How is the mission coming on? Here’s a layer-by-layer guided tour through the opportunities and priorities of the network. Spoiler alert: it’s going GREAT!
I love watching Slow Ways grow and its roots deepen.
Step by step, route by route, day by day, we’re developing something very special. I strongly believe that Slow Ways is not just a walking and wheeling network. It’s a network for all the great things that walking does for our bodies, minds, communities, climate and nation.
I walk Slow Ways because I love getting outside, exploring new places, being active and spending time either with other people or with my own thoughts.
I take the time to review Slow Ways because I enjoy boosting other people’s inspiration or confidence to follow the same route. For many people the reassurance of knowing that other people recommend a route can mean the difference between trying it or not. And that makes sense. After all, who really wants to get stuck or have to turn around?
Some people leave long and detailed route reviews on our website. These are fantastic and very welcome. Tiny-single-sentence reviews are welcome too. We’d rather someone shared “I loved walking this route!” than left no review at all. Even this small piece of enthusiasm could tip the balance towards someone walking the route.
We want everyone everywhere to be able to use and benefit from Slow Ways. Our initial ambition is for every town and city to have a complete set of verified and surveyed routes.
We would love your help with that mission. To get involved, simply choose, walk and review routes from the Slow Ways website.
Each month we release our ‘progress map‘ which shows a snapshot of how we’re getting on. In this post I’ll share some key layers from the map and explain how you can help us hit that ambitious goal.
Key layers from the progress map
These images show layers, but you can click between them and explore for yourself on the progress map here.
⬆ This first map shows 2,500 towns, cities and hubs that we are working to connect.
⬆ On this map you can see over 9,500 potential routes that have been drafted by hundreds of volunteers. The fun job now is to walk, run, wheel, check and review all the routes to make sure they’re good enough to be included in the network.
The routes add up to nearly 140,000km – which is a long way for a single person, but light work if enough people get involved.
⬆ This is what we’ve verified so far. You can walk from Edinburgh to Plymouth on verified (triple-checked) routes.
If 30 people from every town and city got involved we could verify the entire network in a single day.
We’ve made much more progress than that though.
⬆ The map above shows the 5,000 routes that have received positive reviews so far.
⬆ And this is an incredible map. It shows a network of nearly 4,000 walking routes that have received either 4- or 5-star reviews. It’s nearly possible to walk from Inverness to Land’s End on these highly rated routes.
Imagine if every single village, town, city and key destinations across the country were connected by 4 or 5 star routes?
⬆ On the progress map you can explore a layer of ‘Snail me!’ routes that are primed to be verified. These routes should need just one more positive review to be verified.
⬆ Some primed routes make long-distance trails, like this one connecting the Cotswolds and the Chilterns from Gloucester over to Henley-on-Thames. This would make a great hike or run for someone!
⬆ Other primed routes that are ready to be snailed radiate out from places. Someone in Devil’s Bridge could make a big difference to Mid-Wales over four days by checking these four routes.
You can help with Slow Ways anywhere in the country where we have routes.
⬆ Our goal for this summer is to complete this intercity walking network that connects all of Britain’s 70 official cities. All the pink sections are already verified. Could you help with one of the grey gaps?
We’ll be publishing another progress map next month. Let’s see how many more people, places and communities we can bring together between now and then.
Consider doing one or more of these things to help. It’ll be fun and worthwhile!
- Walk, run, wheel and review a route
- Share Slow Ways with your real or virtual networks (if online we are @slowwaysuk and use #slowways)
- Get a story into your local media (email [email protected] if you’d like to do this and need some help)
- Do the Big Slow Ways Challenge 2024
- Join in solo or get a group together to verify a trail or all of a town’s routes
