Walking and cycle routes

As well as using your bicycle to travel to work, you might also enjoy getting out and about in fresh air on two wheels.

Go Smarter Go Active’s walking and cycling maps can help you to find fantastic routes from across the entire North East – up to Northumberland, across County Durham as well as within Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, North and South Tyneside. Just visit their dedicated route-finder page via the button below and click the map to get started.

Regular free guided walks are also available in both Gateshead through Our Gateshead and Durham through their County Council.

Walking with Water

Walking with Water encourages connection between people and the water we use by encouraging them to explore the places water comes from – rivers, streams and reservoirs.

Providing a perfect opportunity to connect with nature and take part in outdoor activities, Walking with Water shares walking routes across the North East and entire nation – making routes easy to find wherever you are.

Access our Cycle to Work Scheme

Our Cycle to Work Scheme is hosted in partnership with Green Commute Initiative.

Access to this scheme is bound by some terms & conditions the organisation has implemented around access. These include two main ‘rules’ – that no salary sacrifice/deduction pushes you below an income of £13.50 per hour (subject to change), and that you can be engaged in no more than two sacrifices/deductions at any given time.

Green Commute Initiative:

The Green Commute Initiative is a salary sacrifice scheme that provides you with access to bicycle purchases of up to a value of £5000 over a minimum length term of 12 months, and a maximum length term of 36 months. Unlike many other providers, no end of term payments apply.

To access this benefit, you’ll need to visit their website and enter the access code ‘GHNHS’. For more information on the scheme and offer itself, please click to download the GCI Info Guide.

NHS North East Wellbeing and Outdoor Activity Group

Amongst the many activities organised and ran by the NHS North East Wellbeing and Outdoor Activity Group are regular hiking events.

To find out when and where the latest group walks are planned to take place, just visit and join their dedicated Facebook group.

The Wellbeing and Outdoor Activity Group was founded by Gateshead Health colleague Fior Sayer, and many of its events are often ran in association with local company Alexander Adventures. The group was extended from QE to all North East NHS colleagues in early 2022.

Step count challenges

The health and wellbeing team at Gateshead Health traditionally organise two step count challenges per year for colleagues, encouraging us all to be that bit more active, get out and about and enjoy the benefits of doing so.

Challenges tend to take place annually in May to coincide with National Walking Month, as well as later in the year in or around October.

Current champions:

Our last Step Count Challenge marked the 75th birthday of the NHS and took place throughout May 2023. Our winners were:

• 7000: The Troopers
• 10,000: ECG Girls
• 13,000: Ward 26, Too Inspired to be Tired

The full final tables can be seen on Twitter.