As the temperature drops and the landscape transforms, winter reveals some of the UK's most spectacular walking routes. Guardian Travel readers have shared their favourite frosty-day hikes, from a Cheshire peak dubbed the 'mini Matterhorn' to a Northumberland coast path leading to a brewery pub.
Peak Perfection and Panoramic Vistas
For those seeking alpine-style scenery without leaving England, Shutlingsloe in Cheshire comes highly recommended. Starting from the Trentabank car park in Macclesfield Forest, walkers ascend to the 506-metre summit, which offers breathtaking panoramic views. On clear winter days, the vista stretches from the Staffordshire Roaches and Manchester's skyline across the Cheshire Plain to Jodrell Bank and even the Great Orme in Llandudno. The descent rewards efforts with local specialities, including Staffordshire oatcakes, from a food truck.
Further south, the Chilterns provide a perfect frosty-day circuit. A five-mile hike from the village of Ewelme takes in beech woodlands, the grounds of Swyncombe House with views over the Vale of Oxford, and ancient earthworks. The route is alive with deer and pheasant, and the lack of a pub en route is forgiven for the pristine winter countryside.
Coastal Drama and Wildlife Encounters
Norfolk's Holkham beach and nature reserve offer a vast, bracing escape. The immense sands, marshes, and pinewoods absorb crowds, leaving walkers with a sense of solitude. The unique light and variety of routes, including a boardwalk, are complemented by the area's role as a landfall for exhausted migrant birds. Bird hides along the woodland edge provide front-row seats for winter wildfowl spectacles and birds of prey.
In Northern Ireland, the Portstewart Cliff Walk—known locally as the Nuns' Walk—skirts a Dominican college with dramatic exposure to the Atlantic. It's a guaranteed cobweb-clearer, finishing in the town centre perfectly timed for a spectacular sunset and a post-walk pint by the fire in the Anchor Bar.
Magical Mists and Cosy Conclusions
For a truly ethereal experience, Skipton Moor in North Yorkshire is the place to be on a cold, foggy morning after a clear night. A mile from the town edge, walkers can emerge from misty woods to find themselves above a sea of clouds, with panoramic views of Airedale and Pendle Hill, alongside hares and curlew.
Bath's Skyline walk is a six-mile loop offering panoramic views of the city, especially enchanting when morning mists rise over the sandstone rooftops. The route passes ancient woodland, a sham castle, and the National Trust's Prior Park landscape garden before descending into the city for a well-earned drink by a pub fire.
From the grassy slopes of Sale Fell in the Lake District, with its safe frosty paths and views over Bassenthwaite, to the dramatic ridge walks of the Black Mountains in Wales, finishing at the atmospheric cellar bar of Llanthony Priory, these reader tips prove that winter walking is a gift that keeps on giving. Whether it's the castle-to-pub stroll from Embleton to Low Newton in Northumberland or the stunning vistas of the Greenock Cut west of Glasgow, the UK's winter landscapes are waiting to be explored.
