Icknield Way - Modern Paths

Modern Paths

Modern long-distance footpaths have been created from Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast to Holme-next-the-Sea on the Norfolk coast, following the general line of the Icknield Way.

The Hobhouse Committee report of 1947 suggested the creation of a path between Seaton Bay and the Chiltern ridge, and in 1956 Tom Stephenson proposed a longer route to Cambridge. A route through Norfolk was discussed in the 1960s. The first section to be officially designated as a Long-Distance Footpath (as National Trails were then known) was that from Overton Hill to Ivinghoe Beacon, and it was declared open as the Ridgeway in 1973. The Peddars Way from Knettishall Heath to Holme-next-the-Sea forms part of the Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path National Trail, which was opened as a Long Distance Route in 1986. Between the Ridgeway and Peddars Way, parts of the original line of the Icknield Way had been covered in tarmac or built over, so a route was devised that avoids walking on roads, and in 1992 this was designated by the Countryside Commission as a Regional Route called the Icknield Way Path. The Wessex Ridgeway from Lyme Regis to Marlborough was declared open by Dorset County Council in 1994.

The author Ray Quinlan has combined most of the Wessex Ridgeway, the Ridgeway National Trail, the Icknield Way Path, the Peddars Way, and a small part of the Norfolk Coast Path to form a path that he calls the Greater Ridgeway, with a length of approximately 584 km (363 miles) from Lyme Regis to Hunstanton.

Because parts of the Ridgeway National Trail and the Icknield Way Path are only usable as a footpath, an Icknield Way Path Riders Route or Icknield Way Trail has been created for horseriders and cyclists. The route runs from Bledlow to Roudham Heath, where it joins the Peddars Way Horseriders Route.