ULVERSTON WALKFEST
The 2025 Festival, our 25th anniversary, was another great success. There were 38 walks, which will remain on display under the ‘Walks‘ tab until we up-load the 2026 programme in early March 2026.
Adding up all the walks, including leaders, saw a total of 442 walkers, down from the high of 535 in 2024. However, the actual number of walkers attending the festival was only slightly down, with individuals doing fewer walks. Many thanks to those who joined us in 2025. We hope you enjoyed your walks and if you have any comments on the 2025 festival, we would be pleased to hear from you via our email – enquiries@ulverstonwalkfest.com
The 2026 festival will be at its traditional time from Saturday 25th April until Monday 4th May (the Early May Bank Holiday), with the usual wide range of walks to cover all tastes.
New Walk Leaders We continue to look for new walk leaders for 2026. If you would like to be involved but are not confident to be the main leader, we are happy to have you as a co-leader for your first year, but you would still need to be capable of leading the walk should anything untoward happen on the walk. If you are interested, contact the secretary at the above email.
Self-Guided Walks Our ‘Self-Guided Walks’ facility on this website, and available in paper format from local shops, is recommended. There are 2 back-to-back maps – one of Central Ulverston, including a Blue Plaque Walk, and one showing 6 walks which can be completed from Ulverston. The QR codes will present a digital map on a smart-phone, including your actual location and information on the route and notable sites encountered.
Maintenance of Rights of Way A new venture has been the establishment of ‘Furness PathFix’, currently linked to this group, although in due course it may move to become an independent community-based organisation. Its aim is to maintain and improve the Rights of Way in South Cumbria, with volunteer groups who survey them, clear paths and maintain the stiles and gates etc. If you are interested in joining this band of volunteers, please let us know.
Extract from ‘Norman Birkett – The Life of Lord Birkett of Ulverston’
‘Ulverston is a town set in one of the loveliest spots of all England – the Furness Fells, whose secret unspoiled beauty exercises a powerful attraction on people. Within a few minutes of leaving the town by either of the ancient ways of Soutergate or Daltongate, you are in the authentic English countryside, and you are surrounded by a wonderland of beauty. If, instead of turning in to the cricket pitch, you climb on past Gamswell to Kirkby Moor, you will get what I’ve always maintained is the finest view in the British Isles, with the Duddon estuary and Black Combe, and Coniston Old Man with its fellows on the one hand, and on the other the long sweep of Morecambe Bay, the distant view of the Pennines and the magical beauty of the Lakeland hills.’
He might have added:
A shorter trip up to Hoad Hill, from the foot of the Sir John Barrow lighthouse monument, will give an unapparelled panorama of distant views of North Wales (on a very clear day), the distinctive Ingleborough in the Yorkshire dales, Blackpool Tower, Scafell, Helvellyn, and Blencathra, and closer to hand, the Coniston Fells, with many summits in between.
Last updated: 21 November 2025