Pilgrimages have always been about more than spirituality. They could very easily be simplified and defined as religious walks, but that would ignore the modern pull of their geography, architecture, and the simple human desire to move through nature. Long before travel existed in its current form, these routes structured movement across the country, connecting abbeys, shrines and sacred sites for centuries, and today, they’re having a real resurgence in popularity.
This is particularly true of the UK, and it's easy to see why. After years of fast travel, algorithm-influenced itineraries and the low-level exhaustion of being permanently ‘on’, the promise of simply walking from A to B (slowly, deliberately, and often over several days) without the need to book a ticket anywhere – or, crucially, fork over the extreme prices now requisite of air travel – could not appeal more. Tapping into the remedial powers of nature, pilgrimages and walking holidays simply offer something of an antidote. The chance to be stripped of modern entanglements, pass through villages built around abbeys, market towns shaped by passing footfall, taking in landscapes that feel the same underfoot as they did hundreds – sometimes thousands – of years ago.
And lucky for us, these routes range from one-day urban walks to multi-week crossings that end at tidal islands or remote coastal edges across the UK. Some lean heavily into religious heritage, others trace more towards naturalism, yet all of them offer the same underlying promise: space to walk, breathe, and quite simply be. Here are six of the most compelling routes to start with.
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The Archangel's Way, Devon
- Start: Brent Tor
- End: Chagford
- Takes: 2 to 4 days
The Archangel’s Way was launched in 2021 as part of the Devon Pilgrim Project, and despite being one of the UK's lesser-known pilgrimage route, it is a sensational feat. Crossing Dartmoor and linking churches dedicated to St Michael, it begins at Bren Tor, where a small 12th century church sits dramatically atop a volcanic outcrop, and launches quickly into a physically demanding route through exposed moorland, river crossings and uneven terrain.
To suit walkers of varying abilities, this pilgrimage offers two courses – a ‘Low’ route of thirty miles and a more challenging ‘Moorland’ route of thirty-eight miles – but both traverse twelve of Devon’s oldest churches across the northern edge of Dartmoor National Park, so the choice is truly in the foot of the beholder.
The Hadrian’s Wall Pilgrim’s Way, Northumberland
- Start: Housesteads Roman Fort
- End: Corbridge Roman Town
- Takes: 2 days, though there are 6 day variations
Nymphs, knights and Roman gods – the Hadrian’s Wall Pilgrims Way is not simply a journey through Northumberland’s ruggedly resplendent landscape, but also through its rich, layered history. The trail begins at one Roman fort, Housesteads, where ‘Hooded Gods’ were once worshipped, then winds on along the Hadrian’s Wall path to another fort at Carrawburgh (with a temple dedicated to Mithras just adjacent). Once they've made a wish with coins on the altar, the path then takes ramblers to yet another fort, Chesters, where they can marvel at artefacts from the well dedicated to the water nymph, Coventina.
The route snakes through a melancholic, vast landscape, where the sky moves through various shades in minutes and the hills are a patchwork of heather and soft grasses, with flocks of sheep grazing around lonely trees. The next stop is St Oswald Church, where Oswald erected a wooden cross to pray beneath before the Battle of Heavenfield. 7th-century Hexham Abbey is the penultimate stop and somewhere to rest weary legs for an hour or so, soaking in the cavernous ceilings and inspecting the Frith Stool - Chair of Peace and Saxon crypt. The approach to this pigrimage’s final stop is particularly scenic – crossing a bridge with the Tyne’s tar-like water below with the Roman town of Corbridge and its 7th-century church beckoning ahead.
Peak District Old Stones Way, Derbyshire
- Start: Carl Wark Hill Fort
- End: Minninglow Hill
- Takes: 3-4 days
One for the geologists as well as the historians and nature-lovers, the Peak District Old Stones Way harks back to the Neolithic period, where our ancestors skilfully used stone and sunlight to answer questions we now tap into our iPhones, such as directions and weather. The pilgrimage sets off from the rock fortress of Carl Wark, which peers down over the craggy, heather-clad Pennine moorlands near Higger Tor. From here, you can trace the outline of Minninglow Hill (25 miles south) where prehistoric chieftains are buried in their chambered cairns.
The trail continues to the Nine Ladies Stone Circle (an early bronze age circle), and just north of it, Stanton Moor’s sacred groves, where annual festivals are still held. The moor was considered a sacred spot by ancient Celtic priests and the Druids – excavations revealed various cremations and collared urns). Arbor Law is the final stop, a Neolithic stone clock aligning with midwinter sunrise and midsummer sunset.
St Cuthbert’s Way, Scotland
- Start: Melrose
- End: Lindisfarne
- Takes: 6-7 days
One of the UK’s best-established pilgrimage routes, St Cuthbert’s Way traces a path from the Scottish Borders to the Northumberland coast, all of which links to the life of the 7th-century saint. Setting off from Melrose (a pretty town with the Eildon Hills surging just behind them), pilgrims will visit three magnificent abbeys (Melrose, Jedburgh and Dryburgh) and time-capsule villages, touch the sacred Rhymer’s Stone and scale the evocative Eildon and Cheviot Hills.
The route, which is not technically difficult but certainly long, winds along the River Tweed and takes pilgrims into the homes of medieval dragons and caves with spiritual currency. Undoubtedly, the highlight of this countryside-to-coast wayfaring is walking the causeway at low tide (important for your planning) to Holy Island, to St. Cuthbert’s place of rest.
The Welsh Camino
- Start: Holywell
- End: Bardsey Island
- Takes: 2-3 weeks
If you're looking for scale, you're looking for the Welsh Camino. One of the UK’s longest pilgrimage routes, it crosses North Wales from east to west. Beginning near Holywell and moving towards the Llŷn Peninsula, for many, the journey continues to Bardsey Island, historically an important monastic site, though the crossing depends on weather and sea conditions. It was considered the end of the world – an island adrift off the Welsh coast, where the sun dips below a horizon, which then marked the limits of mankind’s knowledge. As such, it's an epic pilgrimage of pixie woods, sacred waterfalls and ancient churches whose porous stones inhale the salty, coastal air.
From its start in Flintshire, walkers are literally thrown into the deep end via a natural swimming pool, where pilgrims adhere to the ritual of kneeling beneath holy water on St Beuno’s stone. The route then presses on via Celtic crosses, ancient springs, past sun-dappled rivers and along mountains whose grasses billow in the fresh coastal breeze and whose elevations serve up spine-tingling views across the rolling countryside and out to sea. Moments of pause can be found in the weathered stone churches tucked in valleys that inspired illustrious Welsh poets, but it’s the crossing to Bardsey Island that is reputedly the most humbling – a moment of peaceful vulnerability, at the mercy of the grey waters and all that lies within.
The London Royal Route
- Start: Tower of London
- End: Westminster Abbey
- Takes: 1 day
Not all pilgrimages are glassy lakes and barren, windswept peaks. In fact, as one of the most accessible routes in England, the Royal London Route links the City of London to the City of Westminster, connecting two of the city's defining historical sites. The snaking, ancient route takes cosmopolitan pilgrims from the Tower of London (the most secure castle in the land) to the Great Abbey Church in Westminster, and features tombs of saints and holy wells amid the modern architecture and frenzied rhythms of our capital city. It’s a potent reminder that adventures can be had close to home, and that historical layers are lost on the impatient eye.
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