Re: Is "within walking distance" the same as "within shouting distance"?
BobK, my dad walked seven miles to and from school every day for several years, in the mid-1940s I guess. He walked from his village, across fields, through two more villages and then on to the small town nearby with the only school. Every morning on the way through the family garden, he would pull up a handful of carrots to eat on the way to school (his parents grew all their own vegetables). Once, my grandmother (his mother) took him to the doctor because his skin had taken on an orange tint! He had overdosed on beta-carotene from eating about ten carrots a day for weeks on end.
That is all rather irrelevant, I admit. Back to the point, I certainly wouldn't consider seven miles to be "within walking distance" but I suppose once upon a time it was. To my mind, "within walking distance" would probably be anywhere I could walk to within about twenty minutes. "Within shouting distance" would be very close. A small shop/convenience store has just opened right across the street from me. It is literally about 10 steps from my front door. That is definitely within shouting distance.
Apologies if someone already mentioned this, though I couldn't see it, but in BrE, we also call that "within spitting distance".