Wessex Ridgeway
A 137-mile long-distance path. The Wessex Ridgeway begins in Marlborough and runs southwest across the North Wessex Downs, Cranborne Chase, and the Dorset Downs to finish at Lyme Regis on the English Channel. With map, statistics, and GPX route file.
Statistics and Files
Grid Ref: SU 187 685
Distance: 137 miles (221 km)
Time: 58–68 hours
Duration: 10–13 days
Ordnance Survey Explorer Maps (1:25,000):
116 Lyme Regis and Bridport
117 Cerne Abbas and Bere Regis
118 Shaftesbury and Cranborne Chase
129 Yeovil and Sherborne
130 Salisbury, Stonehenge, Wilton and Market Lavington
143 Warminster and Trowbridge
156 Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon
157 Marlborough, Savernake Forest, Avebury and Devizes
Summary
The Wessex Ridgeway is a long-distance footpath in southwest England. It runs 137 miles from Marlborough in Wiltshire to Lyme Regis in Dorset, via the northern edge of Salisbury Plain and across Cranborne Chase. Opened in 1994, it is one of four long-distance footpaths which, when combined, run from Lyme Regis to Hunstanton in Norfolk, referred to as the Greater Ridgeway.
From the start in Marlborough, the route visits Avebury, Devizes, Urchfont, West Lavington, Battlesbury Hill Fort and Scratchbury Hill Fort (Warminster), Cotley Hill Fort, Heytesbury, Corton, Hindon, Old Wardour Castle, Donhead St Andrew, Ashcombe Bottom, Cranborne Chase, Iwerne Courtney (or Shroton), Shillingstone, Rawlsbury Camp, Cerne Abbas, Sydling St Nicholas, Maiden Newton, Rampisham Down, Beaminster, Gerrard’s Hill, Lambert’s Castle Hill Fort, Coney’s Castle Fort, and Wootton Fitzpaine before finishing by the south coast in Lyme Regis.