Walk holidays & charity walks
If you prefer low‑impact fitness, The Independent this week rounded up recommended European walking holidays with routes in Spain, Ireland and Greece for spring travel. (the-independent.com). (The same reporting set flagged virtual walkathons as a growing charity format and a local story about a man planning a marathon‑distance Lincoln‑to‑Collingham walk for his 70th to raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Society). ( )
Walking trips are selling faster in 2026, and charities are borrowing the same low-impact format for fundraising at home. (independent.co.uk) The Independent reported on April 13 that travel operator Explore saw active-holiday interest rise 29 percent this year, with walking holidays up 52 percent from before the Covid pandemic. Its spring picks included routes in Spain, Ireland and Greece alongside guided trips in Italy’s Dolomites. (independent.co.uk; explore.co.uk) Some of the trips highlighted are built around slow, structured itineraries rather than summit climbs. HF Holidays is selling a week-long Dolomites and Lake Garda trip in Adamello Brenta Natural Park, while Menorca’s Camí de Cavalls circles the island on a 185-kilometre coastal path. (hfholidays.co.uk; camidecavalls360.com) The same walking boom is feeding charity events that ask people to log miles where they live instead of gathering at one start line. Walkathon Virtual says participants track steps or distance remotely and turn those totals into donations through online fundraising pages. (walkathonvirtual.com) Other fundraising platforms pitch the same model as a lower-cost alternative to in-person races. Charity Footprints says peer-to-peer walk and run campaigns let supporters create their own pages and raise money through personal networks, cutting some event overhead for nonprofits. (charityfootprints.com) That format is also showing up in local, highly personal challenges. The Newark Advertiser reported on April 13 that Andrew McGill of Collingham plans to cover 26.2 miles from Lincoln Hospital, where he was born in 1956, back to his home village on his 70th birthday to raise money for Alzheimer’s Society. (newarkadvertiser.co.uk) McGill told the paper he will start at 6 a.m. and pass old schools, his mother’s former house and family graves along the route. He said that a year ago he did not think he could have walked 10 miles, and he is mixing walking and running for the birthday challenge. (newarkadvertiser.co.uk) Travel companies are now packaging walking as both a holiday and a habit: Exodus advertises self-guided walking trips across Europe, and Inntravel’s 2026 Greece program offers baggage-transfer itineraries in Corfu, Crete and the Cyclades. (exodus.co.uk; inntravel.co.uk) The appeal in both cases is the same: a route, a distance and a reason to keep going. In 2026, that can mean a spring break on a coastal trail or a marathon-length walk to mark a 70th birthday. (independent.co.uk; newarkadvertiser.co.uk)
