Westmorland and Furness Way

Launching in autumn 2026, the Westmorland and Furness Way is a new long-distance walking route spanning 120 miles through the stunning landscapes and varied geography of the Westmorland and Furness region in Cumbria.

This new route will link the historic market town of Alston in the north and Furness Abbey, on the outskirts of Barrow-in-Furness, in the south. It has been designed to allow walkers to discover some of the area’s best countryside in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Yorkshire Dales National Park (Westmorland Dales) and the Lake District National Park.

The trail can be divided into sections or walked as a long-distance challenge, taking an estimated eight to 17 days to complete. The six main sections of the Westmorland Way reflect the geographical features that can been seen along each part of the trail:

• Section 1: Alston to Milburn “Over the Pennines” (16 miles, taking an estimated 1 to 2 days)
• Section 2: Milburn to Kirkby Stephen “Following the Eden” (23 miles, taking an estimated 2 to 3 days)
• Section 3: Kirkby Stephen to Sedbergh “Exploring the Dales and Howgills” (16 miles, taking an estimated 1 to 3 days)
• Section 4: Sedbergh to Bowness “From the Dales to the Lakes” (27 miles, taking an estimated 2 to 4 days)
• Section 5: Bowness to Ulverston “Through Furness woodlands and foothills” (21 miles, taking an estimated 1 to 3 days)
• Section 6: Ulverston to Furness Abbey “Along the Furness Coast” (17 miles, taking an estimated 1 to 2 days)

The route is being developed by Westmorland & Furness Council who are installing new signage and interpretation boards to help walkers enjoy and find key features and local attractions along the route.

While many sections of the route follow existing paths and are already in place, the Westmorland and Furness Way programme will be ‘joining up’ the sections to create one, continuous route, with improvements to signage, linkages and access points.

This work is due to be completed by Autumn 2026 and the route will officially launch.

The following information provides updates on current route information and programme progress.