Publish date: 6 May 2021
As the nation emerges from a long winter of lockdown restrictions people are being encouraged to safely get out and about by embracing more walking.
Back for the seventh year, The Greater Manchester Walking Festival provides residents with a great way to safely enjoy reconnecting with the great outdoors. It will run from Saturday 1 May to Monday 31 May during national walking month, and offers ideas and inspiration to inspire everyone to get outside and explore towns, cities, the countryside, canals, riversides and parks across Tameside and Greater Manchester.
No matter whether you’re a stroller, roamer, shuffler, moocher or a marcher, the festival has something for everyone, with guides and inspiration for those new to walking as well as regular striders.
The GM Walking ambition is to make Greater Manchester the first ‘Walking Region’ in the UK.
A selection of challenges, activities and ideas collated into three daily calendars - beginner, intermediate and experienced walker - are available as a handy resource to download from the GM Walking website here. The calendars can be used by individuals and in small groups.
The links between walking and helping to create a sense of wellbeing are strong, so during Mental Health Awareness Week from 10 to 16 May, the featured walk ideas focus on ways to help wellbeing. There are also ideas to incorporate walking into family time during Walk to School Week from 17 to 21 May.
Walking is a great activity and an easy way for people to take their recommended daily amount of physical activity. Any amount of physical activity is good for you, but the recommended weekly amounts for adults are five lots of 30 minutes moderate intensity activity on five or more days of the week.
Tameside is a fantastic place to walk, with large open spaces, beautiful countryside and miles of trails and footpaths. Walking is a great way to keep fit and healthy, have fun and is a more sustainable way to get about.
There has never been a better time to walk Tameside. There is a huge variety of marked trails and paths, from the 32 mile Tameside Trail that passes through each of the nine towns to shorter routes that take in our river valleys and hilltops. There are also plenty of guided walks if you’ve not walked for a while.
Find out more about walking in Tameside here.
Join the conversation and share photos and your experiences of walking in Greater Manchester on social media, follow @GMWalks on Twitter.