The GM Walking Festival, Greater Manchester’s month-long celebration of walking and wheeling, has officially commenced today (Friday 1 May).

Part of National Walking Month, the initiative has this year got over 350 events happening across every part of the city region listed on its fully searchable website.

Featuring leisurely step-free neighbourhood strolls to more ‘challenging’ guided walks taking several hours, every activity is free to join and designed to make getting active social and accessible.

There are also a number of special events reflecting the theme of this year’s festival – Celebrating Connected Communities – which specifically focus on how walking and wheeling helps people feel more connected to where they live, and to each other.

The 2026 festival is again coordinated by Greater Manchester Moving, a leading Greater Manchester charity which aims to change lives through movement, physical activity, and sport.

Louise Robbins, Strategic Lead GM Moving said: “This May, we’re encouraging everyone to get walking and wheeling and explore their local area, discover new places to walk, people to walk with, and experience how group walking helps us connect.

“The GM Walking Festival aims to highlight the many ways in which community groups and community centres are using led group walks to bring people together around shared interests, a passion for the local area, or health and wellbeing benefits.”

The 2026 festival includes two guided walks which both utilise sections of the GM Ringway.

The first is a leisurely walk around Salford Quays on Sunday May 17th. Estimated to take around 2.5 hours to complete, the step-free trail will feature stretches of Manchester Ship Canal, and take in some of the Quays’ fantastic cultural sites.

The second is a Marple circular on Sunday May 31st. Starting and finishing at Marple Station, this five-mile walk will follow Stage 7 of the GM Ringway, before looping back. The route, which will involve some uphill parts, should take between 2-3 hours to complete.

For more details on both walks, click here, and scroll down to the coloured boxes (as per below).