide and they made excellent time traversing the land, even delivering mail on stilts. By the end of the 19^th century, this mode of transportation was no longer needed because the land was drained, forests were planted and today it is the destination to visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes. 

Shepherds in the mid 1800s.

Perhaps most impressive of all occurred in 1891 when Sylvain Dornon walked from Paris to Moscow — more than 1,740 miles — on stilts! The entire journey took him just 58 days.


Not shepherding but wearing stilts, these men and women showcase their skills in this short video: Here's ... Novelty (1932)


 Life Lesson: