Linking it all together

Around and across Norfolk

There is clockwise circuit around much of Norfolk which others have followed, from Knettishall Heath near Thetford up the Peddars Way to Holme next the Sea, along the Norfolk Coast Path to Cromer, then to Great Yarmouth by way of the Angles Way before returning on the Weavers' Way close to the Norfolk/Suffolk border to Knettishall Heath. Some years ago we walked - and really enjoyed - that circuit.  Since we completed that circumnavigation, an extension to the Norfolk Coast Path (as part of the England Coast Path) means that it too goes all the way to Great Yarmouth and beyond, so there is an alternative from Cromer to Great Yarmouth which we have now walked too. Whichever way you go between Cromer and Great Yarmouth, this circuit misses out a large chunk of West Norfolk, which is where we live!  Therefore we devised an extension of our own, giving a route around Norfolk which took us from home up the  Fen Rivers Way, then along our own  Fen Rivers Way to Norfolk Coast Path link before following the Norfolk Coast Path, Weavers' Way and Angles Way and returning by way of the Angles Way to Fen Rivers Way link. To include the extreme southwest of the county, we could also include a link by way of the Hereward Way from its junction with the Peddars Way, via Ely (where it crosses the Fen Rivers Way) to Welney and then from Welney to home.

In addition to the new coastal walking that is being opened up by the England Coast Path, other new routes since the birth of JordanWalks have enabled us to cross Norfolk from west to east by way of the Peter Scott Walk from the boundary with Lincolnshire to West Lynn (which we actually walked in the opposite direction) then, after crossing to Kings Lynn on the ferry, onwards via the Nar Valley Way, the Wensum Way, and part of the Marriott's Way to Norwich. We crossed the city on the Wensum River Parkway on a bizarrely quiet 3rd January 2021, with the usual January sales largely in abeyance because of Covid-19. Later in 2021 we completed the  Wherryman's Way from Norwich to reach the coast at Great Yarmouth. Great Yarmouth is a rather ordinary seaside holiday resort, but it is turning into a focus for the start/end points of our walking routes in the East of England. Meanwhile the Nar Valley Way,  Wensum Way, Marriott's Way. Wensum River Parkway and Wherryman's Way are collectively known as the Cross Norfolk Trail.

Home to Land's End

When we set off to walk from St Ives to Penzance around Land's End, back in 2007, we had no intention of walking the whole South West Coast Path. However we were soon hooked and we completed the entire 630-mile route in 2013. Meanwhile, our walks closer to home meant we had walked from Denver (where we live) to Knettishall Heath, most directly by way of the Fen Rivers Way and the Angles Way to Fen Rivers Way link. The Icknield Way Path also starts on Knettishall Heath, and can be considered an extension of the Peddars Way, with both being on the "Greater Ridgeway" (the route of the ancient Icknield Way). We walked the Icknield Way Path in 2011 and began to think about joining the whole thing together. The Icknield Way Path took us to Ivinghoe Beacon which is where the Ridgeway starts, and the routes of the Ridgeway and Wessex Ridgeway cross near Marlborough; we completed the Ridgeway and started the Wessex Ridgeway in 2013. Thus it was that when we walked into Lyme Regis at the end of the Wessex Ridgeway on 17th May 2014, we had walked every step of the way between home and Land's End (though admittedly not all in one direction and certainly not all in one go!). 

Home to Scotland

Having seen the possibility of walking from home to Land's End, the decision to head north to the Scottish boarder was more deliberate. As were were walking the Hereward Way, we added a spur from Denver Sluice to the Welney Wildlife Centre, and we then followed the Hereward Way to Rutland Water and Oakham. The Viking Way took us from Rutland Water to the Humber Bridge, which we walked across after completing the Viking Way. The Yorkshire Wolds Way then took us from the Humber Bridge to Filey, where the Cleveland Way (which we had previously walked in the opposite direction) starts. A short walk from Saltburn-by-the-Sea, at the north-east corner of the Cleveland Way, took us up the coast to Redcar and so onto the Teesdale Way. This took us to Middleton-in-Teesdale, where the Teesdale Way meets the Pennine Way, and we then headed north and west to Garrigill, and along the South Tyne Trail to Haltwhistle. 

When we were walking the Hadrian's Wall Path, we stayed for two nights in Haltwhistle and thus found a delightful path from the Wall down to Haltwhistle and back. Our overall route up the country thus took us along the link from Haltwhistle to Hadrian's Wall, then along the Hadrian's Wall Path. In August 2016, we followed St Oswald's Way from the Hadrian's Wall Path to the Northumberland Coast and Lindisfarne, then up the Northumberland Coast Path to Berwick upon Tweed. But that's not in Scotland!; the border lies a few miles to the north. However, St Cuthbert's Way and St Oswald's Way coincide for the four or five miles south of the Lindisfarne Causeway, and St Cuthbert's Way (which we walked back in 2010) crosses the border on its route from Melrose to Lindisfarne. Thus our final link in the route between Land's End and the Scottish border came on 16th August 2016 as we walked from Belford to Lindisfarne on St Oswald's Way. We repeated the achievement in July 2018 when we walked over the border when walking the Berwickshire Coastal Path between Cockburnspath and Berwick upon Tweed. 

Home to Home

I work for the Open University. I used to be based in Cambridge, but now work in Milton Keynes and until the end of 2018, rented Monday to Friday accommodation in the village of Sherington near Newport Pagnell. The Ouse Valley Way passes close to both Sherington and Denver (our home in Norfolk), so it was a natural path for us to walk - and a short diversion also took us to the South Cambridgeshire Village of Willingham, where we lived from 1985 to 1988. 

We now own flat right by the Grand Union Canal in the village of Simpson, close to my work. The way home to Denver from here is either north along the Grand Union Canal Walk to the Iron Trunk Aqueduct, thence onto the Ouse Valley Way. Alternatively, heading south along the Grand Union Canal Walk leads to Leighton Buzzard which is where the Greensand Ridge Walk, starts (or you can use the Milton Keynes Boundary Walk to cut off the corner). The Greensand Ridge Walk leads to the Clopton Way and so to the Wimpole Way to Cambridge, then up the Fen Rivers Way and home. Subsequent extensive walking in the Milton Keynes area means that there are several alternatives to this route.

South to North

The routes described above, from Land's End to Home then from Home to Scotland, together provide one rather indirect route from the south to the north of England. You could make it rather more direct by heading from Lyme Regis on the Dorset Coast (and on the South West Coast Path), up the Wessex Ridgeway and The Ridgeway, as previously described, then going north on the Grand Union Canal Walk to the Nene Way (perhaps using part of the North Bucks Way/Midshires Way to cut off the corner) and then onto the Hereward Way and then as described under "Home to Scotland". 

An alternative route from south to north, running further to the west, leaves the Wessex Ridgeway at Devizes, heading onto the Kennet and Avon Canal Link to Bath,  then by way of  Cotswold Way through the Cotswolds and the  Heart of England Way to Cannock Chase. From here a section of walking on the Staffordshire Way leads to the Limestone Way at Rocester, which we followed all the way to Castleton in the Peak District. Alternatively, you could leave the Limestone Way where it crosses the Midshires Way  which we have followed through Buxton to Stockport.

West to East

Land's End also sits at the western end of a route across the country by way of the South West Coast Path, then the Wessex Ridgeway, Ridgeway,  Icknield Way Path and then the Stour valley Path to the Stour Estuary. Alternatively, staying on the Icknield Way Path to its end at Knettishall Heath brings you to the Angles Way and following this leads to Great Yarmouth, right on the east coast.

Of course, the Hadrian's Wall Path gives a shorter and rather more direct west to east route, though its eastern end point in Wallsend is a few miles from the east coast.