I often hear people say they’d love to go trail running but they don’t know where. Here are a few ideas from the people that protect our Great British countryside.

The National Trust have both organised day and night runs of differing distances within their grounds, as well as ideas on locations where you can create your own run, https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/running

The Forestry Commission have a great “wild running” section on their website which lists locations and events up and down the country, http://www.forestry.gov.uk/wildrunningroutes

The Woodland Trust has an interesting search option called “visiting woods” which does exactly what it says, https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/

Now that you have a host of locations to consider the second question from most road runners would be, why should I run trails. After all if you’ve run pavements for years what are the benefits of a new approach.

I particularly like this write up from Cotswold Outdoor because I covers just about all the scenic benefits of the trails. I could ramble on about why I love running off road but all you need to do is read my previous blogs, http://knowledge.cotswoldoutdoor.com/c/road-to-trail-running-the-secret-benefits/

The final resource I’d recommend reading is the Ordnance Survey “get outdoors” link as they will not only guide you with their maps (paper & digital) but they also have lots of great ideas, https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getoutside/

I hope these links will persuade more people to run off road. You don’t have to go far, start with a National Trust parkrun and work your way up. The beautiful countryside is waiting for you 🙂

Finally, why not run with others and share the experience.

My work is done !!