Long-distance footpaths in the United Kingdom

There are hundreds of long-distance footpaths in the United Kingdom designated in publications from public authorities, guidebooks and OS maps.^[1] They are mainly used for hiking and walking, but some may also be used, in whole or in part, for mountain biking and horse riding. Most are in rural landscapes, in varying terrain, some passing through National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.^[2] There is no formal definition of a long-distance path, though the British Long Distance Walkers Association defines one as a route "20 miles or more in length and mainly off-road."^[1] They usually follow existing rights of way, often over private land, joined together and sometimes waymarked to make a named route.^[3] Generally, the surface is not specially prepared, with rough ground, uneven surfaces and stiles, which can cause accessibility issues for people with disabilities.^[4] Exceptions to this can be converted railways, canal towpaths and some popular fell walking routes where stone-pitching and slabs have been laid to prevent erosion.^[5] Many long-distance footpaths are arranged around a particular theme such as one specific range of hills or a historical or geographical connection.^[3]

England and Wales: National Trails

National Trails are a network of long-distance paths in England and Wales (plus a small stretch of the Pennine Way in Scotland^[6]) funded by Natural England and Natural Resources Wales and maintained by local authorities under a Trail Partnership.^[7] As of January 2023^[update], there are over 2,500 miles (4,000 km) of trails on seventeen routes.^[7] The longest trail, the England Coast Path, is not complete though more sections are planned to open over the coming months and years, with a planned completion date of around 2024.^[8] The newest trail is the Coast to Coast Walk which will officially open in 2025.^[9] There are 83 million visits to the National Trails each year and over 80,000 people complete a trail.^[10]

Ivinghoe Beacon (the eastern trailhead) seen looking north from the Ridgeway
The paved surface of the Pennine Way on Black Hill

Name	Length		Region	Endpoint one	Endpoint two	Description
Name	mi	km	Region	Endpoint one	Endpoint two	Description
Cleveland Way	110	177	North Yorkshire, England	Helmsley	Filey Brigg	Runs around the edge of the North York Moors National Park in a horseshoe configuration.
Cotswold Way	102	164	The Cotswolds, Central England	Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire	Bath, Somerset	Runs along the Cotswold Edge escarpment of the Cotswold Hills.
Coast to Coast Walk^*	197	317	Cumbria and North Yorkshire, Northern England	St Bees, Cumbria	Robin Hood's Bay, North Yorkshire	Devised by Alfred Wainwright and announced to become a National Trail in 2022.^[9]
England Coast Path	2,795	4,500^†	England	N/A	N/A	Will cover the entire coast of England and will be the longest managed and waymarked coastal path in the world.^[11]
Glyndŵr's Way	135	217	Powys, mid Wales	Knighton	Welshpool	Runs in an extended loop.
Hadrian's Wall Path	84	135	England: Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, Cumbria	Wallsend, Tyne and Wear	Bowness-on-Solway, Cumbria	Runs from the east to west coast along the remains of Hadrian's Wall.
North Downs Way	153	246	South Eastern England	Farnham, Surrey	Dover, Kent	Passes through the areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) of the Surrey Hills and Kent Downs.
Offa's Dyke Path	177	285	Wales–England border	Sedbury, Gloucestershire	Prestatyn, Denbighshire	Follows close to the border near the remnants of Offa's Dyke.
Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path^‡	97	156	England in Suffolk and Norfolk	Knettishall Heath, Knettishall, Suffolk	Cromer, Norfolk	The two paths join at Holme-next-the-Sea.
Pembrokeshire Coast Path	186	299	Pembrokeshire, southwest Wales	Poppit Sands, near St Dogmaels	Amroth	Has a total of 35,000 feet (11,000 m) of ascent and descent and lies almost completely within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.^[12]
Pennine Bridleway	205	330	Pennines, Northern England	Middleton-by-Wirksworth, Derbyshire	Ravenstonedale, Cumbria	Runs roughly parallel to the Pennine Way.
Pennine Way	267	430	Pennines, Northern England and Southern Scotland	Edale, Derbyshire	Kirk Yetholm, Scottish Borders	Spans the length of the Pennines, according to the Ramblers, "one of Britain's best known and toughest" trails.^[13]
The Ridgeway	87	140	Berkshire Downs, Southern England	Overton Hill, near Avebury, Wiltshire	Ivinghoe Beacon, Buckinghamshire	Ancient trackway on a chalk ridge described as Britain's oldest road.
South Downs Way	100	161	South Downs in Southern England	Winchester, Hampshire	Eastbourne, East Sussex	Within the South Downs National Park.
South West Coast Path (South West Way)	630	1,014	England: Somerset, Devon, Cornwall & Dorset	Minehead, Somerset	Poole Harbour, Dorset	Originated as a route for the Coastguard to walk from lighthouse to lighthouse patrolling for smugglers.^[14]
Thames Path	184	296	Southern England	Kemble, Gloucestershire	Thames Barrier, Charlton	Follows the River Thames from its source to the Thames Barrier in London.
Yorkshire Wolds Way	79	127	Yorkshire, England	Hessle, East Riding of Yorkshire	Filey, North Yorkshire	Runs around the Yorkshire Wolds.

^* Officially opens in 2025^[9]
^† When complete in around 2024^[8]
^‡ Treated as one path by National Trails

Scotland: Great Trails

Scotland's Great Trails are long-distance "people-powered" trails (predominantly hiking trails but including cycling, horse-riding and canoe routes) in Scotland.^[15] Scottish Natural Heritage maintains the official list of Scotland's Great Trails and is the custodian of the brand, but responsibility for creating and maintaining each route lies with each local authority through which a route passes, although Scottish Natural Heritage provides some of the finance and publicity.^[16] There are 29 routes, offering 1,900 miles (3,000 km) of trails in total.^[16]

Each of the routes is clearly waymarked with a dedicated symbol, and run largely off-road. They range in length from 24 to 214 miles (40 to 340 km), and are intended to be tackled over several days, either as a combination of day trips or as an end-to-end expedition. They are primarily intended for walkers, but may have sections suitable for cyclists and horse-riders.^[17] One of the trails, the Great Glen Canoe Trail, is designed for canoeists and kayakers.^[18]

Fife Coastal Path at West Wemyss
The Devil's Staircase on the West Highland Way
Cliffs from the Berwickshire Coastal Path
A St Cuthbert's Way marker post at the edge of the square between Grubbit Law and Wideopen Hill

Name	Length		Region	Endpoint one	Endpoint two	Description
Name	mi	km	Region	Endpoint one	Endpoint two	Description
Annandale Way	55	89	Solway Coast, Dumfries and Galloway	Moffat	Annan	Follows the valley of the River Annan from its source in the Moffat Hills to the sea in the Solway Firth.
Arran Coastal Way	66	106	Isle of Arran	N/A	N/A	Circular route around the coastline of the Isle of Arran.
Ayrshire Coastal Path	100	161	Ayrshire	Glenapp, Ballantrae	Skelmorlie, North Ayrshire	Runs alongside the coast and forms part of the International Appalachian Trail.^[19]
Berwickshire Coastal Path	28	45	Scottish Borders and Northern England	Cockburnspath, Scottish Borders	Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland	Coastal path spanning the Anglo-Scottish border.
Borders Abbeys Way	68	109	Scottish Borders	N/A	N/A	Circular route in the Borders passing through the ruins of many abbeys: Kelso – Jedburgh – Hawick – Selkirk – Melrose.
Cateran Trail	64	103	Perth and Kinross and Angus	Blairgowrie and Rattray	N/A	Circular route covering many conditions such as farmland, mountains and forest: Blairgowrie – Kirkmichael – Spittal of Glenshee – Alyth.
Clyde Walkway	40	64	South Lanarkshire	Glasgow	New Lanark	Runs close to the River Clyde for most of its length.
Cowal Way	57	92	Cowal Peninsula, Argyll and Bute	Portavadie	Inveruglas on Loch Lomond	Connects with the West Highland Way.
Cross Borders Drove Road	52	84	Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders	Little Vantage, near Edinburgh	Hawick	One of the newest trails based on existing routes.^[20]
Dava Way	24	39	Moray	Grantown-on-Spey	Forres	Follows the route of the former Highland Railway which closed in 1965.^[21]
Fife Coastal Path	117	188	Fife	Kincardine	Newburgh	When opened it originally ran from North Queensferry to Tayport, but was later extended.
Formartine and Buchan Way	53	85	Aberdeenshire	Dyce, near Aberdeen	Fraserburgh and Peterhead	Follows the track of the former railway line the Formartine and Buchan Railway which closed in 1970. The path branches into two sections at Maud.^[22]
Forth and Clyde Canal Pathway	66	106	Central Belt	Bowling, West Dunbartonshire	Fountainbridge, Edinburgh	Runs between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde.
Great Glen Canoe Trail	60	97	Scottish Highlands	Banavie, near Fort William	Clachnaharry, near Inverness	Coast-to-coast canoe trail on Caledonian canal and lochs.
Great Glen Way	79	127	Scottish Highlands	Fort William	Inverness	Follows the Great Glen.
Great Trossachs Path	28	45	Trossachs	Callander, Stirling	Inversnaid on the bank of Loch Lomond	In the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.
John Muir Way	134	216	Central Belt	Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute	Dunbar, East Lothian	Named in honour of the Scottish conservationist John Muir, who was born in Dunbar in 1838 and became a founder of the United States National Park Service.^[23]
Kintyre Way	100	161	Argyll and Bute, Argyllshire	Tarbert	Machrihanish	On the Kintyre peninsula.^[24]
Moray Coast Trail	50	80	Moray	Forres	Cullen	Part of the North Sea Trail.
Mull of Galloway Trail	37	60	Dumfries and Galloway and South Ayrshire	Mull of Galloway	Glenapp, Ballantrae	Created and maintained by the Rotary Club of Stranraer.^[25]
River Ayr Way	44	71	Southern Scotland	Glenbuck, East Ayrshire	Ayr, South Ayrshire	Mostly follows the River Ayr.
Rob Roy Way	92	148	Perthshire and Stirlingshire	Drymen, Stirling	Pitlochry, Perth and Kinross	Takes its name from Rob Roy MacGregor, a Scottish folk hero and outlaw of the early 18th century.^[26]
Romans and Reivers Route	52	84	Southern Uplands	Ae	Hawick	Mostly follows former Roman roads.
St Cuthbert's Way	62	100	Scottish Borders and Northern England	Melrose, Scottish Borders	Lindisfarne, Northumberland	Named after Cuthbert, a 7th-century saint, a native of the Borders who spent his life in the service of the church.^[27]
Southern Upland Way	214	344	Southern Uplands	Portpatrick	Cockburnspath, Berwickshire	Coast-to-coast walk generally from west to east.
Speyside Way	80	129	Northern Scotland	Aviemore	Buckie, Moray	Follows the River Spey through some of Banffshire, Morayshire and Inverness-shire.
Three Lochs Way	34	55	Highland Boundary Fault to the Southern Highlands	Balloch, West Dunbartonshire	Inveruglas, Argyll and Bute	For much of the way it passes through the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.
West Highland Way	96	154	Scottish Lowlands to the Scottish Highlands	Milngavie, near Glasgow	Fort William, Highlands	Scotland's first and most popular long-distance walking route.^[28]
West Island Way	30	48	Isle of Bute	Kilchattan Bay	Port Bannatyne	The first waymarked long-distance route on a Scottish island.^[29]

Other UK long-distance paths

Those included here meet the definition of a long-distance path as being around 50 km (31 miles) or more, particularly that they will take more than one day's walking to complete. Some shorter paths linking between major walks (e.g. Maelor Way) are also included.

Southern England

The 1066 Country Walk near Battle
Monarch's Way looking back at the outskirts of Wolverhampton
Meadows on the West Deane Way
Church of All Saints, West Camel, viewed from the Leland Trail

Name	Length		Region	Endpoint one	Endpoint two	Description
Name	mi	km	Region	Endpoint one	Endpoint two	Description
1066 Country Walk	31	50	East Sussex	Pevensey Castle near Pevensey	Rye	Commemorates the year 1066 and the Battle of Hastings.
Avon Valley Path	34	55	Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset	Christchurch	Salisbury	Takes its name from the River Avon and passes through the western edge of the New Forest.
Basingstoke Canal Towpath Trail	33	53	Hampshire and Surrey	Penny Bridge, Up Nately, Basingstoke	Woodham	Follows the path of the 200-year-old Basingstoke Canal.
Blackwater Valley Path	23	37	Berkshire, Hampshire and Surrey	Rowhill Nature Reserve, Aldershot	Swallowfield	Follows the path of the Blackwater.
Bournemouth Coast Path	20	32	Dorset and Hampshire	Sandbanks	Milford on Sea	Coastal path connecting the South West Coast Path (via the Sandbanks Ferry) to the Solent Way.
Capital Ring	75	121	London	N/A	N/A	Circular route through inner London, crossing the Thames at Richmond and Woolwich.
Celtic Way	725	1,167	Wales and Southwest England	Strumble Head, Pembrokeshire	St Michael's Mount, Cornwall	Visits more than 100 pre-historic sites including Stonehenge.^[30]
Channel to Channel Path	50	80	South West Peninsula	Seaton, Devon	Watchet, Somerset	Connects the English Channel with the Bristol Channel.^[31]
Chiltern Way	134	216	Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Luton and Oxfordshire	Hemel Hempstead railway station	N/A	Circular route, originally a 125-mile-long (201 km) Millennium Project.^[32]
Coleridge Way	51	82	Somerset and Devon	Nether Stowey	Lynmouth	Starts in the Quantock Hills later moving on to the Brendon Hills, within Exmoor National Park. Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Long-distance_footpaths_in_the_United_Kingdom Text je dostupný za podmienok Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 Unported; prípadne za ďalších podmienok. Podrobnejšie informácie nájdete na stránke Podmienky použitia. Navigácia: Veda > Analytika Antropológia Aplikované vedy Bibliometria Dejiny vedy Encyklopédie Filozofia vedy Forenzné vedy Humanitné vedy Knižničná veda Kryogenika Kryptológia Kulturológia Literárna veda Medzidisciplinárne oblasti Metódy kvantitatívnej analýzy Metavedy Metodika Metodológia vedy Náboženstvo a veda Náučná literatúra Podvody vo vede Popularizácia vedy Potravinárstvo Prírodné vedy Pseudoveda Scientometria Spoločenské vedy Teórie Teatrológia Technické vedy Technika Terminológia Umenie Výskum Veda Veda a technika podľa štátu Veda a technika podľa kontinentu Veda a technika podľa roka Veda v kozme Vedci Vedecká literatúra Vedecké databázy Vedecké experimenty Vedecké konferencie Vedecké metódy Vedecké ocenenia Vedecké organizácie Vedecké parky Vedeckí spisovatelia Vzdelávanie Záhady Príbuzné výrazy: Text je dostupný za podmienok Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 Unported; prípadne za ďalších podmienok. Podrobnejšie informácie nájdete na stránke Podmienky použitia. www.astronomia.sk \| www.biologia.sk \| www.botanika.sk \| www.dejiny.sk \| www.economy.sk \| www.elektrotechnika.sk \| www.estetika.sk \| www.farmakologia.sk \| www.filozofia.sk \| Fyzika \| www.futurologia.sk \| www.genetika.sk \| www.chemia.sk \| www.lingvistika.sk \| www.politologia.sk \| www.psychologia.sk \| www.sexuologia.sk \| www.sociologia.sk \| www.veda.sk I www.zoologia.sk

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