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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 15 July 2026

This is a deliberately small privacy policy, because hikes.guide deliberately collects almost nothing. There are no accounts, no advertising, and we set no cookies of our own. To understand how the site is used we run privacy-friendly, cookieless analytics (Plausible) that collect no personal data — no cookies, no persistent identifiers, and nothing that can identify you (see Analytics). The exceptions are optional and there are two: if you choose to load Instagram photos on some pages, or to load an embedded Strava activity on one page, those companies set their own cookies — and only then, and only if you ask for it by clicking. This page explains exactly what does and doesn't happen with your data.

What data we collect

Almost none. You don't need to create an account or give us any personal information to use the Website. We don't ask for your name, email or location, we don't run sign-up forms, and we don't sell or share personal data with anyone for marketing.

Cookies

hikes.guide sets no cookies of its own — no advertising networks, and nothing that places a persistent identifier on your device for our purposes. Our analytics (Plausible) is deliberately cookieless and stores no personal data (see Analytics below). There is only one source of cookies on the site, it is third-party, optional and off by default: embedded photographs from Instagram (see below). Nothing from Instagram loads, and no Instagram cookie is set, until you ask for it — so on most pages, and for anyone who doesn't opt in, the site stays completely cookieless.

Because the only non-essential cookies are opt-in, you'll only see a cookie-consent prompt on pages that actually offer Instagram photos, and only until you've made a choice. You can change or withdraw that choice at any time using the "Cookie settings" link in the footer.

Analytics

We use Plausible Analytics (opens in new tab) to understand how the site is used — which pages people read, roughly where visitors arrive from, and whether the changes we make actually help. We chose it specifically because it is privacy-friendly by design:

• No cookies and no persistent identifiers — nothing is stored on or read from your device.
• No personal data retained. According to Plausible's data policy (opens in new tab), visitor counts are derived from a daily-rotating salted hash that is discarded within 24 hours; your IP address is never stored and cannot be recovered from it.
• No cross-site or cross-device tracking, no advertising, and no data sold or shared with anyone.
• Only aggregate statistics are produced — never a profile of you as an individual.
• Data is collected and processed within the EU.

Because Plausible sets no cookies and stores no personal data about you, it needs no consent banner under PECR or the UK GDPR; to the extent any minimal processing applies, our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in understanding and improving the site. The full detail is in Plausible's data policy (opens in new tab).

Embedded content from Instagram

Some pages — for example our Most Instagrammable Viewpoints guide — can display photographs hosted on Instagram, shown as an "Editor's favourite photo". These embeds are provided by Instagram, part of Meta Platforms, Inc.

We do not load any Instagram content until you allow it — either by choosing "Allow Instagram content" in our consent banner, or by clicking an individual "View on Instagram" card. Until then, nothing is requested from Instagram and no Instagram cookies are set.

When you do allow it, Instagram/Meta may set cookies on your device and receive your IP address, browser and device information, and the page you are viewing, in order to render the post and for Meta's own purposes. This processing is carried out by Meta as an independent controller under Meta's Privacy Policy (opens in new tab). Meta is based in the United States, so allowing this content may involve a transfer of your data outside the UK/EEA.

You can withdraw consent at any time via "Cookie settings" in the footer; this stops further Instagram content from loading (any embed already loaded on the page you're looking at may remain until you refresh).

Apart from this opt-in embedded content, the rest of the site sets no cookies, as described above.

Embedded activity from Strava

One page — The perfect Wainwright round — offers an embedded map of a public Strava activity, so you can see the record holder’s actual line beside our computed one. Strava is operated by Strava, Inc.

Nothing loads from Strava unless you click it. The page shows a plain placeholder with a button; until you press it, your browser makes no request to Strava, sends them no IP address, and receives no cookies. There is no auto-loading and no pre-connecting, and ignoring the placeholder is not consent.

If you do click, your browser contacts strava-embeds.com to fetch the map. At that point Strava can see your IP address and may set cookies, exactly as if you had visited their site directly. That choice applies to that one embed, on that visit only — we store nothing about it, so it is not remembered and not carried to any other page.

We never send Strava anything about you, and we receive nothing back about you. What Strava does with the request is governed by Strava’s own privacy policy (opens in new tab).

Local storage — your progress, on your device

If you use the "tick fells you've climbed" feature, your list of bagged fells is saved only in your own browser's localStorage, on your device. This data never leaves your device and is never sent to, or seen by, hikes.guide or any third party — there is no account and no server copy. It's purely functional storage that you actively request by ticking fells, so it doesn't require a consent banner under PECR. You can back it up with the Export button, and remove it at any time by clearing your browser's site data (note that doing so, or your browser evicting local storage, will erase your progress — Export first if you want to keep it).

Third-party services (maps & weather)

To show maps and forecasts, your browser makes requests directly to a small number of outside services:

• Map tiles — OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab) and OpenTopoMap (opens in new tab).
• Weather — Open-Meteo (opens in new tab).

Like any web request, these may record your IP address in those services' own server logs under their respective privacy policies. They do not set cookies through this Website. We don't send them any information about you beyond the ordinary technical details of the request.

Server logs

The Website is hosted by IONOS. Standard hosting server logs (such as IP addresses and request times) may be kept by the host for security and operational purposes, in accordance with UK data-protection law — the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. We don't use these logs to build profiles of visitors.

Your rights under UK GDPR

Because we don't hold personal data about you (no account, no contact details unless you choose to email us), there's normally nothing for us to look up, change or delete. If you have emailed us, you still have the usual rights under UK GDPR — to access, correct or erase any personal data we hold, to object to or restrict its processing, and to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) (opens in new tab). To exercise any of these, get in touch (below).

How to contact us about privacy

For any privacy question or request, please use our Contact page. The Website operator is the data controller for hikes.guide.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the "Last updated" date above will be revised. Given how little data is involved, we don't expect substantial changes.