Here are three projects I’ve been involved with as a volunteer over the last couple of years, focused on preserving and expanding the use of the UK’s amazing rights of way network.
Feeling pretty happy to be affixing the last waymarker along my stretch of the Sussex Diamond Way (see end of post for more)!
Slow Ways
In February 2020, I headed up to London and joined dozens of volunteers helping Dan Raven-Ellison kick off the Slow Ways project. The idea behind this project at the start was to use the current OS rights of way map as well as Google street view/satellite imagery, local knowledge and Open Street Map to find walkable, direct routes between as many UK cities, towns and villages as possible. Eventually, we’d end up with a spiderweb-y network of routes linking these towns or hubs, with most of those hubs offering some combination of public transport links, accommodation, grocery shops and/or eateries.
This shows the actual routes (in green) between the hubs (in purple). Sometimes two routes use the same part of the path network.
The mapping started on that day, just pre-lockdown, and many volunteers continued over the following months, creating potential routes and offering opinions on different hubs and paths. Should this route go over the hill (shorter) or around it (more accessible)? Should we make this place a hub town to break up a load of longer sections, even though there’s no rail link? (I argued for Alfriston being a hub during that first workshop and was told no… but I see that in the end the route wranglers agreed with me!) Should this route take the scenic footpath (longer, quieter) or the roadside pavement (more direct)? What about if the direct route is walking on the shoulder of a busy road? What’s safer in the city during the day or night - a main road, a back street or a park? Is there really a path here, or does it just look like that on the satellite imagery? It was quite interesting to be part of this process, even though we were having to work online and remotely due to Covid, rather than in the smaller regional meetups originally envisaged.
The streamlined version of the map shows the routes as straight lines between hubs. This shows all the routes from/to Gloucester.
Eventually, these routes would be walked, reviewed and improved on. People could use them to plan walking trips by plugging in two locations (e.g. Bristol and Birmingham) and finding a verified route between those places. These routes which would be broken into full- or half-day sections, each section usually ending, as noted, with transport links and/or accommodation.
 A sign with a map of the Dollis Valley Greenwalk. |  So much nature in the city (well, the suburbs)! |
Slow Ways is now in the route checking stage. Each section will eventually be surveyed by a volunteer trained by the Slow Ways team and reviewed by at least three volunteer walkers. The idea here is to give users an idea of what to expect, any problem areas, accessibility (e.g. for people on wheels) and points of interest along the way. This stage can also flag up unwalkable routes (e.g. footpaths that have been diverted, landscape changes) and people can propose alternatives (e.g. easier, more direct, more pleasant). Once three people have reviewed a route, the route is verified and listed with a tick on a blue snail. And so, when you are the third person to review a route, you have bagged a snail. To add a bit of competitive fun, Slow Ways has got us using the hashtag #SnailBagging.
 Some sections of path were a bit muddy. |  A new-to-me path in Finchley. |
A few weeks ago, I went out for my first review walk (and dragged Dan along with me). In the process, I managed to be the 3rd person to walk and review the route, bagging my first snail! The photos in this section have been from that walk. It was a lovely morning out, and as the route was only 5km long, we walked it both ways! It was interesting to walk the route with different things in mind, enjoying the facilities along the way (there was some good play equipment - always an important part of a walk for me, haha!) looking for accessibility issues (e.g. places where there are no lowered kerbs for road crossings, gates that cyclists or prams/buggies might not fit through, muddy or flooded areas) and thinking about whether the route could be more direct or easier. All in all, a good walk - and I felt like I was doing something for the greater good, too!
Which side of the stream would you like to walk on?
Don't Lose Your Way
While the public rights of way network in the UK is fantastic, it was hard won and is being continuously fought for. Lots of paths that are in use are not actually on the “definitive map” (drawn up by local authorities post-WW2), which means that our right to walk on them in the future might be revoked. That hasn’t necessarily been a huge issue in the past, because people (usually local Ramblers groups) have been able to add those paths to the definitive map as rights of way if they’re shown on old maps or it can be proved that they’ve been in use. However, after January 2026, paths will no longer be able to be added to this map based on historic evidence, meaning that many public rights of way may be lost forever.
This deadline has been looming for some time, and Ramblers groups have been busy trying to find and claim as many paths as they can. But usually these groups comprise a few volunteers for quite a large area, and many paths are likely to slip through the net. So the Ramblers launched the Don’t Lose Your Way project.
This deadline has been looming for some time, and Ramblers groups have been busy trying to find and claim as many paths as they can. But usually these groups comprise a few volunteers for quite a large area, and many paths are likely to slip through the net. So the Ramblers launched the Don’t Lose Your Way project.
Near Bodle Street Green, a footpath is truncated at a civil parish boundary. Because the path leads "nowhere", few people use it (though we have, for the record!).
In the first stage of this project, thousands of volunteers logged on to a website that allowed easy comparison between the current definitive (OS) map and older maps. I was one of those volunteers, and I found it really interesting looking at 1km x 1km grid squares on the map, checking where paths (probably!) used to be and where they are (or aren’t!) now. One key place to check was along parish boundaries, where a path might be cut off arbitrarily because one place listed it on their map in the 1950s, but the neighbouring council did not. Where we found what looked like missing paths, we’d trace them onto the map and submit them to the database. This process turned up almost fifty thousand miles of potential lost ways!
Now, having mapped so many paths, the next step of the project is to start sorting them out. This is also being done online by volunteers. Which paths are higher or lower priority? Which “lost” paths fix obvious dead ends or create good links in the current path network? Which routes assist with access to sites of interest and open access land? Which are “non-starters” because they have been completely built over? Which ones have been accidentally traced on a current right of way or another map feature like a county boundary? This sorting will help the Don’t Lose Your Way team decide which paths to focus on when it comes to doing further research and putting in claims for the paths.
Now, having mapped so many paths, the next step of the project is to start sorting them out. This is also being done online by volunteers. Which paths are higher or lower priority? Which “lost” paths fix obvious dead ends or create good links in the current path network? Which routes assist with access to sites of interest and open access land? Which are “non-starters” because they have been completely built over? Which ones have been accidentally traced on a current right of way or another map feature like a county boundary? This sorting will help the Don’t Lose Your Way team decide which paths to focus on when it comes to doing further research and putting in claims for the paths.
The same area as above, showing the "lost" section of the footpath, which is marked "FP" on the older OS map.
I’ve been spending a bit of time going through the online map and categorising routes. Some of the categorisations have been pretty easy and clear (routes that I know from personal use, ways that give access to otherwise isolated bits of open access land, paths that are now under reservoirs, or paths that have clearly just been diverted around a field are good examples) while others are more difficult (it’s hard to decide if a particular path should be a “high” or “medium” priority if I don’t know an area well or at all). But generally I’ve found it quite a soothing way to spend a quiet hour of down time - while also making a small contribution to a wonderful cultural asset that has given me so much joy over the years.
Sussex Diamond Way
The Sussex Diamond Way is a 60 mile, waymarked path in East Sussex, running from Heathfield in the east to Midhurst in the west. The route was created by the Sussex Ramblers in 1995 to mark their 60th anniversary (hence 60 miles) and it takes in some of the varied, picturesque local landscapes - kind of like the low weald equivalent to the High Weald Landscape Trail.
A fingerpost with newly added Sussex Diamond Way markers, indicating the junction with this quiet road.
Twenty five years after the route’s creation, it was time to refresh the path with a full survey and new markers to guide walkers on their way. The Sussex Ramblers put out a call in 2020 for volunteers to help waymark sections of the route. I’ve wanted to do some of this kind of volunteering for a while (I’ve also previously been a local footpath secretary for a nearby parish, and done quite a few other bits of Ramblers volunteering), so of course I said yes.
Out with my bag of goodies - marker discs and stickers, screws and screwdriver - in search of posts to adorn!
I was slow to start and complete the actual waymarking what with the winter lockdown, cruddy weather and intense busy-ness at work and with life in general. However, starting in spring I managed to go out with Dan on a few different weekends and evenings to walk our section. We also went to do some waymarking in Ashdown Forest, before realising it wasn’t our patch and it had already been well marked out.
 Look, another fingerpost... |  I'm lichen this one! |
We walked quite slowly, making sure every written direction was correct - going both ways - and affixing the markers to fingerposts and marker posts (and only those posts - not to gates, stiles and other path furniture, which belong to the landowners rather than the council). It was also surprisingly tiring, especially when affixing markers higher than my shoulders over and over again. (Thanks for your help, Dan!)
 Thanks Dan! The last outing was quite hot, too. |  One of the interesting buildings along the way. |
I’d seen a couple of markers for this path over the years, and noticed it on lists of long distance paths in Sussex, but I’d never purposefully gone out to walk any of it. More fool me - it’s a really beautiful trail. Just in our short stretch, we found broadleaf woodlands full of bird life, farm tracks with friendly sheep, art and sculptures in gardens, meadows churning with butterflies, a viaduct and bridleways along quiet back lanes. And further west, of course, the path goes through Ashdown Forest, which is always high on the list for visitors to the area. If we had been staying in East Sussex for longer, I would definitely have added this to the list of trails to walk in full. Oh well, something to do when we come back to the UK!
The viaduct near High Hurstwood - it was a pretty good spot end to our involvement in the waymarking project, and the weather was great!
If you’d like to get involved, you can check out Slow Ways here and Don’t Lose Your Way here. I also highly encourage UK walkers to join the Ramblers - those paths don’t open, maintain, fight for and walk themselves!
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