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Dales Way
The Dales Way runs beside the River Kent approaching Staveley

The best UK long-distance walks you can do in a week

Here are fifteen suggestions for some of the best week-long walking holidays. Suitable for beginners, and also more experienced walkers, these hikes cover all parts of the UK.

Dales Way
The Dales Way runs beside the River Kent approaching Staveley

The British Isles is covered in a fantastic network of footpaths which cross the countryside, providing access to mountains and moorland, coast, valleys, woodland, meadows and rolling hills. If you are new to long-distance walking, then it might be best to choose something not too demanding, as it’s always much better to return from your walking holiday wanting to do more, rather than to hope you never need to repeat the experience! With this in mind, these suggested routes are roughly graded in terms of difficulty.

Long-distance walks you can do in a week

Choose the perfect long-distance walk for difficulty, length, history or scenery

These long-distance walks will take between 4 and 10 days to complete, so will fit roughly within a week of holiday and two weekends. You can always tackle longer routes by choosing sections to walk on different trips, to suit the time you have available.

Routelengthdayshighlights
Hampshire Test Way44 miles4-6 daysAONBs, Iron age forts
Borders Abbeys Way68 miles4-6 daysruined medieval abbeys
Norfolk Coast Path90 miles7 dayscoastal cliffs and beaches
Suffolk Coast Path60 miles7 dayscoast, cliffs and heaths AONB
Northumberland Coast Path62 miles4-6 dayscoastal scenery and birdlife
The Sandlings Walk59 miles7 daysSuffolk coast and heathlands AONB
The Ridgeway87 miles7 daysviews, Downs and Chiltern Hills AONBs
Cotswold Way102 miles7-10 daysviews, picturesque villages, historic Bath
South Downs Way100 miles7-10 dayschalk downs, river valleys, views
Great Glen Way79 miles5-6 daysriver, loch, mountain scenery
Hadrian’s Wall Path84 miles7 daysRoman wall, forts and settlements
The Dales Way79 miles6 daysriverside, Yorkshire Dales, Lake District
The Ribble way72 miles5-7 daysriver paths, quiet tracks and lanes
The Cumbria Way73 miles5-8 daysriver valleys, low fells, lakes, mountains
West Highland Way95 miles6-9 daysmountain and loch landscapes
The Wye Valley Walk136 miles7-10 daysriverside and hill walking
Snowdonia Way97 miles6-8 daysmainly low level, mountain scenery
The Skye Trail80 miles7 daysstunning scenery

The character of any walk tends to be based around the geology and landscape. For example, there are several walks in this list which follow natural chalk ridges and escarpments, and yet each one is very different. The Ridgeway is characterised by the lengthy stretches following an ancient track along the ridge line of the North Wessex Downs, dropping to the River Thames at Goring Gap, and then continuing along the line of the Chiltern Hills. The views are immense in all directions. This is a similar story for the South Downs Way, although in general the South Downs are more frequently visited both by day walkers and long-distance walkers. Accommodation in both cases is found in the villages and small towns at the foot of the hills, just off-route. This is also the case for the wonderful Cotswold Way, where much of the time the route stays high on the escarpment, but in this case the national trail itself drops directly down to visit the pretty villages and towns.

For an easier long-distance trek why not walk through the valleys alongside one of the UK's pretty rivers

Riverside walking is always a good option for walks of a generally less strenuous nature, and both the Test Way and the Wye Valley Walk offer interesting riverside and hill walking. The River Test is particularly interesting in that it is a crystal clear chalk stream, one of only a handful in the country. It could be argued that the Great Glen Way is also a riverside walk. Much of the route is beside either river or Loch Ness, with only the last one or two days in the highlands before reaching Inverness. The Ribble Way follows the Ribble valley, from the estuary mouth near Preston to the river's source on Cam Fell in the Yorkshire Dales.

Coastal walks

Coastal walks may sound inviting, but the clever thing is to choose the right coast, depending on how much energy you have. Some coasts, such as many sections on the South West Coast Path are physically demanding as high cliffs create a rollercoaster ride, dropping steeply to the sea before rising again. Other coast paths are more accessible, such as the Norfolk Coast Path between Hunstanton and Hopton-on-Sea, and the pretty Suffolk Coast Path which passes through an area of outstanding natural beauty of coast and heathlands. The lesser-known Sandlings Walk is a similar length, but explores the heathlands inland. The Northumberland Coast Path takes in the whole of the Northumberland Coast AONB with its breathtaking coastal scenery and birdlife.

Housesteads Crags along the Hadrian's Wall Path
Housesteads Crags along the Hadrian's Wall Path

The best long-distance walks for historical interest

Hadrian’s Wall Path National Trail is well signed, and is considered to be the most walked of all the national trails. Take time to explore Vindolanda, Housesteads, Birdoswald and Heddon-on-the-Wall, as you cross northern England between the Cumbria Coast and Newcastle. Here are also plenty of ancient historic sites such as Iron Age forts, long barrows and tumuli on the Cotswold Way. The Borders Abbeys Way links four of Britain's grandest ruined medieval abbeys in the central Scottish Borders. The route is a well waymarked and is one of Scotland's Great Trails

The best UK long-distance walks in the mountains

For long-distance hikes in the mountains of the UK, the suggested routes are generally accessible for anyone who has some level of hill walking experience. Mountain walking, even when not venturing too high, can present navigation challenges in bad weather, so these routes should not be attempted if you are in the least unsure of your navigation ability. The Dales Way is perhaps the easiest of these routes, as it makes its way easily through the Yorkshire Dales from Ilkley, passing through Burnsall, Grassington, Kettlewell, Buckden and Dent, then on to Sedbergh at the foot of the Howgill fells and on to Bowness-on-Windermere in the Lake District. The Cumbria Way meanwhile gives you a good flavour of the Lake District, as is takes a linear route beginning in Ulverston on the southern Cumbrian coast, and visits Coniston, Tarn Hows, the Great Langdale Valley, Borrowdale and Keswick, then on over the northern fells before a riverside walk to Carlisle.

Finally there are mountain routes in Wales and Scotland that can be easily accomplished within a week. Two Scottish long-distance, or Great Trails are The Great Glen Way, which has already been mentioned, but for a little more challenge then the West Highland Way is justifiably a popular route. Mainly following tracks, the gradients are nearly always easy, and the scenery grows in grandeur on its way from Milngavie just north of Glasgow along the shores of Loch Lomond, then over the hills passing Crianlarich, Bridge of Orchy, crossing Rannoch Moor to Kingshouse at the foot of the imposing Buachaille Etive Mòr, then over the ‘Devil’s Staircase’ to Kinlochleven, (it’s a climb, but really not difficult!) then on to Fort William, at the foot of Ben Nevis. The Snowdonia Way is a coast to coast route as it passes through the heart of Snowdonia's stunning mountain scenery on its way between Machynlleth and Conwy. The Skye Trail is a challenging week-long hike across the magical Isle of Skye suitable for experienced backpackers and mountain walkers

National Trails are great long-distance walking routes for beginners

So, these are just a few suggestions. For ‘beginners’ it might be best to start with one of the national trails, as these routes are well maintained and well signed. Of the routes described, the only routes not designated as national trails are the Great Stones Way, Test Way, Sandlings Walk, Dales Way, Cumbria Way, Wye Valley Walk and Snowdonia Way, although the Dales Way and Wye Valley Walk are well waymarked.

Remember to prepare for your trip carefully. Book your accommodation, plan the stages carefully, trying to keep at least the first two days at a comfortable length, and prepare your body! Walking for several hours a day, day after day is not something that most people are used to, so practice walking longer distances over several weekends before your trek, so that you know that your feet and your body will be happy on your holiday.

The National Trails - Front Cover

The National Trails

19 Long-Distance Routes through England, Scotland and Wales

£18.95

This inspirational guidebook details the UK's 19 National Trails, offering stage by stage overviews for each route including the popular South West Coast Path, Hadrian's Wall Path, Pennine Way, West Highland Way, Cotswold Way, Offa's Dyke Path, South Downs Way, Southern Upland Way and many others.

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