A verst is an old Russian measurement for distance, a few steps more than a kilometre. So I wish you the time, leisure and energy to enjoy some twenty-verst strolls. I will make it a new year’s resolution to get myself into enough shape to be able to stroll that far in one go.  Three times a week.  Watch this stretch.
Source: Osip Mandelstam, Journey to Armenia (London: Notting Hill Editions, 2011), p. 73
