Long-distance footpaths in the UK
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The following long-distance footpaths can be found in the United Kingdom:
Contents |
[edit] England and Wales: National Trails
National Trails are distinguished by being maintained by the National Trails organization [1]. As of April 2005, there were fifteen such trails, mostly in England.
- Cleveland Way round the edge of the North York Moors National Park in England
- Cotswold Way in England
- Glyndŵr's Way in Wales
- Hadrian's Wall Path in England
- North Downs Way in England
- Offa's Dyke Path in Wales and England
- Peddar's Way and Norfolk Coast Path in England (treated as one by National Trails)
- Pembrokeshire Coast Path in Wales
- Pennine Bridleway in England
- Pennine Way in England and Scotland
- The Ridgeway in England
- South Downs Way in England
- South West Coast Path (South West Way) in England - the UK's longest
- Thames Path in England
- Yorkshire Wolds Way in England
[edit] Scotland: Long Distance Routes
Long Distance Routes are proposed and financially supported by Scottish Natural Heritage, but administered and maintained by the local authority areas through which they pass.
[edit] Other UK long-distance paths
Those included here meet the definition of a long-distance path as being around 50 kilometres or more, particularly that they will take more than one day's walking to complete. Some shorter paths linking significant places (e.g. Clarendon Way) or linking between major walks (e.g. Maelor Way) are also included.
[edit] England
- 1066 Country Walk, East Sussex - 50 kilometres Pevensey Castle to Rye
- Abbeys Amble, North Yorkshire
- Abbot's Way (or Jobber's Path or sometimes Jobber's Cawse), an ancient path across Dartmoor
- Abbott's Hike, 172 kilometres Cumbria
- Ainsty Bounds Walk, North Yorkshire, circular from Tadcaster, 71 kilometres
- Angles Way, 123 kilometres from Great Yarmouth to Knettishall Heath, with much of the path following the Norfolk/Suffolk border. Additionally there is a link path from Knettishall Heath to Thetford.
- Avon Valley Path, 54.5 kilometres Christchurch to Salisbury (Hampshire and Wiltshire)
- Avon Valley Walk, Stratford-upon-Avon to Marlcliff (Warwickshire}
- Basingstoke Canal
- Beacon Way, 40 kilometres from West Bromwich to Gentleshaw (West Midlands/ Staffordshire [2])
- Bishop Bennet Way, 55 kilometres Beeston to Wirswall (Cheshire, Staffordshire)
- Boudica's Way, 60 kilometres from Norwich to Diss
- Bournemouth Coast Path, 59.5 kilometres from Sandbanks to Milford-on-Sea (Dorset and Hampshire)
- Bronte Way, 69 kilometres from Birstall, West Yorkshire to Padiham, Lancashire
- Bullock Smithy Hike, a 90 kilometre challenge walk, a circular walk to be completed in 24 hours (actual challenge is held on the first weekend in September), starts and finishes at Hazel Grove, Greater Manchester and takes in Lyme Park, Chinley, Edale, Castleton and many other points
- Burnley Way, a 64 kilometre circular trail around Burnley in Lancashire
- Calderdale Way, West Yorkshire, circular from Greetland 80km
- Capital Ring, 115 kilometres, circular through inner London crossing the Thames at Richmond and Woolwich
- Celtic Way - runs from the west of Wales to Stonehenge and then heads south-west to Cornwall, a total of 1162 kilometres
- Centenary Way, Warwickshire - covers 158 kilometres from Kingsbury to Upper Quinton.
- Channel to Channel Path, Seaton to Watchet, 80 km
- Chiltern Way, 200 kilometre circular walk from Hemel Hempstead (275 kilometres with extensions).
- Cistercian Way, Grange-over-Sands to Roa Island (Cumbria) - 53km
- Clarendon Way, 38.5 kilometres from Salisbury to Winchester
- Coast to Coast, Devon, Wembury to Lynmouth 186km
- Coast to Coast Walk, 309 kilometres from St. Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire
- Coleridge Way, Nether Stowey to Porlock 58km (Somerset)
- Cross Cotswold Pathway - see Macmillan Ways below
- Coventry Way - circumnavigates Coventry from a start point in Meriden - 64 kilometres
- Cumbria Coastal Way 241 kilometres from Silverdale in Lancashire to Gretna Green in southern Scotland.
- Cumbria Way, 112 kilometres from Ulverston to Carlisle
- Dales Way, runs 126 kilometres from Bowness-on-Windermere to Ilkley with extensions to Leeds, Shipley and Harrogate
- D'Arcy Dalton Way, Wormleighton - Waylands Smithy 106km (Warwickshire, Oxfordshire)
- Dartmoor Way, 139.5 kilometres around Dartmoor
- Derwent Valley Heritage Way, 88 kilometres from Bamford to Shardlow via the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site
- Devonshire Heartland Way - 69 kilometres from the Exe Valley to Okehampton
- Downs Link - 59 kilometres from the North Downs Way at St. Martha's Hill near Guildford to the South Downs Way at Steyning, and on to Shoreham-by-Sea
- East Devon Way, 61 kilometres ExmouthExmouth to Lyme Regis
- Ebor Way, 112 kilometres from Ilkley to Helmsley (connecting the Dales Way to the Cleveland Way)
- Essex Way, Epping to Harwich, 130 kilometres
- Exe Valley Way, Devon - runs 72.5 kilometres from the River Exe extuary to Exmoor
- Fen Rivers Way, runs 98.5 kilometres Cambridge to King's Lynn
- Gloucestershire Way, 161 kilometres Chepstow to Tewkesbury
- The Greater Ridgeway. This is the name used for the combined route of 583 kilometres crossing from Lyme Regis, Dorset on the English Channel to Hunstanton on The Wash, following the Wessex Ridgeway, The Ridgeway National Trail, the Icknield Way and the Peddars Way National Trail.
- Greensand Way, 169 kilometres from Haslemere, Surrey to Hamstreet, Kent
- Gritstone Trail, 56 kilometres from Disley to Kidsgrove (mainly Cheshire)
- Hampshire Millennium Pilgrims Trail, 48 kilometres from Winchester to Portsmouth
- Hardy Way, Dorset and Wiltshire, 342 kilometres Higher Brockhampton - Stinsford
- Heart of England Way, Midlands - 161 kilometres Milford, Staffordshire to Bourton-on-the-Water
- Herefordshire Trail, 246.5 kilometre circular route from Ledbury via Ross-on-Wye, Kington, Leominster and Bromyard, waymarks are planned but not yet in place
- Hereward Way, 166 kilometres from Oakham to East Harling (Rutland, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk). The Stamford to Peterborough section is not fully waymarked, but walkers travelling between those two places can follow the waymarked Torpel Way.
- High Weald Landscape Trail, running 145 kilometres from Horsham to Rye (West Sussex, East Sussex, Kent)
- Hyndburn Clog, a 53 kilometre circular around Hyndburn in Lancashire, with a main start point at Stanhill
- Icknield Way, 206 kilometres Bledlow to Knettishall Heath (Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk)
- Isaac's Tea Trail, circular route of 58 kilometres from Ninebanks via Allendale, Nenthead and Alston in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
- Irwell Sculpture Trail, 48 kilometres from Salford Quays to Bacup, Rossendale following the River Irwell (Greater Manchester, Lancashire
- Isle of Wight Coastal Path, circular from Ryde 105km
- Itchen Way, 43.5 kilometres from Hinton Ampner to Woolston (Hampshire)
- Jubilee Trail, Forde Abbey - Bokerley Dyke, 145 kilometres (Dorset)
- Jurassic Way, 142 kilometres Banbury, Oxfordshire to Stamford, Lincolnshire
- King's Way, 72 kilometres from Winchester to Portchester
- Lancashire Coastal Way, 220 kilometres from Silverdale to Freckleton
- Land's End Trail
- Lea Valley Walk, 80 kilometres from Leagrave in Bedfordshire to the East India Dock in London.
- Leland Trail, 45 kilometres Stourhead to Ham Hill, (in Somerset)
- Liberty Trail, 45 kilometres Ham Hill to Lyme Regis (Somerset, Dorset)
- Limestone Way, 80 kilometres from Castleton to Rocester (Derbyshire)
- Limey Way, 65 kilometres from Castleton via 20 Limestone Dales to Dovedale and Thorpe
- London Outer Orbital Path ('The LOOP'), 241 kilometres Erith to Rainham
- Lyke Wake Walk across the North York Moors
- The Macmillan Ways: Macmillan Way - Abbotsbury in Dorset to Boston, Lincolnshire 464km; Macmillan Way West from Castle Cary in Somerset to Barnstaple in Devon, 163 kilometres (Boston to Barnstaple is 557 kilometres); the Macmillan Abbotsbury Langport Link creates a 38.5 kilometre short-cut for walkers from Abbotsbury to Barnstaple, a total of 202 kilometres; the Macmillan Cross Cotswold Pathway from Banbury to Bath, 138 kilometres, mostly on the main Macmillan Way; and the Cotswold Link, 33.5 kilometres from Banbury to Chipping Campden where it links to the Cotswold Way National Trail.
- The Maelor Way, is a key link path, running 38 kilometres from the Shropshire Way, Sandstone Trail, Llangollen Canal, South Cheshire Way, and the Marches Way all at Grindley Brook near Whitchurch to the Offa's Dyke Path National Trail at Bronygarth.
- Marriott's Way, Norfolk
- Mendip Way, Uphill (near Weston-super-Mare) - Frome 80km
- The Mercian Way is part of National Cycle Route 45, but is also well used by walkers.
- Midshires Way, Princes Risborough - Stockport, 363 kilometres
- Monarch's Way, Worcester - Shoreham-by-Sea 984km
- Mortimer Trail, 48 kilometres from Ludlow in Shropshire to Kington, Herefordshire
- Nar Valley Way, Norfolk - 54 kilometres King's Lynn to Gressenhall
- Nene Way, Badby, Northamptonshire to Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire 177km
- Nidderdale Way, a circular route of 85 kilometres, centred on Pateley Bridge in North Yorkshire
- North Worcestershire Path, 43 kilometres from Kinver to Major's Green
- Ouse Valley Way, 240 kilometres from Syresham, Northamptonshire to King's Lynn, Norfolk via Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire
- Oxford Canal Walk, 132 kilometres from Oxford to Coventry
- Oxfordshire Way, Bourton-on-the-Water - Henley 104 kilometres
- Pappoos 1, from London to Cambridge and The Wash
- Pendle Way, a 45 mile circular incorporating Pendle Hill (Lancashire)
- Pilgrims' Trail, 45 kilometres from Winchester to Portsmouth
- Pilgrims' Way, 192 kilometres from Winchester to Canterbury, an ancient trail of which perhaps two thirds is still identifiable, much of it now incorporated into the North Downs Way National Trail
- Quantock Greenway, a figure of 8 centred on Triscombe in Somerset, the northern loop is 31 km, the southern loop 29 km.
- Reiver's Way, 242 kilometres from Corbridge to Alnmouth (Northumberland)
- Ribble Way, follows the River Ribble for 114 kilometres from Longton to Ribblehead
- River Parrett Trail, 75 kilometres along the river in Somerset and Dorset
- Robin Hood Way runs 169 kilometres from Nottingham to Edwinstone
- Rossendale Way, a 47 mile circular around the Rossendale Valley, Lancashire
- Sabrina Way, 324 kilometres, Hartington to Great Barrington (Staffordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire)
- Saint's Way, Padstow - Fowey 42km (Cornwall)
- Samaritans Way South West, runs 160 kilometres from Bristol to Lynton, but only the section from Bristol to Goathurst is waymarked
- Sandlings Walk, 96 kilometres from Ipswich to Southwold (Suffolk)
- Sandstone Trail, 51 kilometres from Frodsham in Cheshire to Whitchurch, Shropshire
- Sarum Way, Wiltshire, 51.5 kilometres circular, only part of it is waymarked
- Saxon Shore Way, 261 kilometres from Gravesend, Kent to Hastings, East Sussex
- Severn Way, Plynlimon - Bristol 360km
- Shakespeare's Way, 235 kilometres from Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford-Upon-Avon to the Globe Theatre on London's South Bank. The route opened on 19-April-2006.
- Shropshire Way, 224 kilometres from Shrewbury via the Ironbridge World Heritage Site to Wem with a further 19 kilometre northern spur to Grindley Brook
- Six Shires Circuit
- Solent Way, 112 kilometres from Christchurch, Dorset to Emsworth on the Hampshire/West Sussex border
- South Cheshire Way, 51 kilometres from Grindley Brook to Mow Cop
- Staffordshire Way, runs 147 kilometres between Mow Cop and Kinver Edge
- Stour Valley Path, East Anglia, Newmarket to Manningtree 96km
- Stour Valley Walk, 82 kilometres Lenham to Pegwell Bay (Kent)
- Stour Valley Way, 103 kilometres from Stourton to Christchurch Priory (Dorset)
- St. Cuthbert's Way, 100 kilometres from Melrose to Lindisfarne (Scottish borders, Northumberland)
- St Kenelm's Trail, 100 kilometres from Clent Hills, Worcestershire to Winchcombe Gloucestershire
- St. Swithuns Way, 55 kilometres Winchester to Farnham
- Suffolk Coast and Heaths Path, Manningtree - Lowestoft 106km
- Sussex Border Path, 256 kilometres from Thorney Island to Rye
- Sussex Ouse Valley Way, 67.5 kilomteres Lower Beeding to Seaford
- Swans Way, Salcey Forest - Bledlow 104km through Buckinghamshire (Aylesbury Vale and Milton Keynes (borough))
- Tarka Trail, Devon - 2 separate circles from Barnstaple totalling 288km
- Tas Valley Way, 40 kilometres from Norwich to Attleborough (Norfolk)
- Teesdale Way, 161 kilometres from Dufton to Warrenby
- Test Way, Walbury Hill - Eling 70.5km through Hampshire and West Berkshire
- Three Castles Path, Windsor to Winchester, Hampshire, 96 kilometres (unwaymarked)
- Three Forests Way, 96 kilometres through Epping, Hainault and Hatfield forests on the borders of Essex and Greater London.
- Three Shires Way, East Anglia, Grafham Water to Salcey Forest 59.5 kilometres
- Trans Pennine Trail, 333 kilometres from Southport, Lancashire to Hornsea, East Yorkshire
- Two Moors Way, Devon - Ivybridge to Lynmouth 166km
- Vanguard Way, 107 kilometres Croydon to Newhaven
- Viking Way, 235 kilometres Barton-upon-Humber to Oakham (Lincolnshire, Rutland)
- Way for the Millennium, Newport, Shropshire to Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire - 65 kilometres
- Wayfarers Walk, 110 kilometres from Walbury Hill to Emsworth (Berkshire, Hampshire)
- Wealdway, Gravesend to Eastbourne 129km (Kent, East Sussex)
- Weardale Way, runs 117 kilometres from Sunderland to Wearhead
- Weavers Way, 90 kilometres Cromer - Great Yarmouth (Norfolk}
- Wessex Ridgeway, runs 219 kilometres from Marlborough to Lyme Regis.
- West Deane Way in the Vale of Taunton Deane, circular 72.5 kilometres
- West Devon Way - Okehampton to Plymouth, 58 km
- Wey South Path - 51.5 kilometres from Guildford, Surrey to Houghton Bridge, West Sussex, mainly alongside the Wey and Arun Canal
- Wherryman's Way, 56 kilometres following the River Yare from Norwich to Great Yarmouth (Norfolk)
- Wild Edric's Way, 79 kilometres from Church Stretton to Ludlow - it shares much of its route with the Shropshire Way
- Witton Weavers Way, a 51.5 kilometre circular around the West Pennine Moors, Blackburn and Darwen
- White Rose Walk, 65 kilometres North Yorkshire walk, starting at the White Horse - Kilburn, and finishing at Roseberry Topping
- Worcestershire Way, 49.5 kilometres from Bewdley to Malvern
- Wychavon Way, Droitwich Spa to Winchcombe 67kilometres (Worcestershire, Gloucestershire)
- Wychwood Way, Oxfordshire, a circular route of 59.5 kilometres in the former Royal Forest of Wychwood
- Wysis Way, (mainly in Gloucestershire, 88 kilometres from the Offa's Dyke Path National Trail at Monmouth to the Thames Path National Trail at Kemble
[edit] Wales
- Anglesey Coastal Path, a circular route of 200 kilometres around the island.
- Cambrian Way, an unwaymarked 440 kilometre route from Cardiff to Conwy
- Ceredigion Coast Path - currently still being developed, so not all waymarked - 101 kilometres from Ynyslas to Cardigan
- Cistercian Way - circumnavigates Wales via its Cistercian Abbeys.
- Clwydian Way, 243 kilometres, circular from Prestatyn via Llangollen, Corwen and Denbigh
- Dyfi Valley Way, 172 kilometres from Aberdyfi to Ynyslas
- Landsker Borderlands Trail, a 96 kilometre circular route in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire, centred on Whitland.
- Llyn Coastal Path (also known as the Lleyn Coastal Path or The Pilgrim Trail), 150 kilometres between Caernarfon and Criccieth in Gwynedd.
- The Maelor Way, is a key link path, running 38 kilometres from the Offa's Dyke Path National Trail at Bronygarth to the Shropshire Way, Sandstone Trail, Llangollen Canal, South Cheshire Way, and the Marches Way all at Grindley Brook near Whitchurch.
- North Wales Path
- Taff Trail, 109 kilometres from Brecon to Cardiff
- Usk Valley Walk, 77 kilometres from Caerleon to Brecon
- Valeways Millennium Heritage Trail, a circular walk of 111 kilometres in the Vale of Glamorgan
- Wye Valley Walk, Chepstow - Plynlimon 218km
[edit] Scotland
- Cape Wrath Trail, runs around 300 kilometres from Fort William to Cape Wrath; as the route is unwaymarked, different guides to it suggest slightly different routes. See here.
- The Cateran Trail, a circular 101 kilometre walk centred on Blairgowrie
- Central Scottish Way, 251 kilometres from Milngavie to Byrness (just over the border in Northumberland, England)
- Cowal Way, runs 75 kilometres on the Cowal Peninsula from Portavadie to Ardgartan
- Fife Coastal Path, North Queensferry near St. Andrews to Newport-on-Tay, 107 kilometres
- St. Cuthbert's Way, 100 kilometres from Melrose to Lindisfarne in England
- West Island Way, 48 kilometres from Kilchattan Bay to Port Bannatyne on the Isle of Bute
- West Highland Way, 150 kilometres from Milngavie to Fort William just above Glasgow
[edit] Northern Ireland
- Ulster Way, runs for about 960 kilometres, mainly in Northern Ireland, although some parts are in the Republic of Ireland
[edit] See also
- Backpacking
- Hiking
- Long-distance trail
- Ramblers' Association
- Trail
- UK topics
- Walking
- Recreational walks in Cheshire
- Recreational walks in East Sussex
- Recreational walks in Hampshire
- Recreational walks in Kent
- Recreational walks in Norfolk
