About One Mile Walks

One Mile Walks is a new national programme all about going outside, getting moving and enjoying walking.

One Mile Walks works in collaboration to promote walking, create new walks and improve access to the outdoors. We are growing a selection of great walks across the UK to get people outside and moving, and through partners increasing the availability of One Mile Walks within existing walking programmes, such as health and wellbeing activities, walking festivals and the walking wider walking and outdoor industries. To help people choose walks they will enjoy we provide verified information about access and the facilities along the way.

One Mile Walks is a start-up incubated by Walking Pace who believe that everyone should be able to enjoy walking or wheeling through nature, heritage and culture. Walking Pace is led by Matt Overd – a walks writer and advocate for access, and Anita Eade – a leading national expert on access and inclusion in the outdoors.

Enjoyable One Mile Walks

Everyone can enjoy a One Mile Walk and we work hard to find great walks in great spaces and places. Whether you are new to walking, returning to walking, walking with a disability, recovering from injury or illness, anxious about exploring new spaces, walking with young children or simply want to stray a little beyond the car park in a beautiful setting – One Mile Walks has something for everyone.

One Mile Walks also supports a section of the walking community which is often overlooked – those for whom traditional ‘short’ and ‘easy’ walks are not at all short or easy. One Mile Walks does not make assumptions about ability. Walks are described factually and in detail, they are designed to be a great one-mile and do not imply you are missing out by not walking further.

Why one mile? You can see a lot in a mile and the key is finding great One Mile Walks. Also, a mile is a good round number and keeping all the walks similar lengths provides consistency, for some people an extra half a mile would be daunting. And with detailed information provided for a One Mile Walk people know what to expect.

Finding good one-mile walks is harder than you might think. Often circular routes are far longer. For some beauty spots the car park is many metres away from the start of the trail, or half a mile does not quite reach the main attraction. Also, many of the paths in local open spaces and woodlands are not mapped, and it takes local knowledge to find the best route. There are many brilliant one-mile walks to be enjoyed, we are on a mission to find them, check them and show people where they are.

Send us your favourite one-mile walks.

A good One Mile Walk:

– Is one-mile long, maybe a bit more or a bit less, more than half a mile, but not one and a quarter miles – and every step counts.
– Is circular – we try to avoid walks that are half a mile then turn around, unless there is something great to visit.
– Is easy to get to – the walk starts close to good parking and ideally public transport is nearby.
– Has something of interest – a wood, a view, a piece of history, a park or pond or things to do.
– Is well described – so you know what to expect and can choose the right walk for you.

See the walks

Detailed information about access and facilities

One Mile Walks provides information about walk accessibility and facilities along the way. The information provided helps to ensure there are no surprises and people with specific wants and needs can find that they will enjoy.

One Mile Walks ‘verified’ routes have been checked on the ground by a trusted route checker, and are shown with a ‘verified’ badge. Verified routes include a map with turn by turn directions, an elevation profile – showing how steep the hills are, and information about facilities such as toilets, seats, cafes, pubs, shops, parking and public transport. Verified routes will also include access information such as descriptions of the walking surface and the locations of gates, steps, ramps, seats, etc. Summary access information provides overall route characteristics and restrictions, such as the narrowest path, narrowest gate or the the most tricky sections of uneven or soft ground which may affect some people.

One Mile Walks also provides detailed access information where each feature of the route is measured, photographed and described so that potential walkers can better gauge the condition and restrictions of the route themselves.

See more about our approach to access.

See verified routes with summary access information.

See routes with detailed access information.

Collaboration and Innovation

There are thousands of miles of footpaths and pavements in the UK, and many uncharted paths through local open spaces and woodland, available for people to experience the benefits of walking and being outside. Many paths are on land managed by charities, or governmental and private organisations – so collaboration is essential for One Mile Walks. We create new walks in these spaces, highlight existing walks provided by others, and help other to add One Miles Walks to their programmes.

There are many approaches to access and some brilliant work across the UK. Through greater collaboration between walking and outdoor organisations we can innovate shared approaches to accessible walking, engagement, language, imagery and information. Is there a standard approach to access to be found? Perhaps. But for now let’s talk more, share more and work with people with lived experience to improve the information provided about walks and increase pressure to provide more accessible walking infrastructure.

One Mile Walks provides an isolated test bed for collaboration and innovation which will not require walking organisations to adjust their core programmes. The effectiveness of innovation for accessible walking can be evaluated and successful approaches adopted over a wide range of activities.

To collaborate with One Mile Walks contact us hello@onemilewalks.uk