The GM Walking Festival – a month-long celebration of walking and wheeling in Greater Manchester – will be held again this May. As part of the event, one of the GM Ringway’s key regional partners – CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England) – will be hosting two guided circular walks which utilise sections of the GM Ringway trail.

The first (which is categorised on the GM Walking Festival website as being ‘leisurely’), is a step-free walk around Salford Quays on Sunday 17th May 2026 (start time, 10:30 am). Following sections of Stage 20 of the GM Ringway trail, the route – which is just under five miles long – will start and finish at the MediaCity tram stop, and explore the Salford Quays waterfront.

It will also take in some outstanding cultural heritage sites (such as Grade I-listed Ordsall Hall, and the stunning Imperial War Museum North), and will include walking along the Manchester Ship Canal. It is estimated the walk will take no more than 2.5 hours to complete.

The second guided walk is a Marple circular on Sunday May 31st (start time, 10.30am).

Starting and finishing at Marple Station, the first part of this walk (which is just over five miles long) will follow Stage 7 of the GM Ringway, before looping back. An undulating walk – which will involve about 150m of uphill walking – this route has been classed as being ‘moderate’ on the GM Walking Festival website, and should take between 2-3 hours to complete.

For more details on these free guided walks, plus hundreds of others taking place across Greater Manchester throughout the whole of May, visit the GM Walking Festival website here