On this page, we aim to identify those National Trails which may be walked using public transport at the beginning and end of a day … and those which cannot.
Trails which form parts of the England and Wales Coast Paths are incorporated in a separate listing. Scottish coastal segments are listed below, since the complete coastal route is not currently feasible.
Selecting the route name in the list below will give you more detail, and selecting the route name on that page will lead you to the route’s principal authoritative resource.
Use the alphastrip below to jump to the appropriate initial letter for a selected route within the list. If there are no routes with a particular initial letter, the jump will have no effect.
0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Ayrshire Coastal Path
Length >60km
Max transport gap <20km
A walk of 146km between Wemyss Bay and Glenapp.
Borders Abbeys Way
Length >60km
Max transport gap >20km
A circuit of 103km which links four Borders abbeys.
Cateran Trail
There are bus services at Alyth, Blairgowrie, Bridge of Cally, Kirkmichael and Enochdhu. There is a bus service two (non-consecutive) days a week at Spittal of Glenshee, but no service to Kirkton of Glenisla (where there is accommodation). The route is therefore not sufficiently covered by public transport for day walking.
A walk of 103km in the Angus Glens. This cannot be considered a Green Walk, owing to the sparsity of public transport links.
Cotswold Way
Length >60km
Max transport gap <20km
A 166km walk between Bath and Chipping Campden.
Image: Pulteney Weir and Bridge, Bath
Cross-Borders Drove Road
Length >60km
Max transport gap >20km
A walk of 94km between Kirknewton and Hawick.
Dava Way
A walk of 38km between Grantown-on-Spey and Forres. Not a Green Walk.
Fife Coastal Path
Length >60km
Max transport gap >20km
A walk of 183km between Kincardine-on-Forth and Newburgh.
Image: Crail Custom House
Formartine and Buchan Way
Length >60km
Max transport gap <20km
A railbed walk in three spokes from Maud, with the other termini at Dyce (40km), Peterhead (21km) and Fraserburgh (26km).
Forth and Clyde / Union Canal Walk
Length >60km
Max transport gap <10km
A walk of 102km between Bowling and Edinburgh.
Llwybr Glyndŵr
Glyndŵr’s Way
A National Trail of 229km between Welshpool and Knighton via Machynlleth, it does not qualify as a Green Walk because of the long gaps in public transport connections.
Great Glen Way
Length >60km
Max transport gap >20km
A walk of 125km between Fort William and Inverness.
Great Trossachs Path
A walk of 45km between Inversnaid and Callander.
Hadrian’s Wall Path
Length >60km
Max transport gap > 30km
A 146km walk between Bowness-on-Solway and Segedunum (Wallsend).
John Muir Way
Length >60km
Max transport gap > 30km
A walk of 213km walk between Helensburgh and Dunbar.
Image: John Muir mural, Prestonpans
Loch Lomond and Cowal Way
Length >60km
Max transport gap > 30km
A walk of 92km walk between Portavadie and Inveruglas.
Loch Ryan Coastal Path
Length <20km
Max transport gap <10km
A walk of 19km between Glenapp and Stranraer.
Mull of Galloway Trail
Length >60km
Max transport gap <20km
A walk of 57km between Glenapp and the Mull of Galloway.
North Downs Way
Length >60km
Max transport gap <20km
A walk of 201km between Farnham and Dover.
Image: Kit’s Coty House
Llwybr Clawdd Offa
Offa’s Dyke Path
Length >60km
Max transport gap >20km
A walk of 286km between Chepstow and Prestatyn.
Image: Devil’s Pulpit, looking towards Tintern Abbey
Peddars Way
Length >60km
Max transport gap <20km
A walk of 76km between Knettishall Heath and Holme next the Sea.
Pennine Bridleway
Length >60km
Max transport gap >20km
A walk (or ride) of 593km between Middleton Top and Cote Moor.
Pennine Way
A walk of 422km between Edale and Kirk Yetholm; this National Trail does not qualify as a Green Walk. In addition to the 45km gap between Byrness (sketchy bus service) and Kirk Yetholm, buses connect with different settlements from the next access point in many areas.
The Ridgeway
Length >60km
Max transport gap <20km
A walk of 136km between Overton Hill and Ivinghoe Beacon.
Image: Goring Bridge, crossed by the route
Rob Roy Way
Length >60km
Max transport gap >20km
A walk of 127km walk between Drymen and Pitlochry, in the (approximate) footsteps of Rob Roy MacGregor (1671-1734).
Image: Rob Roy MacGregor, by WH Worthington
(public domain)
Romans and Reivers Route
A walk of 84km from Ae to Hawick, this National Trail does not qualify as a Green Walk because public transport only connects at Beattock/Moffat, Eskdalemuir and Hawick (without any service at the Ae terminus).
St Cuthbert’s Way
Length >60km
Max transport gap >20km
A walk of 105km between Melrose and Lindisfarne.
South Downs Way
Length >60km
Max transport gap >20km
A walk of 164km between Eastbourne and Winchester.
Southern Upland Way
A walk of 344km between Portpatrick and Cockburnspath. Due to several great gaps in public transport services (two consecutive gaps of over 40km either side of Sanquhar and the 56km between Lauder and Cockburnspath), this route does not qualify as a Green Walk (though it remains an outstanding traverse).
Thames Path
Length >60km
Max transport gap >20km
A walk of 440km between Greenwich and the river’s source.
Image: Whitchurch from the bridge
Three Lochs Way
Length <60km
Max transport gap <20km
A 50km walk between Helensburgh and Inveruglas.
Image: Helensburgh
West Highland Way
Length >60km
Max transport gap <20km
A walk of 154km between Milngavie and Fort William.
Yorkshire Wolds Way
Length >60km
Max transport gap <20km
A walk of 134km between Hessle and Filey Brigg.
Disclaimer and advisory notices
Note that the greenwalks.uk team can accept no responsibility for content on an external site or in an external publication, nor for any action by an external site which renders our content or link outdated or unworkable. Furthermore, the team retains the liberty to unlink external content if, in its opinion, there have been changes which mean that a route may no longer be able to be considered a Green Walk (e.g., following changes to public transport services).
The responsibility for safety and security is vested in the walker alone: greenwalks.uk can take no responsibility for any inconvenience, damage, loss or injury sustained while using a route or other information from this site — many things can change without warning.
Images used in the greenwalks.uk site are either owned by our team members, or are subject to a licence-to-use held by greenwalks.uk. These images must not be further used by any third party without the explicit permission of the greenwalks.uk team, or of the original image licensor. A small number of images are in the public domain.
We should be happy to learn of any changes to the line of a walk and/or its public transport connections, or to consider an image which you own for inclusion on the site, greenwalks.uk thus being granted a free and non-exclusive licence to use the image anywhere on its site. Please contact us.
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