Sheffield’s first Health Walk was established in 1999 as part of a nation-wide pilot study to evaluate the benefits of walking on patients with coronary heart disease. Over the years the scheme has grown and there are now accredited health walks at twenty-nine locations across the city to choose from.

Health Walks differ from speed-walking and rambles. Firstly, walkers are encouraged to go at a speed they are comfortable with, whatever their ability. Secondly, there are time and distance limits. No walk is more than 3 miles in distance and we rarely walk for more than 75 minutes. Most walks are 45-55 minutes but to suit some walkers, we offer much shorter ones (10 to 15 minutes). Finally, we don’t do stiles (well only rarely!) or ploughed fields.

Health Walks are not just important for encouraging you to get more exercise, they are a valuable way to socialise. By chatting before, during and after the walk social contact is maintained and, very often, new friendships forged. For some of our walkers their weekly health walk is the one time in the week when they get out to socialise. For this reason, all walks end with the opportunity to sit down with fellow walkers and enjoy a cuppa. Some walks start at a community centre with facilities for the volunteers to ‘mash’, other walks start at a café. The after-walk cup of tea is so important that on the rare occasions when rain is really heavy, the walk is cancelled but the tea happens anyway!

Age is not a bar to joining a health walk, even if you have never walked before. Come and do what you can, a trained leader will be on hand to make sure you don’t over-do it initially and to encourage you to do more as the weeks progress. Our two oldest walkers are over 100 years old!