Walk The Way In A Day

This year's the 40th anniversary of Britian's first long distance footpath, the Pennine Way, and to celebrate, the Countryside Agency has announced a 'Walk The Way In A Day' event to be held on 24 April.

If you're a bit bemused by the idea of knocking off the entire 200-plus miles in 24 hours, don't panic. The 268-mile route has been divided into 50 one-day circular walks and everyone from families to walking groups is invited to register to walk one of the sections on 24 April.

Distances vary between seven and 19 miles and once you register, you can download a route planner in PDF format to guide you along your chosen section and add some background information to your day along with a diagramatic map of the section.

You can register to walk a section at the Pennine Way web site and the first ten people to subscribe to each section will receive a free Pennine Way 'From the Air' DVD comprising aerial footage of the entire route.

Steve Westwood, the Countryside Agency's national trails officer for the Pennine Way says: "We have tried to capture the spirit of the Pennine Way in this celebration, as there's no better method of celebrating the anniversary than for people to go for a walk on the Pennine Way."

We'd agree, as no doubt would the 150,000 odd people who use the trail every year and the roughly 3500 who walk the complete route from start to finish. The idea was first raised by writer Tom Stephenson in 1935 by the way, but it took until 1965 for it to become reality.