England has 200,000 km of public rights of way. The network is the densest in the world, the product of centuries of footpaths, bridleways, and the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act that enshrined the right to walk. The long-distance trails, the National Trails, 16 of them covering 4,000 km, are the backbone. These five walks represent the best of English walking: the coast, the mountains, the chalk downs, and the ancient paths that have been walked since before the Romans arrived.
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1. The South West Coast Path: Lulworth Cove to Durdle Door (4 miles)
The Jurassic Coast at its most dramatic. Lulworth Cove, a circular bay formed by the sea breaching a weakness in the limestone, to Durdle Door, the limestone arch that is the most photographed rock formation in England. The climb out of the cove is steep, rising 150 metres in half a mile. The view back is the reward. The beach below Durdle Door requires descending 737 steps. The steps go both ways. The swim at the bottom is worth every one. This short but intense walk packs the best of the Jurassic Coast into a half-day outing. The geology here spans 185 million years, with fossils visible in the cliffs. The best time to walk this section is early morning or late afternoon, when the low sun lights up the limestone and the tourist coaches have not yet arrived.
2. Helvellyn via Striding Edge, Lake District (8 miles)
The classic Lakeland ridge walk. Striding Edge is a knife-edge arête, the path narrow, the exposure real, the drop on either side a reminder of your mortality. Not technically difficult, hands are useful but not essential, but the weather can change in minutes. Check the forecast. Do not attempt in winter without crampons and an ice axe. The summit at 950 metres offers views across the Lake District, from Skiddaw in the north to the Old Man of Coniston in the south. The descent via Swirral Edge completes the horseshoe. The pub in Glenridding serves Cumberland sausage and mash. Allow a full day for this walk and set off early to avoid afternoon crowds on the ridge. Navigation can be challenging in mist, so carry a map and compass even if you have a GPS device. The mountain rescue teams in the Lake District are among the busiest in the country.
3. Hadrian’s Wall: Steel Rigg to Housesteads (4 miles)
The most scenic section of the Roman frontier. The wall snakes along the Whin Sill, a volcanic ridge that the Romans used as a natural defensive line. The fort at Housesteads is the best-preserved on the wall, and its latrines, a communal toilet block with drainage channels, are the most humanising detail of Roman military life. The view from the crags, the wall marching into the distance across the wild Northumberland landscape, is one of the great historical panoramas in England. The Housesteads fort is managed by English heritage and includes a museum with artefacts recovered from the site, including writing tablets, shoes, and tools that reveal daily life on the frontier. The nearby Sycamore Gap, made famous by the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, offers one of the most photographed views in northern England.
4. The White Cliffs of Dover: Dover to Deal (10 miles)
The chalk cliffs that define England in the national imagination. The lighthouse at South Foreland, built in 1843, was the first to use an electric light. The castle at Deal, one of Henry VIII’s artillery fortresses built to defend against invasion, marks the endpoint. The path hugs the cliff edge for most of the route. On a clear day France is visible 21 miles across the Channel. The ferry boats below are toy-sized from this height. The white cliffs are composed of pure calcium carbonate, the compressed skeletons of countless sea creatures from the warm Cretaceous seas. The cliff-top grassland is a haven for butterflies and wildflowers, including the rare Early Spider Orchid. The National Trust manages the clifftop path and has restored the lighthouse as a museum.
5. The Ridgeway: Ivinghoe Beacon to Wendover (10 miles)
The oldest road in England, a chalk ridge track used since the Neolithic period, 5,000 years before the Romans arrived. The beech woods, the chalk downland, the red kites wheeling overhead. The kites were reintroduced in 1990 and are now so common in the Chilterns they are practically pigeons. The pub at Wendover, the Red Lion, is the destination. The Ridgeway is easy walking, well-signed, and the sense of walking in the footsteps of Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age travellers is the quiet magic of the path. The trail runs 87 miles from Overton Hill in Wiltshire to Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire, following the high chalk ridge that provided a safe route above the dense forests. Along the way, walkers pass Iron Age hill forts, Bronze Age burial mounds, and the Uffington White Horse, a 3,000-year-old chalk figure. The best time to walk is spring, when the chalk grassland is covered in wildflowers and skylarks sing overhead.
What is your English walk, the one you return to, the one where the view at the top makes the climb disappear?
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