Take a look at our collection of unique walks in the UK

Following a glorious summer in 2025 with lots of gorgeous walking weather, now is the time to look at a walk in the United Kingdom for 2026! From strolling through fields of gambolling lambs in May, to striding out across the moors in summer or exploring autumnal woodlands, this diverse land has so much to offer.

Our approach to creating walking routes in the UK has been to seek out something truly unique. You won’t find yourself just following the same long-distance trails as everyone else – we’ve found the best local experts to put together imaginative and inspiring holidays that avoid the busier places and take you to lesser-known delights.

We’ve carefully selected the most rewarding walking days and spectacular landscapes, and woven them together with hand-picked hotels, B&Bs and inns to create experiences second to none.

Many of our UK routes make ideal short breaks too, perfect for a quick getaway. Look for our 3-night versions – and on some of them you can even bring your dog to join the fun!

Find your dream walking holiday in England or Wales here

Search for shorter duration holidays here

The spotlight falls on northern Italy this year, as the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics arrive in Milan and the mountain resorts of the Dolomites. The slopes glisten with snow, and the villages buzz with news of sporting endeavours.

Of course the peaks look completely fabulous in their winter clothes, but they’re just as beautiful in their summer attire!  Do you fancy walking through pastures dotted with wildflowers and gentle cattle? How about a night in the cosy camaraderie of a mountain refuge, enjoying dumplings with goulash and swapping tales from the trails with fellow hikers? Here’s some inspiration for your alpine adventure.

Our summer route in the Dolomites could be just the thing – but don’t leave it too late to book, as it will be extra popular this year and the season is short. Hike from San Candido through mountain peaks and alpine meadows to Cortina, which hosts some Olympic events.

Kranjska Gora, at the start of our Slovenian Highlands route, is a popular winter sports venue, but switches to hosting walkers after the snow melts. Our walk is graded Medium, getting you into the heart of the mountains with modest effort!

The mountains of Arcadia in the central Peloponnese are popular for winter breaks, with snow-shoeing, skiing and snowmobiling on the menu. In the warmer months, our walkers on the Menalon Trail enjoy the same great views and stay in some lovely stone-built villages.

The Picos de Europa and Cantabrian hills of northern Spain are busy with sporting activity in winter, but On Foot hikers can use the cable car at Fuente Dé to get up into the peaks with no skis needed! Just relish the gentle walk down from the rocky slopes into a lush green valley.

Skirt round the slopes of Mt Tahtali on your way to the coast in Lycia – this is an unconventional winter sports area, with ‘wild’ skiing and a mountain-top bungee catapult for the brave!  We suggest you keep your feet on the ground…

And for a surprising link to the Olympics – the little town of Much Wenlock, just a few miles from the start of our Welsh Borders walk, was host to a forerunner of the modern Olympics. The first competition in 1850 included athletics and traditional country sports – and a race on penny-farthing bicycles!  Baron Pierre de Coubertin visited the games in 1890, and was inspired to create the International Olympic Committee and the Games as we know them now.

Search here to find the perfect walking holiday for you.

The patchwork patterns of fields that make up much of Britain’s farmland are among its most endearing features, but the hedges, walls and fences that mark them out can be a challenge to walkers. Over the centuries, farmers and landowners have developed some imaginative ways to solve the conundrum of allowing walkers through on a right of way without giving animals an opportunity to escape!

These gates and stiles are usually simple and universal in style, but sometimes more complex or characteristic of a region of the country, making for a wonderful variety of crossings that you will find along the footpaths. Here are some types that you’re likely to encounter when walking On Foot routes in England and Wales.

Pedestrian gate – of varying width and construction, these sometimes have a long, spring-loaded arm attached to the latch so that horse riders can open the gate without dismounting.

Stile (or step stile) – the most common way to cross a fence line and usually of wooden construction, sometimes with a helpful hatch at ground level for dogs.

Kissing gate – a gate that swings freely across a V-shaped or D-shaped opening in the fence, just ‘kissing’ the post on either side. Easy for humans, but tricky for cattle.  Of course, there are other theories behind the name, but whether you want to kiss your walking companion(s) each time you pass through a gate is up to you!

Squeeze stile – a narrow gap lined by two stone slabs or posts, sometimes v-shaped and sometimes with a small gate. More complex versions may have sides that can be pushed apart to widen the gap.

Ladder stile – a pair of wooden ladders up and over a dry-stone wall. They make a good spot to sit and rest for a moment too!

This is ‘Beggar’s Stile’ at the head of Crummack Dale (on Ingleborough Circuit in the Yorkshire Dales), which, unusually, is named on the Ordnance Survey map. The ladder is shorter on the far side, leading to the magnificent Thieves Moss – a natural amphitheatre hidden from the valley below that is likely to have got its name from its use for the sale of stolen sheep and cattle.

Stone stile – made of large slabs cantilevered on both sides of a stone wall. Need to be negotiated with care!  In Wales the slabs are often rustically uneven, and you’ll need to step over the vertical stones on the top of the wall.

In Yorkshire, however, you’re more likely to find square-cut stones and a helpful gap in the top of the wall – which some of the nimbler sheep will manage to climb through.

Hence the common addition of a small wooden gate, possibly spring-loaded so that it remains shut. This simple solution can catch you unawares – as On Foot’s Emma discovered when a gate swung shut and catapulted her from the top of the wall!

You may notice a ‘sheep creep’ near to a stone stile. This is a low gap for sheep to pass from one field to another without the need for a gate, but can easily be closed off when necessary. This one in North Wales is getting a little dilapidated…

Cattle grid – found where a road passes from fields to unfenced pastures, this is a series of rails over a shallow pit which allows access for vehicles and walkers (with care!), but not animals. There’s usually a gate alongside, originally intended for horse-drawn traffic. It has been reported occasionally that sheep have learned to roll themselves across the grids.

‘Cornish hedges’ are actually earth banks, often faced with stones and overgrown with bushes and other flora. There’s a multitude of designs of stiles in these hedges, usually made of long slabs of granite, laid in line with the direction of the hedge and stepped as necessary through a gap. Coffen stiles (horizontal at ground level) and cattle stiles (rising up and down) have spaces between the slabs to deter livestock, but which might be obscured by undergrowth.

Farmers are endlessly inventive, and you’ll probably spot many variations on these styles. On Foot’s Mary grew up on a farm in Wiltshire, and remembers her family’s ‘gap fillers’, which used up any unwanted bits of timber, metal and string to fill the gaps in hedgerows. You’ll also get accustomed when walking to dealing with fraying lengths of orange ‘baler twine’ holding gates shut with varying degrees of success.

And finally – if the sign encourages you to close the gate, make sure that you close the gate!