People are wanted from every town and city in Great Britain to help make a new national walking network work.
During the Spring 2020 lockdown volunteers from across the nation plotted a network of walking routes that connect all of Great Britain’s towns and cities and, without leaving home, over 7,000 ‘Slow Ways’ walking routes were mapped using existing paths, trails and roads. Combined, the routes stretch for 100,000km and lap the equator twice.
And the team behind Slow Ways is now looking for people from every town and city in Great Britain to walk and review the routes to make sure they work in practice.
Dan Raven-Ellison started the Slow Ways initiative just before the country went into lockdown at the start of last year. “The Slow Ways walking network will be something we can all enjoy for generations to come, “he said. “Working from their living rooms and kitchens, volunteers have done an incredible job of drafting the network, but now we need to make sure it works on the ground, quite literally.
Checking out the “Slow Ways”
“To do that, we need people to head out and walk all the proposed routes to check them. Making use of country paths, under-used ways and city streets, the idea is to make it easier for people to plan walking journeys between neighbouring places and combine routes to go on longer distance walks.
“Some people will use Slow Ways to simply see friends in neighbouring towns. Others will use them to get to a festival, for a walking challenge to raise money for charity, or as time to reflect while exploring nature.
“Millions of us love walking – it’s such a simple thing, and it benefits so many of us in so many different ways. What if we had a proper national walking network that inspired more people to walk more often, further, and for more purposes?”
Thousands of people are needed to put the Slow Ways network through its paces whilst assessing routes for accuracy, safety and accessibility. To find out more and to help, simply visit the Slow Ways website, choose a route, walk it and leave a review.
All of the kilometres walked and feedback shared by users will help to establish a network that’s not only trusted, but widely used to connect people and communities across Great Britain.
To find out more, visit our website
[Editor’s note: Given recent experience around here of attempts to block and/or close down paths, it will be good to explore what the local network is – or should we be saying “was”?]
Image Credits: LDWA Kent .