Trails
Best Long-Distance Trails in the UK for Beginner Backpackers
The first multi-day walk is a different animal from a Sunday ramble. You are carrying everything you need, the weather has more say in your plans, and by the third afternoon your legs will have opinions.
The good news is that Britain has several long-distance trails that suit a first backpacking trip: gentle underfoot, waymarked throughout, and dotted with villages where you can sleep and eat. Here are the ones worth starting with, plus how to pace them and where to stay.
What makes a trail kind to beginners
Mileage alone tells you very little. A ninety-mile route with a bed every eight miles is easier than a forty-mile route over boulder fields. The trails below share four qualities:
- Gentle underfoot: towpaths, old railway lines, chalk downland and farm tracks rather than bog, scree and endless stiles.
- Frequent escape routes: a bus stop or station every day or two, so you can shorten a day or bail out if a blister wins.
- Places to sleep: pubs with rooms, B&Bs, bunkhouses and campsites within a reasonable walk of the route.
- Clear waymarking: acorn symbols, arrows and fingerposts, so your energy goes on walking rather than map-reading at every gate.
Pick a route that offers all four and your first trip becomes about enjoying the walking.
The Cotswold Way
About 102 miles from Chipping Campden to Bath, following the western escarpment through honey-stone villages: Broadway, Stanton, Winchcombe, Painswick, Wotton-under-Edge. The days are rolling rather than mountainous, with a few steady climbs onto the edge and long, easy stretches along the top.
Most people take seven to ten days. If that sounds much for a first trip, walk the northern half — Chipping Campden to Painswick — and come back for the rest. Broadway, Winchcombe and Painswick all have decent bus links, so you can drop in a shorter day when you need one.
Accommodation is the main constraint. Camping is limited, so most walkers book B&Bs and pubs with rooms, and summer weekends fill up months ahead. Book the whole route before you set off rather than hoping for a bed on the night.
The Dales Way
Roughly 80 miles from Ilkley in West Yorkshire to Bowness-on-Windermere in the Lake District. It starts beside the River Wharfe and mostly stays close to water: Bolton Abbey, Burnsall, Grassington, Kettlewell, Hubberholme, then over the tops into Dentdale and on through Sedbergh towards Windermere.
The gradients are forgiving and the surfaces are good, which is why it has a reputation as one of the best introductions to backpacking. Six to eight days is typical. Villages provide beds and campsites at regular intervals, but the stretch between Kettlewell and Dent has little of either, so plan that day properly. Both ends are easy by train.
The Ridgeway
About 87 miles from Overton Hill near Avebury to Ivinghoe Beacon in the Chilterns, often described as Britain's oldest road. It runs along a chalk ridge, so the appeal for a beginner is what is under your boots: wide, grassy tracks, very few stiles and no serious climbing.
The catch is that villages and shops sit off the ridge. Water taps and pubs are thinner on the ground than on the Cotswold Way, and some days involve a mile or two of detour to a bed. Goring, Princes Risborough and Tring have stations, which helps. Carry more water than you think you need on warm days.
The Speyside Way
Just over 65 miles from Buckie on the Moray coast to Aviemore, through whisky country and along old railway lines by way of Fochabers, Craigellachie, Aberlour, Ballindalloch and Grantown-on-Spey. Five or six days, and mostly flat.
There is some road walking, and midges are a genuine factor from June to August — pack a head net and repellent, and start early on still, humid mornings. Aviemore has a railway station; for Buckie you will need a bus or a lift from Keith.
If you want something longer next time
The South Downs Way runs 100 miles from Winchester to Eastbourne on broad, stile-free bridleway with big views, though beds are sparse in places. The West Highland Way, 96 miles from Milngavie to Fort William, is rougher and busier but very well supported — a fine second trip once your shoulders have adapted to the pack.
Pacing and daily distances
Beginners almost always start too fast. A rough plan that works:
- Days one and two: 8 to 10 miles. Let your shoulders and hips adjust before you ask more.
- Middle days: 10 to 13 miles, finishing by mid-afternoon so you have time to wash, eat and rest.
- Rest: build in a half day or a full day off every fourth or fifth day.
- Look at ascent, not just mileage. Twelve miles with 600 metres of climbing is a bigger day than fifteen flat miles.
- Have a daily bail-out plan: know the nearest bus stop or village in case the weather or your feet turn.
Start walking by nine, stop for a proper lunch rather than eating on the move for eight hours, and treat hot spots on your feet immediately with tape. Blisters end more first trips than hills do.
Accommodation: how to sort it
Pubs with rooms are the classic option, followed by B&Bs, bunkhouses, hostels and campsites. Book as early as you can for July and August, bank holidays and weekends, and ask about three things when you ring: a drying room, a packed lunch, and whether they can hold a bag if you are using a luggage transfer service.
Those transfer services operate on most of these routes and are a perfectly legitimate way to start — carrying only a day pack for the first trip teaches you a lot about pacing before you add weight. On camping, the rules differ: in Scotland the outdoor access code allows lightweight wild camping on much unenclosed land; in England and Wales wild camping is generally not a right, so use campsites and check local rules before you go.
Before you set off
Two things matter more than any kit list. First, walk two consecutive days at your planned distance with a loaded pack near home — it teaches you more than a dozen articles. Second, tell someone your route and expected finish times each day.
Keep your pack as light as you reasonably can, and make feet the priority: worn-in boots or shoes, dry socks, and tape on a hot spot the moment you feel it. If you have a heart condition, a joint problem or anything else that might flare up under load, speak to a doctor or physio before committing to a multi-day route.
Photo: Stephen / Pexels
