Privacy Policy

Last updated: February 2026

1. Who We Are

Walk Via Francigena ("we", "us", "our") is operated by Pixelo Mobile Ltd and runs the website walkviafrancigena.com, providing trail information and a marketplace for the Via Francigena. We are committed to protecting your personal data and respecting your privacy.

Data controller: Pixelo Mobile Ltd (trading as Walk Via Francigena), company number 10585806. Registered office: Demsa Accounts, 565 Green Lanes, Haringey, London, England, N8 0RL.

2. What Data We Collect

We collect the following personal data when you interact with our services:

• Booking data: Full name, email address, phone number, number of guests, preferred dates, and special requests
• Account data: Email address and encrypted password (if you create an account)
• Payment data: Processed securely by Stripe. We do not store your card details
• Communication data: Messages sent via our contact form or email
• Technical data: Browser type, IP address, and pages visited (if analytics cookies are accepted)
• Approximate country (from your IP): We check your IP address against an offline country database held on our own server, so we can show travel offers that are actually available where you are. Your IP address is not sent to any third party for this, is not stored, and we only ever derive your country — never a precise location. IP geolocation data by DB-IP (CC BY 4.0).
• Location data (mobile app): If you use the Via Francigena mobile app and grant permission, we collect your device's precise location, including in the background while the app is closed or not in use. This is used to record your route while you hike, show your position on the trail map, provide off-route alerts, and power the daily safety check-in — if you miss two or more consecutive check-ins, your last recorded GPS position may be shared with the emergency contacts you chose. Background location is collected only while you have an active hike in progress, after you accept an in-app disclosure, and you can disable location access at any time in your device settings or stop the hike. Location data is never sold and is not shared with third parties for advertising.

3. How We Use Your Data

• To process and manage your booking
• To send booking confirmations and trip-related communications
• To respond to enquiries and support requests
• To record your hiking route, show your position on the trail map, and provide off-route alerts and safety check-ins in the mobile app — using precise and background location, only with your permission
• To improve our website and services (with consent)
• To tell you about our other walking trails in the Trailivo network (with your consent) — you can opt out at any time.
• To comply with legal obligations

4. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

We process your data under the following legal bases:

• Contract: Processing necessary to fulfil your booking
• Legitimate interest: Responding to enquiries, improving our services
• Consent: Analytics cookies and marketing communications (where applicable)
• Legal obligation: Tax and accounting requirements

5. Data Sharing

We share your data only with:

• Stripe: Payment processing
• Resend: Transactional email delivery
• Cloudflare: Website hosting and security

We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

The Trailivo network brands operated by Pixelo Mobile Ltd are: Lycian Way, Coast to Coast, South West Coast Path, Cappadocia, Via Francigena and Göbeklitepe. With your consent we may email you about these other trails; you can opt out at any time.

6. Cookies

We use the following types of cookies:

• Essential cookies: Required for the website to function (e.g., session tokens, cookie consent preference). These cannot be disabled.
• Analytics cookies: Help us understand how visitors use our site. Only loaded with your consent.

You can change your cookie preferences at any time by clearing your browser's local storage.

7. Data Retention

• Booking data: retained for 6 years (UK tax requirements)
• Account data: retained until you request deletion
• Enquiry data: retained for 2 years
• Analytics data: anonymised after 14 months
• Marketing consent records: kept while we rely on them, plus a suppression record after you opt out.

8. Your Rights

Under GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access your personal data
• Rectify inaccurate data
• Request erasure ("right to be forgotten")
• Restrict or object to processing
• Data portability
• Withdraw consent at any time

To exercise these rights, email us at hello@walkviafrancigena.com.

9. Data Security

We protect your data using industry-standard measures including HTTPS encryption, hashed passwords (PBKDF2-SHA256), and secure cloud infrastructure via Cloudflare.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The "last updated" date at the top will reflect the most recent revision.

11. Contact

For privacy-related queries, contact us at: hello@walkviafrancigena.com