Leaving Lowestoft and heading west along the Angles Way through ancient grazing marshes and meadows, the path heads along the Waveney Valley, meandering with the river to its source at Redgrave Fen. Onwards to the well-preserved portion of historical Breckland at Knettishall Heath Country Park to meet the Icknield Way, possibly the oldest road in Britain, with a history dating back to Neolithic times (4000-2000 BC).


Shadowing the original line of the Icknield Way as closely as possible along the chalk spine of southern England the route offers splendid views over the surrounding countryside, and is dotted with archeological remains, historic villages and towns, nature reserves and miles of beautiful green lanes. A deviation from the Icknield Way leads to Holme Fen, Cambridgeshire and at 2.75m below sea level, will be the lowest point of the journey.


Rejoining the Icknield Way, the route continues to Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire to link with The Ridgeway National Trail. The Ridgeway Path passes through the gentle and wooded countryside of the Chiltern Hills in the east, crosses the River Thames, and travels along the open and relatively isolated top of the chalk downland ridge to the west. Scattered with Iron Age forts, ancient burial mounds, and chalk hill figures, The Ridgeway, with far-reaching views, runs as a broad ancient track to the World Heritage Site of Avebury in Wiltshire.


Heading southwest towards the Dorset coast, the 137 mile long Wessex Ridgeway recreates the final stage of the Great Ridgeway, an ancient highway from Holme on the north Norfolk coast, originally, to the coast in Devon. The route skirts Salisbury Plain before heading south across the Chalk Downs, following the high ancient ridge as much as possible before descending into Lyme Regis.


At this point the route joins the South West Coast Path and heads toward the southern tip of the island at Lizard Point in Cornwall. Unable to cross river estuaries on foot, inland detours are unavoidable, however, a traverse of Dartmoor National Park will provide a sufficiently interesting distraction before returning to the spectacular coast path. From Lizard to Land's End, then northward, continuing along the coast path to Barnstaple at the edge of Exmoor National Park.