About Walk 4 Life

Ever wondered how far a mile is on the ground?  Ever wanted to build up your confidence so that you know if you can walk 1 mile that you could then do 2 miles another day?  

Walk4Life Miles are 1 mile long walking routes. There will be 2,012 of them across England by 2012.  You will find them in parks, along footpaths and along canals. They are easy to follow, and will be generally free of barriers such as gates or stiles. Most Walk4Life Miles will be waymarked with distinctive yellow waymarkers showing where they start and end.

Walk4Life Miles are supported by community groups, Walking for Health groups, local councils and a range of other organisations. If there isn’t one in your area you can send your suggestions in to Walk England, and you might get to create a Walk4Life Mile of your own ! Plus - any Walk4Life Miles with a photo of people walking them become part of a national map about Olympic-inspired projects!

It takes most people about 20 minutes to walk a mile, although if you don’t take much exercise it might take you a bit longer than this at first. Why not search the website for a Walk4Life Mile in your area, and see how long it takes you to walk a mile?

You can look for miles which are flat, barrier free, and see if they have any potential hazards, as well as look for ones which are waymarked so that you will know exactly when to stop walking.

Some of the best Walk4Life Miles can be used for the walking fitness test. These show on the website as ‘fitness test routes’ – if you have one near you why not have a go and take the test to see how fit you are?

The Walk4Life Miles project is supported by the Department of Health, and is delivered by Walk England. You can contact Walk England at walk4life@walkengland.org.uk

To download advice on waymarking Walk4Life Miles, the waymarker order form or the landowner letter template please go to the Resources page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are the Walk4Life miles exactly 1 mile?

Because the routes sometimes have to start and finish in sensible places, we are allowing anything between 0.9 miles and 1.1 miles - although the closer to a mile the better!  Sometimes by editing the mapped walk you can make it more accurate. 

How many Walk4Life miles are there now?

There are over 2,150 Walk4Life miles all over the country - so there should be one near you!  We need help to waymark them, can you help?  You can order free waymarkers from our resources page.