ÜBER UNS

UNSERE GESCHICHTE

Along with European governments, partners and companies, we are connecting and marking 1000km hike and bike trails that echo the line of No-Man’s Land along the Western Front. The route is the biggest single commemorative project underway on the globe with over 350 active backers and will allow people from all over the world to experience these lands in an entirely new way.
Der Western Front Way führt durch die schönsten, historischsten und abwechslungsreichsten Landschaften, die von Millionen überzeugender menschlicher Geschichten und Erfahrungen geprägt sind. We work inclusively with all networks, museums, tourism offices, national sites and departments to provide information for users and opportunities for providers along both trails. The WFW app will guide you along both of these thru-hike and bike trails giving you GPS triggered content to your phone about what you can see, what happened there and what you can take from such places.

OUR INSPIRATION

1915. 2nd Lieutenant Alexander Douglas Gillespie of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders writes home from the front line to tell of his vision of ‘a via sacra’ (a sacred road) before being killed in action; “when peace comes, our government might combine with the French government to make one long avenue between the lines from the Vosges to the sea….I would make a fine broad road in the ‘No-Mans Land’ between the lines, with paths for pilgrims on foot and plant trees for shade and fruit trees, so that the soil should not altogether be waste. Then I would like to send every man, woman and child in Western Europe on a pilgrimage along that Via Sacra so that they might think and learn what war means from the silent witnesses on either side.”

OUR VALUES

Education, outdoor challenges, modernising remembrance, rebooting history, reinvigorating commerce, encouraging a healthy lifestyle and eco-tourism

OUR BOARD

Rory Forsyth, CEO
Kim Steffen Hay, Head of International Communications and Marketing

OUR EVOLUTION

In September 2022 the Board of Trustees of the Western Front Way formally passed a resolution to close down the charity. This decision was taken as the charity, having achieved considerable success as a short life organisation, was no longer sustainable. The Trustees welcomed the formation of a new commercial venture which is able to develop and extend the original vision to mark and promote a long distance walking path for peace.

Any donations made towards the Western Front Way will go directly to the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation and AF3V our partners in France overseeing the continuation of the hike and bike routes. Links to their sites can be found below.