Greater Manchester’s Walking Festival is back and bigger than ever for its third annual incarnation.
The festival, which runs from Monday 1 to Wednesday 31 May, has increased in size yet again, offering more than 300 free guided walks exploring local towns, cities, countryside, canals, riversides and parks across Greater Manchester.
Coordinated by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) with support from HOME Manchester and many local walking groups and charities, the festival aims to showcase all that the region has to offer.
An exciting new addition to this year’s festival calendar is an ‘out of hours’ Art Walk which takes place at 5.30pm on Thursday 18 May, organised by Castlefield Gallery and HOME. This will take participants on a whistle-stop tour of some of the city’s top exhibitions.
The festival calendar will also feature many other expert-led walks, spanning a wide variety of interests and themes. Amongst this year’s events is a ghost walk, a Gruffalo walk for young families and a birdsong walk. There’s even a chance to try walking football, walking netball and Nordic walking.
The full list of walks can be found at the Greater Manchester Walking Festival website.
TfGM Head of Active Travel, Helen Smith, said: “This year’s Greater Manchester Walking Festival is bigger and better and we want to get even more people involved and build on the success we’ve had in the last two years.
“The festival aims to get as many people as possible across the region to find out how easy – and enjoyable – walking can be. The walks, which cater for a variety of abilities and ages, provide the chance to explore, experience, meet new people and get more active.
“We owe a huge thank you to all our walking partners and walk leaders, many of whom are voluntary, who run all the walks and make this festival possible.
“Walking has obvious health, environmental and social benefits and we hope that by encouraging people to get involved they will be inspired to continue walking regularly after the festival has ended.”
Funded by the Department of Transport, the Greater Manchester Walking Festival is part of TfGM’s Walking Works project, encouraging people to make a walk part of their daily routine.
To find out what’s happening in each area, visit www.tfgm.com/walking, where there is an online copy of the festival brochure containing all the walks. Copies of the brochure are also available in TfGM Travelshops and other outlets across Greater Manchester, or can be ordered by emailing firstname.lastname@example.org.
On social media, check out the GM Walking Festival Facebook page or search for the #GMWalking hashtag on Twitter.