Inverness Walking and Wheeling Festival aims to boost health and wellbeing in city
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A new festival taking place in Inverness later this month aims to help people get more active around the city.
Organisers of the new Festival of Walking and Wheeling want to highlight some of the activities going on that make use of the growing network of local paths and routes.
Events will include nature and health walks, Nordic walking, road cycling and exploring on off-road mobility scooters. There will also be history walks and some longer routes to try out.
Festival coordinator Jayne Preece explained that the week-long festival run by Highland charity Partnerships For Wellbeing (PFW), aims to encourage people to walk more in the city.
"Walking is one of the best forms of exercise because it's low impact and it doesn't really cost a lot," she said.
"Even just a short walk can be really beneficial for your physical health as well as your mental health."
PFW works with other organisations including health charities to improve people's health and wellbeing in the Highlands. It has been running health walks in the region since 2004.
Jayne added: "Because we work in partnership like this, we decided to get loads of different walking and wheeling activities that take place in Inverness on a regular basis, and coordinate a celebration of that and shine a light on all these great activities that are going on.
"We wanted to make people more aware of what is happening. There is a wide range of activities taking place within the city, and also try and promote the activities for people with health or mobility problems. We recognise there may be limited opportunities for anybody with a disability to get out and get active, so it was great to hear that we've got the canal scooter ramble with Highland Disabled Ramblers, and the walking for people with Parkinson's as well.
"We've got some more fun things like a ghost walk – any activity that encourages people to come out and be active. People might not think 'I like going walking' – not everybody is like that – but they might come to an activity which does involved more physical exercise.
"We wanted it to feel like these activities are for anybody, you don't have to think of yourself as a walker or cyclist.
"The Inverness Cycle Club activity is a great one, because they do different biking activities but the Monday evening road taster is for people who think they might like to give it a go but don't know where to start. It's all about building confidence."
The festival starts on Saturday, May 20, with a drop-in event at the WASPS Creative Academy where people can get ideas and inspiration for what's on.
The launch event will be opened by BBC comedy star Karen Bartke – Officer Karen in BBC TV’s Scot Squad – who also features in a series of specially shot videos where she discovers some of the city’s hidden nooks, forest walks and tries out the new HiBike electric bikes.
The festival will see more than 30 walking and cycling groups in Inverness come together for the festival, which runs until May 28.
It concludes with a special event at Eden Court Theatre where Highland author SG MacLean will be talking about the importance of walking and cycling in her creative process.
The festival receives funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, Paths for All and Smarter Choices, Smarter Places.
Highlights of the festival include the ghost walk organised by the Highland Paranormal Society and a Caledonian Canal history walk led by Andrew Lucas from Inverness Library.
For full details of what's on, visit the festival website at www.wawfest.com/festival-programme
