This May, The Greater Manchester (GM) Walking Festival will start for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Coinciding with National Walking Month, more than 200 free walks will be on offer.
The Let’s Walk GM Walking Festival is an opportunity for people to walk more during the month of May by joining in with a free programme of organised group walks. Kicking off on Sunday, May 1, there will be a plethora of walks on offer, all of which take into consideration distance, grading, proximity to public transport and accessibility by wheelchair, as well as buggy-friendly walks and routes close to cafes and pubs.
It comes as data from Sports England’s Active Lives survey showed that 30 percent of adults in the region were found to be missing out on the benefits of movement during the height of the pandemic (May 20-21). This means that they were active for less than 30 minutes a week, so this year’s festival is encouraging more people to get moving.
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Louise Robbins, strategic lead at GM Walking said: “This May we want to encourage more people to keep moving by exploring their local area, discovering new places to walk, socialising and having fun through walking. Our aim is to support people to walk regularly in their neighbourhoods and through the inspiring festival walks programme, to encourage more walking amongst those who are new walking.
“To help with motivation, there is a calendar people can use to keep track of their walks or miles. We also have hints and tips for walking all year round available on the GM Walking website.
“We’re lucky to live in such a beautiful region for enjoying the great outdoors. There are natural reserves, ancient woodland, and fantastic open spaces all within Greater Manchester. Much of this greenspace is tucked behind residential areas and we hope this May more people will discover it for themselves, by foot.”
The festival walks are provided by community groups, walking groups and a range of organisations working across Greater Manchester. This is the sixth GM Walking Festival, and the first since 2019.
This year’s calendar of walks includes 'A Bee in Birchfield Park', which takes place on Thursday, May 19, for those who are interested in wild, honey bees; a Bird ID walk run by City of Trees on Thursday, May 26, an invitation to listen and look for birds in the trees at Whitworth Park; and the GM Walking Festival 2022 Celebration Walk on Saturday, 28 May, an 5-mile route which takes in the sights of Salford Quays, Ordsall Hall and the Imperial War Museum. Other events include a Castlefield photo walk, a variety of relaxation walks in south Manchester and a series of walks led by the MS Society.
In 2019, there were an estimated 4800 attendances and more than 350 walks. The full programme of guided events is available to view at the GM Festival website.
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