A week on the hoof
Some of Britain’s best-loved routes – South Downs Way, West Highland Way, Cleveland Way – clock in around the 100-mile mark, probably because the distance packs neatly into a week away, and feels both challenging and do-able.
The Cotswold Way is another favourite, a glorious 102-mile national trail between Chipping Campden and the city of Bath, rolling along the western edge of the Cotswold Hills with wide views and a honey-stoned village pretty much every time you feel a thirst coming on. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a happier combination of things trekkers love: there’s enough climb to work up an appetite but not enough to make you cuss; open commons alternate with enveloping woodlands, each gorgeous in itself and an enhancing contrast to the other; ancient burial mounds, abbeys and hilltop towers punctuate the miles with historic tales; and if you walk south, you can finish by easing your trail-tired legs into a spa in Bath.
Or if you like things a bit hillier, and often quieter, then look west to the Brecon Beacons and the 99-mile Beacons Way from the Holy Mountain of Ysgyryd Fawr to a village called Bethlehem, over peaks well known (Pen y Fan) and not (Fan Llia).