A NEW 120-mile walking route crossing some of northern England’s best-known landscapes is set to open this month, creating a new long-distance trail between Alston and Furness Abbey.
The Westmorland and Furness Way will officially launch on 15 September as part of the Sedbergh Walking and Wellbeing Festival. The six-stage route crosses the North Pennines, Eden Valley, Yorkshire Dales and Lake District before continuing towards Morecambe Bay and the Furness coast.
Although the finished route is the work of Westmorland & Furness Council, the idea originated with local walker and guidebook writer David Pitt.
Pitt was introduced to fellwalking during a family holiday in Grasmere in 1948 and went on to spend decades exploring Britain’s long-distance trails. In 1978 he walked Alfred Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Path, while in 1998 he and his wife Heather helped revive Wainwright’s A Pennine Journey.
The council subsequently took the idea forward, with its Countryside Access Team developing the route and carrying out maintenance and repair work alongside local organisations and volunteers. Existing trails have been used wherever possible to create a continuous 120-mile route.
For Pitt, the route is intended to reveal a part of the country that can easily be overlooked.
“Westmorland and Furness is one such pearl,” he says, drawing on Wainwright’s description of England as being ‘oyster rich in pearls’, and encouraging walkers to plan their own journey along the route.
The trail is being promoted as more than a long-distance challenge. Westmorland & Furness Council says it hopes the route will attract visitors, improve health and wellbeing and bring economic benefits to the towns and villages along its length.
Councillor Adrian Waite, the council’s Cabinet member for Environmental Services and Transport, said the project had been designed to connect visitors and local communities with the area’s heritage, nature and landscapes.
The route is divided into six sections, meaning walkers can tackle individual stages as day walks or weekends, or attempt the entire trail over an estimated eight to 17 days. All six stages have start and finish points accessible by public transport.
The longest section runs for around 27 miles between Sedbergh and Bowness-on-Windermere, while the route as a whole passes through three nationally protected landscapes and a wide range of terrain, from open fell and moorland to woodland, river valleys and coast.
A Westmorland and Furness Way Walker’s Passport is also being introduced, with stamping points at participating venues along the route. The scheme is intended to encourage walkers to explore the communities and businesses along the trail as well as completing the walk itself.
The Westmorland and Furness Way will officially open on Tuesday September 15 2026.
Open the full route GPX here.
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