The Path More Travelled: Tracing Britain’s Ancient Footprints
From the 6,000-year-old Sweet Track to the site of the 1932 Kinder Scout Mass Trespass, a new book reveals how millennia of movement shaped the British landscape.
Explorer, author, and television presenter Nicholas Crane has published The Path More Travelled, a work that traces the evolution of Britain’s oldest pathways. The book examines historical routes including the 6,000-year-old Sweet Track in Somerset, coffin roads on Iona, the Bure Valley Path in Norfolk, the Ridgeway in Wiltshire, and the site of the 1932 Kinder Scout Mass Trespass.
Crane describes the network of bridleways, hollow ways, and drove roads as an “internet of feet” formed over thousands of years. He notes that traffic speeds remained at the pace of a horse for more than 2,000 years until the internal combustion engine altered pedestrian road use roughly a century ago.
The narrative highlights the Sweet Track, built in 3806 BC by early farmers to access an island in the Somerset Levels. The collapsed boardwalk was preserved in peat and discovered in 1970. Visitors can view a replica section at Shapwick Heath nature reserve, walking in single file along the narrow timber causeway to imagine the world of Neolithic pioneers.
In Scotland, Crane walks Sràid nam Marbh, or the Street of the Dead, on the island of Iona. This narrow lane leads from Port nam Mairtear to a monastery founded in 563 and was used to convey the dead to cemeteries. The route passes ruins of an Augustinian nunnery and leads to the abbey precinct, where red granite slabs have been sunken by the weight of time.
The Bure Valley Path in Norfolk follows an old railway line and river course, linking Aylsham and Hoveton. The nine-mile shared walking and cycling route retains historical ties to wherries and steam railways, offering a sylvan backdrop where occasional steam locomotives run alongside riverside footpaths.
The Ridgeway runs 87 miles from Ivinghoe Beacon to Avebury, passing prehistoric sites such as the Uffington White Horse and Wayland’s Smithy. Holloways, or sunken paths worn into softer geologies like chalk and sandstone, are also explored, with Crane noting their dramatic presence in the Surrey Hills and near the White Horse.
The story of countryside access is detailed through the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass in April 1932. This event, where hikers clashed with gamekeepers to prevent public access, led to legislation improving rights to roam. The path up William Clough is now described on the National Trust website as the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass Walk.
The article, published by The Guardian Travel on 14 May 2026, details Crane’s personal journey to track the evolution of British paths for his book.