Exploring Pilgrimage Routes and Ancient Trackways

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29 Jun 2026

Exploring Pilgrimage Routes and Ancient Trackways

Old Roads, Long Memories

There is a particular pleasure in walking a path that was worn by feet long before anyone thought to draw it on a map. Britain is stitched together with such routes: tracks that carried pilgrims towards a shrine, drovers towards a market, traders towards a river crossing. Many survive today as public footpaths, bridleways and quiet lanes, threading through the kind of gentle countryside — chalk downland, river valleys, wooded scarp slopes, hedged farmland — that makes for a satisfying day out without demanding a mountaineer's fitness.

You do not need to be religious to enjoy them. What draws most ramblers is the sense of continuity: the same gateways, the same church towers on the skyline, the same welcome in a market town that has fed travellers for centuries.

What Makes a Pilgrim Route Different

A pilgrimage route is rarely the hardest walking you will ever do, but it is often the most purposeful. Distances between settlements tend to be modest — typically 8 to 16 miles (13 to 26 km) a day — because the original travellers needed somewhere to sleep and eat. That rhythm suits anyone wanting a multi-day walk without carrying a full expedition load.

Expect a few distinctive features:

Waymarking that mixes symbols. Many routes use a scallop shell, a cross or a rounded waymark disc, but long stretches rely on ordinary public footpath arrows.
Churches as landmarks. Towers and spires are your signposts, and many are left open during daylight with a bench or a porch to rest in.
Gentle terrain with a sting. Days are rarely flat, but hills are short rather than savage — a river valley, then a low ridge, then down into another town.
Linking paths. These routes connect abbeys, cathedrals, holy wells and minsters rather than summits.

Routes Worth Planning Around

A few well-established options give a good sense of the range.

The North Wales Pilgrim's Way runs roughly 140 miles from Basingwerk Abbey near Holywell to Bardsey Island, crossing the Llŷn Peninsula. The later stages are hillier, but the early sections through the Clwydian foothills are surprisingly mild.
St Cuthbert's Way covers about 62 miles from Melrose to Lindisfarne, crossing the Cheviot fringe and finishing with a walk across tidal sands — check safe crossing times carefully.
The Pilgrims' Way from Winchester towards Canterbury follows the North Downs for much of its length, offering springy chalk turf, beech hangers and long views south.
The Two Saints Way links Chester and Lichfield, around 92 miles of Staffordshire and Cheshire farmland, canalside and quiet ridge.
The Saints' Way in Cornwall crosses from Padstow to Fowey, mixing lanes, ancient chapels and sheltered wooded valleys.

For a first taste, pick a two- or three-day section rather than the whole thing. Most routes break naturally at towns with a bus or rail connection.

Ancient Trackways for the Rest of the Year

Not every old route led to a shrine. Some are far older — ridgeway paths, saltways, drovers' roads, Romanised tracks that later became turnpikes. These are often straighter and more exposed than pilgrimage paths, which makes them wonderful in clear weather and bleak in a squall.

The Ridgeway tracks the chalk from Wiltshire into Buckinghamshire, high and dry with big skies.
The Icknield Way runs south-west to north-east along the chalk belt, historically one of the great east–west corridors.
Peddars Way in Norfolk follows a Roman road across heath and farmland to the coast.
Drovers' routes in Wales, the Pennines and the Scottish Borders often survive as broad, green, wall-lined tracks — wonderful walking, but frequently boggy underfoot.

Practicalities: Maps, Miles and Beds for the Night

Pilgrimage and trackway routes are usually waymarked, but not continuously. Carry the relevant map at 1:25,000 or 1:50,000 scale, or a dedicated route guide, and know how to read a grid reference. A phone is useful; it should not be your only plan.

Plan your day length honestly. Fifteen miles of flat riverside and fifteen miles of undulating clay are entirely different propositions, and any route crossing a tidal causeway or a moorland section needs tide tables and a proper weather check.

Footwear: grippy, well-broken-in boots or stout shoes. Lowland paths can be muddier than mountain ones.
Layers: a waterproof shell and a warm mid-layer, even in July.
Food and water: villages can be sparse mid-week; carry more than you think you need.
Accommodation: market-town pubs, village inns and B&Bs along these routes are used to walkers, but book ahead in summer and at weekends.
Luggage transfer: many multi-day routes have local operators who will move a bag between stops, turning a pilgrimage into a comfortable inn-to-inn walk.

Walking Well and Treading Lightly

These paths exist because landowners, parishes, councils and volunteers keep them open. Close gates behind you, use stiles and kissing gates rather than climbing walls, and give livestock room — particularly cows with calves. Keep dogs on a lead around sheep and ground-nesting birds, and always bag and carry out whatever you bring in.

Say hello to the people you pass. Ask in a village shop about the church key or the state of the next field. The pleasure of these routes lies not only in the miles covered, but in the long conversation between walker, landscape and the places that have sheltered travellers for a thousand years.

Route Guides

How to Plan a Safe Hill Walk in Changeable Weather

Always identify common edible plants, respect protected species, and take only small amounts safely for your personal use.

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5 Comments

Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply
- John Abraham says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
  
  I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
  Reply
  - Robert Sonnysays Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
    
    I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
    Reply
Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply

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