Commemorative routes
Freedom Trails Directory
Browse Freedom Trails, route regions and commemorative walks before opening the detailed trail pages.
Trail Directory
Basque Freedom Trails
Routes across the western Pyrenees used local shepherd knowledge to move evaders toward neutral Spain and onward to Gibraltar or Lisbon.
- Difficulty
- Challenging
- Distance
- 45km
Chemin de la Liberté
A Pyrenean mountain crossing from Saint-Girons into Spain. Guides shepherded evaders by night across high passes to reach Allied liaison points.
- Difficulty
- Very Challenging
- Distance
- 70km
Comète Trail
The Comet Line (Réseau Comète) helped Allied airmen escape from Belgium through France to Spain. Named after "Comète" (comet) to symbolise speed and secrecy.
- Difficulty
- Challenging
- Distance
- 800km
France Freedom Trails
National overview of French commemorative freedom trails linking Brittany, the Pyrenees and the Gironde coast to honour the escape lines that crossed occupied France.
- Difficulty
- Varied
- Distance
- Various routes
Frankton Trail
Retraces the overland escape of the two surviving “Cockleshell Heroes” after the Royal Marines canoe raid on Bordeaux harbour.
- Difficulty
- Demanding
- Distance
- 160km
Italian Freedom Trail
After the Italian armistice thousands of Allied POWs escaped through the Apennines. Modern ELMS walks revisit Sulmona and Tenna Valley routes.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Distance
- 180km
Rossano Freedom Trail
Mountain paths linking Pontremoli, the Rossano valley and Cinque Terre villages commemorate partisan guides who moved SAS teams and escaped POWs across the Gothic Line.
- Difficulty
- Challenging
- Distance
- 60km
Shelburn Trail
Follows the GR34 coastal path used by Operation Shelburn to spirit Allied airmen from Brittany beaches to Royal Navy motor gunboats under cover of darkness.
- Difficulty
- Challenging
- Distance
- 87km
Slovenia – Drava Valley
Slovenian partisans sheltered crash-landed aircrew before guiding them across occupied territory to partisan airfields and Allied missions.
- Difficulty
- Challenging
- Distance
- 120km
Sulmona Freedom Trail
Tracks the San Martino Freedom Trail from POW Camp PG 78 in Sulmona across Maiella mountain villages to Castel di Sangro on the former front line.
- Difficulty
- Very Challenging
- Distance
- 90km
Tenna Valley Trail
Follows contadini routes from Monte San Martino safe houses to Adriatic extraction points, celebrating the villa networks that hid Allied generals and POWs.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Distance
- 85km
The Netherlands Freedom Trail
Four commemorative stages trace the Pegasus, Dutch-Paris and Line Crosser routes from Arnhem Bridge through Wageningen and the Biesbosch delta to Lage Zwaluwe, honouring the civilians who moved Allied troops across occupied territory.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Distance
- 100km