Stepping out on a walk of discovery with campaign
WHEN WELCOME to Yorkshire started its Walkshire project at the beginning of January, posting a walk a day for 365 days, boss James Mason said it “started with a bang”.
The project, which features curated walks taking in all corners of the county, has continued throughout lockdown, providing inspiration and aspirational days out once the restrictions have eased. But the seeds for Walkshire were sown long before lockdown as James – chief executive of the tourism body – said the team had been working to try and come up with an inclusive campaign.
“We wanted a campaign everyone could take part in and which would cover the whole county,” he said.
“Walking underpins Yorkshire and when the first lockdown came about, all we could do was walk. It became a way for people to appreciate what was on their doorstep as well as being the only thing available to them at the time.”
When the team struck on the idea to focus a campaign around walking, James said the aim was to run for a year taking in all four seasons, supporting all sections of the tourism industry and covering all four corners of the county.
Walkshire went live on
New Year’s Day 2021, not long before the country found itself in lockdown again, but James said the curated walks have still been able to provide inspiration and aspiration.
“When Walkshire launched we had four million impressions and it caught the imaginations of New Year walkers,” he said.
“Even when the pandemic has taken over, walking has provided everyone with a form of escapism – whether that is from the home office or being inside the same four walls.
“As soon as the last lockdown came into force, walks were still allowed as part of daily exercise but became hyper local for everyone, we were able to modify the message so people could access what was on their doorstep but also what they could look forward to.
“The walk we posted that day could have been, say, round Haworth, which may be a new place to visit so it could be banked to walk later. The lovely thing about doing that is it creates days to look forward to in places people may not have thought of visiting before.”
James said the idea of Walkshire is to showcase the whole of Yorkshire, not just the well-known walks and routes.
He said: “What we want Walkshire to do is show the walks which are not well known or which people may not have thought of trying. We want to uncover as many walk experiences as possible, there may be a canal or river close by people haven’t explored or a city walk which marks its heritage. We hope Walkshire will engage people with the environment around them and show them hidden surprises.”
Despite the challenges brought about by lockdown, James said the take-up has been higher than expected with people also sharing details of the campaign.
“We have also found it can be a platform for people to find walking groups,” he said. “One lady struggled but, through the hashtag, found a group of individual ladies who walked together so has found new friends.”
And while lockdown has shown the mental and physical benefits of walking, it has also helped people who have been isolating or unable to get out.
James said: “We have been collaborating with organisations across the country encouraging people to take ‘virtual’ walks. These have been setting challenges such as walking up stairs, pretending they are Whitby Abbey Steps or imagining they are walking in the Dales. It is just helping people through a difficult situation, if people can’t get out to walk they can walk in the garden or around the living room. Something, even if it is imaginary, is better than nothing.”
With lockdown easing, the initial plan, to run Walkshire alongside the big events such as agricultural shows and food festivals, will come into play.
James said they also have plans in place to run the Tour de Yorkshire again in 2022.
He said: “When we come back, we will be in a stronger economic position and hope it will go some way to opening up Welcome to Yorkshire to the whole county, including communities which may not have had as much input into it before.
“Walkshire is an umbrella campaign which allows us to promote the fantastic heritage we have in Yorkshire such as maritime and film tourism.
“The key this year is to fulfil 365 walks, but realistically it could be 36,000 walks there is so much to explore.”
It creates days to look forward to in places people may not have thought of visiting before.