Site Guide & Route Philosophy
Everything you need to know about the walking routes, journal reports, and grading systems across The Walking Englishman.
About Me
Hello and a very warm welcome to Mike Brockhurst's Walking Englishman website. I live in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, and am married to my lovely wife Lil, who stoically endures my obsession for all things walking. In 2014, I retired from full-time work to dedicate myself to this website—promoting walking throughout Great Britain with the specific aim of uncovering wonderful routes and inspiring you to get outdoors and experience them for yourself. In my humble opinion, the British countryside is the finest in the world.
Beyond walking itself, my lifelong passions include history, geography, and geology. These interests naturally surface throughout my route reports. You will often find walks that take in ancient landmarks, historic castles, and sites steeped in Britain's industrial heritage, alongside dramatic geological features such as high glacial tarns, limestone scars, and cascading waterfalls.
About the Website
I created this website to share my love for exploring Britain’s extraordinarily varied landscapes. Getting out into our hills, moors, and dales is always a tremendous thrill. Wherever possible, my walks seek out fascinating features, even if that means leaving the well-beaten track.
Across these pages, you will discover long-distance multi-day adventures—where I pack a rucksack, ditch all transport, and hike continuously across the landscape—as well as hundreds of single-day rambles, fell climbs, and valley strolls.
In every walk report, I tell the story exactly as it happened. Most days out on the trail provide exhilarating moments, and I love sharing them. But walking isn’t always smooth trails and sunshine: if I find a section dull, or if a path turns into a knee-deep quagmire, I will say so plainly. If I suffer from aching limbs or blisters, I include that too. Walking is an authentic experience, and telling it straight from the heart is what this site has always stood for.
About the Walks
Almost all of the routes featured on this site have been personally walked by me. The site was purposely designed not to be a sterile, formulaic catalog of step-by-step turn instructions (such as "turn left at gate, walk 200 yards..."). Instead, my reports are written as genuine, personal reflections of my time on the hill.
The overriding principle of The Walking Englishman is my commitment to keeping 100% of the content completely free. Route notes, photographs, GPX track files, statistics, and hill tables will always remain free to view, print, and download. Site hosting, server maintenance, and route scouting are supported by advertising and occasional sponsorship, which I strive to keep unobtrusive.
Walk Difficulty Gradings
To assist you in selecting an outing suitable for your fitness, experience, and the day’s weather conditions, walks are graded according to length and total climbing:
Note: On occasion, I regrade a walk into a higher category if rough underfoot conditions, boggy peat, or tricky navigation make it significantly tougher than the pure distance and height suggest.
