Booking onto Cheshire Hike
The plans for Cheshire Hike 2026, held between 26th-27th September, are well underway. Our (secret for now) start and finish locations have been chosen, we’re mapping out our basecamp, and our team of organisers have started plotting and walking the routes. Please find information below on how to book places this year.
We have three age categories, based on how old you are on Saturday 26th September 2026.
Teams consist of two, three, four or five young people, all who must be within the same age category.
| Age Category |
Hiker Age |
Kit Weight Limit |
Pathfinder
(30km) |
At least 10½ years of age, but not 12½ yet. |
Day pack: 6kg
+ a transported rucksack: 10kg |
Pathfinder Plus
(40km) |
At least 12½ years of age, but still in Scouts or Guides. |
Rucksack: 8kg |
Explorer
(50-60km) |
At least 13½ years of age, and an Explorer or Ranger. |
Rucksack: 10kg |
The updated booking process
Bookings for Cheshire Hike 2026 open on Saturday 25th April at 10am. Our maximum capacity is 850 young people.
The process of securing places for the event is as follows:
- Bookings open at 10am on Saturday 25th April. From the Cheshire Hike website, select Book Now and register your Group. You will then be able to choose how many places you would like to pre-register for those wishing to take part. At this stage, places are not secured.
- To secure places, payment of £30 per young person must be made. Once payment has been received, you’ll be notified and will be able to add young people to the booking system. Parents or carers will then receive a link to complete their young person’s personal information.
- Once the event reaches capacity at 850 participants, which we expect to happen quickly, pre-registration will close. A waiting list will then be made available on the Cheshire Hike website and will operate on a first-come, first-served basis.
- If places are not paid for within 14 days of pre-registration, they will be released and made available to other Groups.
- If a young person can no longer take part after their place has been paid for, that place may be reallocated to another young person by deleting their record and adding a new young person in the booking system. No refunds will be available.
- Leaders must place hikers into teams, and these can be amended up until two weeks before the event, Friday 11th September. After this date, hikers may withdraw if they are no longer able to take part, and teams may merge if required. However, no new hikers can be registered.
Once the event is full, is there a waiting list?
A waiting list system will be released via this page once the event is full, allowing hikers to take advantage of any places that do become available from those that can no longer take part in the event.
Got a question?
Should you have any queries, we have a page full of FAQs to read. If you can’t find the answer to your question, please contact [email protected]. When contacting us through any channel, please bear in mind we’re all volunteers – we will respond as quickly as we can.