Build a hiking time plan with room for your own pace

Understand the directory's baseline

Our headline estimate uses 12.5 minutes per kilometre, plus 9 minutes per 100 m of ascent. Above 15 km, it adds 1.8 minutes for each additional kilometre. For a hypothetical 10 km route with 500 m of ascent, that is 125 plus 45 minutes: 2 hours 50 minutes before stops.

This is a consistent way to compare routes in the database. It does not learn your walking speed and it does not know today's path conditions. A precise-looking number is simply the result of the inputs and formula. Treat it as a starting assumption that you can challenge.

References: Directory data sources and time estimates

Change the assumptions, not just the final number

The calculator below uses a separate, transparent scenario: distance divided by your assumed level-ground pace, an ascent allowance you choose, and a stop allowance. It deliberately shows these parts separately. If the result looks optimistic, you can see which assumption creates that optimism.

For example, 10 km at 4 km/h takes 150 minutes before climbing. Adding 500 m of ascent at 10 minutes per 100 m adds 50 minutes; a 40-minute stop allowance gives 240 minutes, or 4 hours. This is an example, not a recommended universal walking speed. Use experience from comparable outings when selecting your own inputs.

Fit the outing into the actual day

Write down the start of walking separately from leaving home. Include the approach from transport to the route, breaks, the way back to transport and any waiting. The route's mapped distance may start beyond a car park or bus stop. Your day includes those extra pieces even if the route page does not.

If a return bus or other fixed commitment matters, work backwards from it. A plan that arrives exactly at the deadline has no allowance for an unexpected delay. Decide in advance where and when you will reassess progress, using a local map and a feasible alternative rather than assuming every route has a shortcut.

Know when a calculator is not enough

Neither the headline estimate nor this calculator models technical climbing, snow, difficult navigation, river crossings or changing access. Descending can also take substantial time. Do not interpret a small calculated total as confirmation that a route is suitable for you.

When ascent is missing, the route planner leaves that input blank instead of quietly treating it as zero. Enter an independently checked value before using the calculated total. For a long-distance route, plan and check individual stages; an aggregate number is not an overnight itinerary.