National Trails of England and Wales
National Trails are long distance paths formed by joining together other highways. There are 16 National Trails in England and Wales. Two of them have sections in Oxfordshire:
- The Ridgeway – much of this 87 mile route was used by prehistoric man to travel along the chalk ridge from Wiltshire, through Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, ending in Hertfordshire.
- Thames Path – this 184 mile path follows the Thames from its source in the Cotswolds to the Thames Barrier on the outskirts of London.
Here are the other trails a little further away:
- Cotswold Way – a 102 mile walk starting in Gloucestershire, passing through the Cotswolds to Bath.
- Cleveland Way – a 109 mile walk across the North York Moors National Park.
- Glyndŵr’s Way – this 135 mile walk starts and ends near Offa’s Dyke. It loops through mid-Wales from Knighton on the English border and ends about 30 miles further along the Dyke at Welshpool.
- Hadrian’s Wall – crossing the North of England, this 84 mile path follows the wall built by the Roman emporer Hadrian and passes through Carlisle and Newcastle.
- King Charles III England Coastal Path – The King Charles III England Coast Path National Trail will be the longest managed coastal path in the world. It will go all the way around the coast of England in 5 sections and will be around 2,700 miles long when it is complete.
- North Downs Way – this 153 mile path roughly follows the Pilgrims Way from Farnham in Surrey to Dover through two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
- Offa’s Dyke Path – passing through three Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty as well as the Brecon Beacon National park, this 177 mile path follows the Dyke that Offa ordered to be built to protect Mercia from Powys. The path broadly follows the English-Welsh border.
- Peddars Way/
North Norfolk Coast Path – Peddars Way was a road created by the Romans to allow easy troop movement through East Anglia. The Coast Path runs from Hunstanton to Cromer. The two paths meet at Holme- next- the-Sea. - Pembrokeshire Coast Path – the path twists and turns for 186 miles, mostly in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.
- Pennine Bridleway – the bridleway, running roughly parallel to the Pennine Way National Trail, is the first long distance bridleway. It is being opened in sections over the course of several years and will be over 300 miles long, passing through the Peak District, Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Parks.
- Pennine Way – this 268 mile route follows the Pennine mountains from the Peak District up to the border with Scotland.
- South Downs Way – following droveways and old paths over the chalk escarpment of the South Downs, this 100 mile path links Winchester in Hampshire to Eastbourne in Sussex.
- South West Coast Path – starting in Minehead in Somerset, this 630 mile path follows the coast west to Lands End and then returns east to end at Poole in Dorset. It is the longest National Trail.
- Yorkshire Wolds Way – starting on the Humber estuary, this 79 mile path travels through the chalk hills of the Yorkshire Wolds to the Cleveland Coast.
Long distance trails in Scotland
There are many more long distance trails in Scotland. Visit Scotland’s Great Trails for a comprehensive list, or read about the Best Hiking Trails in Scotland.
There is also a National Trail which links a number of individual routes and continues from where the Penninne Way ends at Kirk Yetholm to its endpoint at Cape Wrath. The total distance is 864 Km.
Here is a modest sample of what you can find:
- Great Glen Way – linking the west coast of Scotland, at Fort William, to the east coast at Inverness, this 79 mile path passes through the Great Glen and along the banks of Loch Ness
- Southern Upland Way – this 212 mile path links the coasts of Scotland in the south, running from Portpatrick in the west to Cockburnspath in the east. The majority of this path is not suitable for inexperienced walkers.
- Speyside Way – this 65 mile way, in the north-
east of Scotland, joins Buckie on the Moray Coast with Aviemore. - West Highland Way – this 96 mile route starts in the outskirts of Glasgow and proceeds north to Fort William.