‘The problems we see are people don’t have people to go with’

Around every third week of the month, the group meets up for days out walking within an hour or two of London so like-minded enthusiasts can hike together, meet new friends and socialise, with enough time to catch the train home.

As part of OS’s 'Gym With Us’ campaign, founder Harry Brown explains the origin of the group, why it’s been so successful with Gen Z, the benefits of exercising together with others, and some of the barriers young people experience in the outdoors.

Instagram: @walk_this__way

Harry - how did Walk This Way come about?

“I'd just moved to Hackney in London for work and I didn't really have any connections here.

“I love hiking, nature and the outdoors, and I always thought it's a great way to meet people. I gathered what friends I had and posed as a hiking group and pushed it out online in the hopes of meeting new people to do something I enjoyed. It turned out there was a lot of appetite for that.

“So I guess through my need to build connections, I managed to create an organisation where there's a lot of people meeting each other. It snowballed, really. I think it was September 2024, which is when we started to get our first strangers coming along. People that were not mutual friends, just people who independently saw us online and thought, 'oh, I'll give that a try.'

“Last January we really spring boarded from around 20 of us each month to pushing 100. This January we've had such a massive influx of demand for people to come on hikes, it’s quite like people always going to the gym in January – I think hiking groups experience the same."

How far do you typically walk?

“We’ve got to think about train times and the walk as one. So, if you take a train that's closer to London, you can do a longer walk. That's particularly important right now in the winter. When the sunsets at 4pm it is obviously a big challenge when you're leading a group hike. In winter we look for trains that are less than an hour from London and that enables us to keep doing sort of 15-kilometre walks.

“These take about four and a half to five hours on average. So in winter, definitely we need to walk within an hour of London. However, in the summer we can push it to an hour and a half, two hours. Although the feedback we get is two hours is a bit long on the train for one day. But if it's an amazing location, then we'll go the extra length.

“Generally, we hike around Kent, Sussex, Berkshire, and the Chiltern Hills as well.”

How would you describe the benefits of all you walking together compared to just going out on your own?

“Obviously it's good to be meeting people. So you already come on that basis. People are open to making new friends, which makes life quite easy.

"I also think walking side by side is intrinsically a more natural way to get to know someone. It is human instinct that if you walk side by side with someone, you automatically assume they're a friend.

"Whereas if you come head-to-head with someone like you would at a bar or across a table, it's quite naturally confrontational."

"And I think as well just being out in nature really helps because it has a very calming presence. It almost says to your body you can relax because you are around natural sounds and green space, which you're sometimes deprived of in London.

“I guess I also like hiking on my own as well – but I think it's a very different experience. I often do go walk on my own and it can be very introspective. It's just you and your thoughts so that can be nice and meditative. But I think in a group, people are excited, you're going on an adventure, and you can sort of share that excitement together, which creates an environment to have good conversations and enjoy yourself.”

Do you think if you're in a group you walk a bit further?

“If you're an experienced hiker, then I think 15k feels fairly standard. But I know for some people they'll come on our walks, and they have never hiked before. So doing 15k can be quite a physical feat. I think there's an aspect of being in a group setting motivating you to carry on.

“There are some hills we've been on that people weren't expecting and they didn't think they would be able to do it so easily. But when you're in a group setting, you have people to fall back on, people to help you and that can give people a lot of confidence which you might not get if you're on your own.”

Who joins Walk This Way for walks?

“We’ve always had in mind that we want to be a hiking group that represents Londoners. London's a very diverse place with people from all different backgrounds, cultures and occupations.

“Currently it's probably about 70% women, 30% men, with a broad spectrum of careers. We have tech advisors, painters, students, graphic designers, a lot of creative people, a lot of actors, a lot of people working in corporate.

“I've got a corporate finance job so it's quite refreshing to meet people I would never normally meet in my day-to-day."

What age are people who hike with Walk This Way?

“It's a Gen Z demographic. We don't set specific age limits, but I think because I am in my mid-20s, you kind of attract what you are. We have people in their 30s turning up and that's been amazing, and we’ve had people that are still teenagers so 18, 19. But it's an adult-only group and we don’t have anyone under the age of 18.

Do you feel there are barriers to the outdoors for Gen Z or not?

“Definitely. There are huge barriers. That's something we try and tackle. The problems we see are people don't have people to go hiking with. It's quite hard to have enough pre-existing friends to go on big hikes because it's not everyone's cup of tea.

“So what we provide is a platform where you are meeting 150 other people that also want to go on a walk. That gives you access to people to do it in your own time, which is what we've seen. Our walks are very small scale, they're very safe – we're not tackling Mount Snowdon.

“We're going through fields in the Cotswolds and Sussex and it's a nice accessible walk for people. We're also giving people a platform where they can then make friends in smaller groups and start their own little trips venturing further afield. As well as that we give people the knowledge of where to go. We've been doing it so long, we know lots of local routes and nice places to hike.

“Often people simply don't know where to walk and they might be afraid that a public footpath doesn't exist and they’ll get lost. But if you have someone that knows where they're going, knows what they're doing, and you participate in that, that's going to give you the confidence to do it yourself.

“Also, I think historically, especially in the UK, the outdoor space has been quite white dominated. So for us, it's nice to bring different people from diverse backgrounds to the table.”

Were you a keen hiker when you were younger?

“I grew up in a village in the Cotswolds, a place with loads of nice open countryside. I've always been comfortable with walking and I would walk my dog from the age of nine, every day. I liked the benefits of it. Later when I was at university, I missed that a lot. At that stage I was much more focused on partying and living a city life. Then I moved down to London, needed to make friends and I thought maybe I should try hiking again. And I've really caught the bug for it.”

Do you use OS maps?

“I use the premium subscription which has been quite nice because I'm able to make my own routes. I do like the app. It has a nice user interface and there are a lot of routes on there. If you learn to toggle on all the community ones, you'd be surprised how many good routes are on there.”

Are you a fan of exercising in the gym?

“Historically, no, although I have had a gym membership this year. I'm doing it to try and condition for hiking and for climbing, which I also quite like. It's more of a means to an end, than a passion.”

What’s the difference between exercising indoors to outdoors?

“I would say the gym is a very accessible way to exercise because you can just sort of do it. You can fit it into your daily routine.

“But exercising outdoors is much more stimulating and I think it feels less like exercise because there's all sorts of different stimuli. But it has to be more intentional. You couldn't go on a 20 kilometre hike each day around your working week, but you could go to the gym for a few hours. I think that's the difference.”