National Geographic Traveller - UK (2020-07 & 2020-08)

DANIEL

RAVEN-ELLISON

is a National Geographic

Emerging Explorer

and the founder of

Slow Ways.

ravenellison.com

WALK

THIS WAY

NEW ROUTES

Slow Ways is poised to get Brits

discovering the country in a new way.

We talk to founder Daniel Raven-Ellison

about the ambitious new initiative

Tell us about Slow Ways

Our islands are rich with paths, but they haven’t been

pulled together into a single network that clearly shows

people how they can get between places on foot. Slow

Ways aims to create a web of walking routes connecting

all of Great Britain’s towns and cities, as well as thousands

of villages. Most of the project has been completed in

lockdown, with 700 volunteers drafting 7,000 Slow Ways

routes that collectively stretch for over 62,000 miles.

That’s the equivalent of two-and-a-half laps of the equator.

What inspired the project?

I’ve walked around Great Britain a lot, and I’ve noticed

things that could be done to support people walking

more. For example, rural walks that start and finish in the

countryside can feel inaccessible. However, as Slow Ways’

routes often start and finish in urban areas, where there’s

a greater choice of restaurants and accommodation, the

project will hopefully encourage more people to go hiking.

Could this be an alternative to taking transport?

Many of us are used to walking a few miles for the sheer

pleasure of it. I think Slow Ways will help to remind and

inspire us to make walks of that kind of length to see

friends, family or for work. Slowing down can be so good

for us. If we all walked more, it would be good for our

health and the environment and would give us more time

together — and it could potentially save us money, too.

What’s next, and how do people get involved

as volunteers?

Now that we’ve drafted the network, the next challenge

is to get outside, to explore and test it. All going well,

I hope we’ll be putting out a call to recruit 10,

volunteers from across Great Britain to help with that at

the end of this summer. To volunteer, and to get involved,

people should sign up for the newsletter on my website.

INTERVIEW: AMELIA DUGGAN

BIG SEAWEED SEARCH

Strolling along the British shoreline? Download

the contributors’ guide from the Natural History

Museum’s website and submit photos to help

scientists monitor the effects on environmental

change of Britain’s sealife. nhm.ac.uk

GARDEN BIRDWATCH

Learn about the birds in your garden and contribute

to an ongoing scientific study by logging your avian

sightings with the British Trust for Ornithology. Now in

its 25th year, the scheme relies on the public to better

understand the importance of garden habitats. bto.org

ISPY A HEDGEHOG

The Wildlife Trusts runs a number of regional surveys,

but its two hedgehog-spotting programmes — for

Cumbria and Wiltshire — are particularly worthy as

numbers have fallen 30% in the past decade. Report

your sightings at wildlifetrusts.org/citizen-science

CITIZEN SCIENCE: THREE PROJECTS TO GET YOU OUTSIDE

IMAGE: GETTY

Jul/Aug 2020 17

SMART TRAVELLER