What is the WheelPower Winter Walk & Push?
Since 2021 the Winter Walk & Push has encouraged people to take on their own challenges and to get moving as they head into the new year. We understand that being motivated to exercise during the Winter months can be hard so lets join forces and together we can support each other all the way to the finish line.
An Open Challenge
Complete your challenge anywhere, and in any way. You might want to do it in the gym, or perhaps join forces with family and friends to reach the target together?
You could set a target of 25km or 50km …. or aim to walk/push 15 or 30 minutes a day. Its entirely up to you! When signing up please tell us what you plan to do and remember to share your progress with us throughout the month.
SIGN UP
Fundraising
SET UP A JUST GIVING PAGE
We are asking everyone who takes part in the WheelPower Winter Walk & Push to contribute to our fundraising campaign by creating a JustGiving page. Once created these links can then be easily shared and will help us to raise as much money as possible for disabled people across the UK. Here’s some examples of what the money you raise could be used for:
- A gift of £20 could pay for a child to discover a sport they love at a WheelPower multi-sport event in 2024.
- A gift of £60 provides information on the physical and mental benefits of sport and physical activity to families with young disabled children.
- A gift of £120 allows our Physical Activity Advisors to organise weekly sport sessions for recently paralysed people.
- A gift of £180 provides disabled people with access to sports facilities – meaning they can stay active and healthy.
Raise over £20 you will receive your very own, money can’t buy WheelPower t-shirt for the remainder of your challenge!
Not taking part but still interested in supporting the walkers and pushers this January? … then please click on the button below to donate to the campaign and help us reach our fundraising goal.
DONATE
Share your journey
Whatever you chose to do WheelPower will be here to support you every step and push along the way. Tell us what you are planning, share your stories with your friends & families and send us some social media updates and we will be there to cheer you on throughout January.
Please use the hashtag #WinterWalkPush and remember to tag WheelPower in when sharing your challenges on social media. We can be found on all platforms (now including Threads and TikTok!)
JOIN THE STRAVA CLUB
Start 2025 in a positive way and do something amazing for WheelPower this January … and with your help we can help even more disabled people to get active this new year and beyond!
Lynda and Josh (Milton Keynes)
“Josh has a spinal cord injury that he has had since birth, and has been in a wheelchair all his life. As for myself, I work from home and love going out and about on walks with the dogs and my children. We have connected to Stoke Mandeville Hospital since josh was 3 years old. We spend 1 to 2 weeks at a time on a yearly basis in the spinal children’s ward. Where he participated in sports and physiotherapy sessions to which Josh found his love for basketball.”
“After considering all the options for the Winter Walk & Push we decided to do 50 miles by the end of January. These miles were completed on the Stoke Mandeville Stadium track s well as many walks around our local lakes and nature sites. Tank you to everyone who donated and helped us raise over £250 for WheelPower.”
John (Dumfries, Scotland)
“I became a wheelchair user in 2013 and started to get involved with different disability sports a couple of years later that included wheelchair curling, sailing to name a few. Sport has changed my life for the better and wheelchair curling is my main sport. I have competed in lots of club and national/ international competitions, and i am now a qualified curling coach and chairman of the Scottish Wheelchair Curling Association.”
“I heard about WheelPower from my fellow wheelchair curler Angie Malone (WheelPower Physical Activity Advisor in Glasgow) I have attended the online exercise classes so wanted to get involved with the Winter Walk and Push to try and raise some funds for WheelPower as a thank you for all the great work and support, encouragement that I have received.”
Liane (County Durham)
“I’m 58 years old and live with my family in Upper Teesdale in the Northern Pennines. I had a failed hip replacement in 2015 and following years of dislocations, tissue, muscle and bone damage, chronic infections and 28 major surgical procedures, my left hip was completely removed in 2020. In trying to build strength and recover, but having no appropriate gym facilities nearby I found WheelPower on YouTube.”
“My motivation for taking on the WheelPower Winter Push Challenge is the free online classes I have the privilege to attend, and for which I am thankful. My target is simply to do something every day, however big or small – just something more than I would do on a normal day around the house. I was so thrilled with the sponsorship support I received, and it is given me the incentive to keep going.”
Liane raised an amazing £750 for WheelPower during her Winter Walk & Push challenge in January 2023.
This money raised by our Winter Walkers and Pushers will support many other disabled to enjoy the benefits of movement, activity and sport … whether this be by using the online resources or attending the in person events which have been so invaluable to Liane, Josh and John. Thank you to you all.
National:
Find a Walk with The Ramblers Association
(For accessible/wheelchair-friendly walks please click the suitability option.)
The Outdoor Guide Wheelchair Friendly Walks
Top Accessible Walks from The National Trust
Buckinghamshire Walking Routes
Aylesbury Walks
Outer Aylesbury Ring – For a long challenge that can be done in sections there is this walk which is a fully signed route. Some sections can also be walked individually as circular walks and each section has a guide. See here: https://sites.google.com/view/outeraylesburyring/home
Aylesbury Ring – A shorter signed route, but still more than most people could do in a day. It could be done in sections, and as it crosses the main radial roads, public transport could be used to get to starting places and from end points. See here: https://www.aylesbury-ramblers.org.uk/theaylesbury-ring
Round Aylesbury Walk – The oldest and shortest of the walks devised by Aylesbury Ramblers.
Buckinghamshire Walks
- Weston Turville Reservoir is managed as a nature reserve by Bucks, Berks and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) who also have guides to Wild Walks on their reserves.
- The Waddesdon Greenway is a flat traffic-free walk from Aylesbury Vale Parkway station to Waddesdon Manor and Waddesdon village. It is about 4km (2.5 miles) each way.
- Wendover Woods is a lovely place to walk and has signed walking trails.
- The Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal starting from Aylesbury Canal Basin in the town centre makes a good flat walk to Buckland, Marsworth, Bulbourne or even Tring and Berkhamsted. From Bulbourne there is the option to follow the Wendover Arm of the canal, to Buckland Wharf near Aston Clinton, then Halton and ultimately Wendover. The canal network is managed by the Canal & River Trust which has more information.
- Coombe Hill is a great place for a walk with spectacular views across the Vale of Aylesbury from the monument. You can park at the library in Wendover and walk up Bacombe Hill to Coombe Hill monument then continue on a circular walk from there or start from the car park on top of the hill at Low Scrubs.
- Tring Park and Hastoe is a good walk with rewarding views starting near the Natural History Museum in Tring. Tring Park is managed by the Woodland Trust.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Please note that some paths are affected by works for HS2, East West Rail, housing developments and other works, but you may think this is too off putting. It is necessarily rather detailed!
Thank you to Peter Robinson for supporting us to create this very handy document.
Other Walks
Free Walks from the Chiltern Society
Self Guided Walks from The Parks Trust (Milton Keynes)
