Access land on the South Downs

What constitutes an LDP is a matter of opinion and views vary widely. Our working definition of an LDP has the following criteria:

1) a minimum of 15 miles in length

2) have an organisation or individual who is responsible for its promotion and maintenance

3) quality information for walkers to navigate the route

4) quality information for walkers to experience the theme/story of the route

5) supporting information that is up to date

6) all available at a reasonable price to the general public

This website seeks to list long distance routes within the UK that broadly meet these criteria. 

 We do not list routes that require special skills or difficulties in normal weather conditions, such as scrambling or rock climbing, though any route may present unusual difficulties in adverse weather.

A special class of LDPs is the so-called Anytime Challenge. These are routes intended to be completed as a continuous walk normally in one day, with completers qualifying for a certificate and/or a badge (if available) from the route’s ‘Recorder’. There are many such challenges listed on this website, often promoted by an LDWA member or Group. You can find Anytime Challenges using the Advanced Search options.

Most routes are in the countryside but a number pass within urban areas, often using green corridors linking parks and open spaces, often with many interesting buildings, heritage and history to be seen en route. These urban routes are important as they are easily accessible by much larger numbers of people, many of whom progress to walking more demanding and longer country routes. Using the Advanced Search option in Search for a Path, you can look for routes with features or 'attributes' such as 'easy', 'challenging', 'urban', 'coastal', 'riverside' or 'literary'.

The LDPs on this site are believed to be on rights of way, permissive paths or access areas that are normally open to walkers. 

We do not cover routes that are solely available as commercial ventures, normally as holidays operated by companies that provide the route description only to those that book with them. Such ventures do not meet our listing criterion of a route description being freely publicly available at reasonable cost.

Last revised 27/07/2026 by Paul Nellist, LDPs Officer