Goldilocks walking holiday (Looking for something that's Just Right)

The Dales Way would be a good choice. Equally the SW coast path. The latter is a favourite of mine - I have walked from Minhead to Plymouth but unfortunately not beyond there so I don’t know the Weymouth area. I would recommend almost anywhere in Cornwall. It is logistically easy to arrange, particularly around the end of the peninsula.

Also maybe the West Highland Way? That’s obviously Scotland and not England but whilst it’s in the Highlands it is overall not a particularly difficult walk. Many parts of the SWCP are harder.

The Fife Coastal Path looked interesting to me, especially with the Pubs along the way! There are maps online.

The Dales Way can't be completed in your time frame and your pace in 5 days but the Yorkshire section to the Cumbria/Westmorland border at Dent can.
It is often said that the Dales Way starts at Ilkley (and officially it does) but there is an extension route starts in Leeds City Centre. Interestingly my official Guide Book to the way unequivocally starts in Leeds as opposed to Ilkley. I know from experience how very fast you shake off the city and how good the 'extension' is.
Day one could be- Leeds to Menston (14 miles) but that could be shortened by ending at Bramhope for instance
Day two Menston to Bolton Abbey (11.2 miles)
[If you had ended at Bramhope on Day 1, just end Day two at Ilkley and adjust thereafter)
Day 3- Bolton Abbey to Grassington 10.5 miles
Rest day in Grassington
Day 4- Grassington to Hubberholme 11.1 miles (Taxi or Bus to Grassington for a second night, or maybe Kettlewell)- look into the Church for it's collection of Robert Thompson (mouseman) carvings.
Day 5- Hubberholme to Dent Head 13 miles (taxi or bus back to Hubberholme)
(It is then a further 3 miles to Dent Railway Station for Settle/Carlisle trains (or if it is a Saturday the evening bus down to Sedbergh for overnight. You can catch that bus at Lea Yeat to avoid the final steep pull up to Dent Station.
There isn't really a way to shorten Day 5- it is what it is

You could also look at the Pembrokeshire coast path. Beautiful scenery.

That has actually reminded me to check on something I was told last fall, in a pilgrimage debrief in Seattle of all places. I'm from the UK but didn't know that there is a route called the Wales Coast Path, all the way from Chester to Chepstow- 870 miles in total.
It now incorporates the much older Pembrokeshire Coastal Path and the Anglesey Coastal Path.
So like the South West Coastal Path you can start from anywhere and do any segment. At Machynnleth the Wales Coastal Path links with the Glyndwrs Way from Welshpool to Knighton, both of which are on the Offa's Dyke Path- essentially that route follows a big C shaped route.
Looking at a map I'm guessing that the northern part of that C is 50 miles or so.

Back on the Wales Coastal Path Chester to Anglesey is 81 miles so cut that off at Conwy you'll be close to 50 miles, or the Gower and Swansea Bay section is 69 miles. Easy to get to Swansea from LHR on Great Western trains and that would be a good discrete walk that you could in all likelihood do fanning out from a single base.

The Northumberland Coastal Path (direct train to Newcastle from MAN, change for train to Ashington then a 25 minute bus ride to the start at Cresswell) would be another good one to think about- 62 miles to Berwick on Tweed.

Have you considered the Peak District? There are some amazing hikes there, and the town of Castleton is a good base for all them. I stayed there for 5 nights and loved the area. I'm not a hiker, per se, but Castleton and The Peak attract a lot of British hikers. Plus since it's still relatively unknown by Americans, it's not as crowded as other places can be. https://visitpeakdistrict.com/

There are some great suggestions here- I would like to add one which is the North Norfolk Coast Path: https://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/en_GB/trails/peddars-way-and-norfolk-coast-path/

It's 50 miles long, and we did it over five days. It goes thru beautiful scenery along the marshy Norfolk coast (lots of birds) and is pretty much flat the entire way. The only slightly strenuous part is towards the end when you have to walk thru shingle for several miles. There are sites of historic interest nearby, especially Blickling Hall which is where Anne Boleyn was born, and lots of nice villages like Blakeney and Cley. You can also take a boat out to Blakeney Point and see the seals, and you get to walk thru one of the UK's most beautiful beaches at Holkham. Blakeney is a great place to stay after day three as it's about 30 miles into the walk. I find the whole coast up in Norfolk magical and couldn't recommend it enough.

In terms of travel from the airport, it's a bit less straightforward but you can get a train from Kings Cross in London to Kings Lynn in Norfolk and then buses from there. The bus service in the area is pretty good so it's not hard to get around without a car, altho a car always does make things easier.

The other options you mention are all great and I think whatever you choose you'll have a wonderful time, especially in May or June.

Hi Stacy -

As far as the Yorkshire Dales goes, much of your criteria is met by the Herriot Way. Fifty two miles, circular, starting and finishing in Aysgarth and stopping in the villages of Hawes, Keld and Reeth. Four walking days of about thirteen miles each. Rest day could be day five when you have the chance to visit Castle Bolton which is nearby. Aysgarth Falls are famed as the filming location of ‘Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves’ where Kevin Costner’s Robin takes on Little John, with very damp results! The only problem is the ‘packhorse’ companies that book accommodation and ship your luggage from stop to stop are already getting booked up for the summer, (I know this as it’s on our planned list for later in the year and we’ve made some tentative enquiries at least) possibly because there isn’t a huge amount of accommodation in and around Keld, which is odd because it’s where the Coast to Coast and Pennine Way trails cross, but then again, there’s very little to Keld itself. Access to Aysgarth would be by DalesBus or taxi. The nearest station is Garsdale on the Settle to Carlisle line and trains are usually met by The Little White Bus which will get you to Hawes to connect with a bus for Aysgarth. See www.dalesbus.org for more info.

The Dales Way is a gorgeous walk, which I’ve done several times, but needs a good week or so to make the entire thing comfortable. I suppose you could do the Dales part, but I’d be itching to complete it!

The Northumberland coastal path would likewise fit the bill and it’s undeniably a glorious section of coast. And less visited at that, although not the ‘best kept secret’ it perhaps once was, While I rarely take issue with Stuart (isn31c) I think I’d be inclined to take the train straight to Berwick and walk south, for no good reason I can give you except that’s the way I’ve always imagined it! It would seem that some companies who do the booking and baggage deal allot six days to walk the entire trail.

The western half of The Ridgeway is most definitely the more interesting section from Avebury (I know it doesn’t actually start in Avebury, officially starting at Overton Hill, but you’d be mad not to spend some time in Avebury) to Streatley/Goring. There’s very little ‘on route’ accommodation on the Ridgeway as far as I recall (it’s been a while!) so you’d have to drop off the route to get to your B&B, hotel, pub, inn whatever unless things have radically changed.

As with all my other posts feel free to give me a shout here or by pm if you need any further questions answering! Hope you can get something sorted out to your satisfaction!

Ian

Wow, lots of info to absorb, thank you everyone. I'll come back with more specific questions once I read through all your responses more carefully.

A further question:

One thing I loved about the Hadrian's Wall path was all the historic sites and archaeology along the way. Are there other long-distance path with similar historic interest? (I guess that's why I keep coming back to the Ridgeway, and Avebury, as Ian mentioned.)

Thanks again.

If that's what your ideal aims are then the Ridgeway will be hard to beat. It is super easy from Heathrow. Train to Swindon via Reading, then a bus every 30 minutes to Avebury.
Streatley (or Goring and Streatley) is one of the local stations on the Oxford to Paddington line.

Having done it, an (err) good number of years ago (in a time of map and compass before GPS and other gee wizardry) I've just got my old guidebook out. And this is a case where a hard copy guidebook is IMO worth it's weight in gold for the added information (and 7 other circular added walks at various points en route). Anyway I'm inclined to agree that you may have to be doing off route deviations to find places to stay, which requires a bit of thought and planning. I can't help you on that because I did the whole walk as a series of day trips from my then base at Southend in Essex (some people are entitled to call that cheating), and don't think it's too hard to do.

What I had forgotten is that there is an alternative add on start point from Pewsey Station (direct trains from Reading) about 6 miles from Overton Hill (and you then have to immediately drop back off route to Avebury- so with limited time not sure it's worth it).

As for the Northumberland Coast Path I don't mind at all about Ian's favoured direction of travel. Any linear route can be done A to B, or B to A. Different people will prefer either. I would do South to North for the weather and I think it builds to a crescendo northbound, but personal choice.

I agree Ridgeway would be best for historic interest (including Avebury as you mentioned, plus Wayland's Smithy and the Uffington White Horse), altho nothing can really beat Hadrian's Wall in that department. We did it in 2023 and tho the transport connections from Swindon aren't always great (they can be very infrequent, and once waiting for the bus back the driver completely passed us by despite us clearly standing at the stop) they are manageable. I really recommend the Cicerone guide for the Ridgeway to plan the trip, and they advise on accommodation as well, tho we did it as eight day trips from London.

I cannot read from your text if you already do this, but here goes.

When walking long trips became too hard 15 years ago, we decided that rather than stopping, we got somebody to carry our load. That way we could continue walking. We have used https://www.contours.co.uk/ in Scotland and England and https://www.vagabondtours.dk/ in Denmark.

They arrange all accomodation and transport our bags from place to place, so we only take a day pack with lunch etc.

There are threads on this forum with mention of other companies with other routes.

I've been looking up properly on the Ridgeway overnight-
Day 1- Arrive Heathrow, transfer to Swindon then Avebury;
Day 2- Maybe more time in Avebury. There is a bus up to East Kennett every two hours for a short link path to Overton Hill. So you could take the 1140 bus up. My records show that is what I did, and started from Overton Hill at 1215 for the 9 miles to Ogbourne St George.
That took me three hours.
Assuming nowhere to stay in Ogbourne there is a bus #80 for a 25 minute ride to Swindon (for a second night at Avebury) at 1609, 1704 and 1928 or the 10 minute ride to the rather nice town of Marlborough at 1739 and 1839. That would be my preference.
Services back up from either in the morning
Day 3- Ogbourne to Ridgeway Farm (just above Bishopstone)- about 9 miles. About a one mile drop off the route to Bishopstone. Bus #47 runs from there to Swindon at 1722 (and an extra on Saturday at 1447- my route) or to the nice town of Lambourn at 1409, 1644 and 1815. Again Lambourn would be my preference for an overnight stay.
Buses from either end come back up in the morning.
Day 4- Fox Hill to Wantage- 10 miles. Wantage is about two miles off route. But on the Ridgeway (where you leave it for the trot down to Wantage) there used to be The Court Hill Ridgeway Centre which offered camping and hostel style accommodation. It is still open for refreshments but I am having a hard time finding out if it is still open to stay.
Day 5- Rest Day. From Wantage there is a bus every 20 minutes for the 50 minute ride to Oxford, or a longer route hourly via Abingdon (another very interesting town to visit).
Day 6- Wantage (taxi back up to the walk) to Streatley 14 miles
I actually (presumably due to shift patterns at work in London, likely a horrible split shift) broke this 6 miles in at Bury Down (drop down to West Ilsley for the bus to Newbury Railway Station, trains to Reading and Paddington).

Thanks for so many helpful replies. I honestly wish we could do every one of these walks!

But I think the Ridgeway is winning out.

@lpenerson— We do plan on using a booking/baggage transport service. We have used Celtic Trails before and were very happy with them.

@isn31c— thank you for your suggested itinerary. It sounds perfect, and I appreciate info on the bus services, especially from Heathrow and around Avebury. I think it’s a great idea to spend a preliminary day in Avebury to explore (and recover from jet lag!)

I like the idea of a rest day in Wantage. Is it a nice town to explore?

@Cat— I love the Cicerone guidebooks and won’t take a step without one. (That reminds me that I have their Navigation book, too, and need to brush up my map-reading skills.)

Thanks again for everyone’s generosity and expertise.

Wantage is to me one of those nice market towns (actually still geographically in the Cotswolds, if not what many people see as that area) which is less well known internationally.
This is the local web page for it- https://www.cotswolds.info/places/wantage.shtml
and for the Vale and Downland Museum- https://www.cotswolds.info/places/wantage.shtml

By the way you will find a new Visit Wantage website- that is for Wantage, New Jersey, USA.

It is interesting that that website also mentions Abingdon because I do think the two towns 45 minutes bus ride apart would make an interesting pairing- https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/discover-abingdon

Wantage looks like a lovely little town! The museum looks interesting too. Thank you!