Network of 1,000 walking routes between towns, cities and villages to take shape: get involved...

What if there was a network of off-road walking routes connecting all of Great Britain’s towns and cities? So asks OS GetOutside Champion Dan Raven-Ellison, who has used his blog to explain how he hopes to develop a ‘Slow Ways’ walking network running off-road between Britain’s towns and cities. Dan is running the project in collaboration with OS Maps with support from the Kestrelman Trust.

His idea will kick off with a Slow Ways hack day on February 1 in London.

Says Dan: ‘A few years ago, when planning a route between Salisbury and Winchester, I started to wonder… there are over 200,000 km of public rights of way, but there isn’t a comprehensive network designed to help people walk off-road between Britain’s towns and cities. 

On 1 February 100 people are taking part in a hack day to change this – and you are invited to help.

Using existing footpaths, we’re going to be working together to design a network of over 1,000 Slow Ways routes that can be used to inspire and guide walking between towns, cities and villages. People will be able to use it to walk between neighbouring settlements or to combine multiple Slow Ways routes for long-distance journeys.

The event is being hosted at the Geovation hub in London and along with the ability to read an OS map, all you need is your own laptop.

This is an important, positive and timely project. Walking can improve health and wellbeing, tackle the climate and ecological emergencies, save people money, improve our environment and bring joy to people’s lives.

This is a unique opportunity to collaboratively create a beautiful, free and important new walking network for Great Britain. Who knows who or what it will inspire? Why not help make it a reality?