Gifts for walkers: the walk itself, drawn on paper

A personalised route print of the Seven Sisters walk from Exceat to Eastbourne along the cliff tops, with its climbs in the profile

Walkers already have the boots, the flask and the map case. What they rarely have is the walk they are proudest of on the wall: the West Highland Way finished in the rain, the Pennine Way done in stages over three summers, the cliff path they walk every New Year's Day. The route print draws that walk from a GPX file, with the climb as a real profile and the distance underneath.

If they recorded it

A walk tracked on a watch or phone is the best source, because it is their own line, wrong turnings included. Strava (from the website, not the phone app), Garmin Connect, Komoot, Coros, Polar and Wahoo can all export an activity as a GPX file, and TCX works too. Our marathon runner gift page has the export steps app by app. The file is read on your own device and is not uploaded; only the line is kept with the design. FIT files aren't read yet.

If they didn't: the trail's own file

For a long-distance path walked without a tracker, the official route is often published as a GPX download:

  • The National Trails website, which covers trails in England and Wales such as the Pennine Way, the South Downs Way and Offa's Dyke Path, has a GPX Downloads tab under the map on each trail's Information & Map page.
  • The official West Highland Way website offers a GPS track for each section between Milngavie and Fort William.

The route print reads one file, so for a path published in sections, either print the section that mattered most or join the sections into one file with a GPX editor first. A planned route has no times in it, so the print shows the distance and climb and leaves out time and pace. For a walk done over several days, that is usually the more honest summary anyway.

How it looks

The line can sit on its own on cream, blush, meadow, ink or midnight paper, or over our own map, framed to the route with no labels. Our example is the Seven Sisters walk from Exceat to Eastbourne along the cliff tops, with the climbs in the profile. Add a title, where and when, and a line of your own: the day they finished, who they walked it with, or the weather they still mention. Distances print in kilometres or miles.

Something to wear on the next walk

Our Love From designs name one place on a T-shirt, mug or print, and several are for paths and hills: the West Highland Way, the Pennine Way, the South Downs Way, Offa's Dyke Path, the Seven Sisters and the Munros.

A day on the hill

A single hill day, a first Munro for instance, works the same way from the watch file, and the profile under the title shows exactly how much climbing it took. If they beat it next year, open the saved design, swap in the new file and order another.

If the place they love isn't tied to a recorded walk at all, the map print can mark a spot such as a village or a summit on a real map instead. For someone who rides rather than walks, see Christmas gifts for cyclists. Route prints are made to order in the UK once you approve the artwork.