Editing Icknield Way (section)

==Modern paths==
{{main|Wessex Ridgeway|The Ridgeway|Icknield Way Path|Peddars Way}}

Modern [[long-distance footpaths]] have been created from [[Lyme Regis]] on the [[Dorset]] coast to [[Holme-next-the-Sea]] on the [[Norfolk]] coast, following the general line of the Icknield Way.

The [[Arthur Hobhouse|Hobhouse Committee]] report of 1947 suggested the creation of a path between [[Seaton Bay]] and the Chiltern ridge, and in 1956 [[Tom Stephenson (activist)|Tom Stephenson]] proposed a longer route to [[Cambridge]]. A route through Norfolk was discussed in the 1960s.<ref name="Qui 16 100"/><ref name="Jen"/>

The first section to be officially designated as a Long-Distance Footpath (as [[National Trails]] were then known) was that from [[Overton Hill]] to [[Ivinghoe Beacon]], and it was declared open as the ''[[The Ridgeway|Ridgeway]]'' in 1973. The [[Peddars Way]], from [[Knettishall Heath]] to Holme-next-the-Sea, forms part of the ''Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path National Trail'', which was opened as a Long Distance Route in 1986. Between the Ridgeway and Peddars Way, parts of the original line of the Icknield Way had been covered in tarmac or built over, so a route was devised that avoids walking on roads. In 1992, this was designated by the [[Countryside Commission]] as a Regional Route called the ''[[Icknield Way Path]]''. The ''[[Wessex Ridgeway]]'' from Lyme Regis to [[Marlborough, Wiltshire|Marlborough]] was declared open by Dorset County Council in 1994.<ref name="Qui 16 100"/><ref name="Jen"/>

[[Charles Thurstan Shaw]], archaeologist and long-distance walker, founded the Icknield Way Association which campaigned to reopen the entire Icknield Way as a long-distance path in 1984, the same year he produced the first walker's guide to the route.<ref>(31 Mar 2013). [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/9964085/Professor-Thurstan-Shaw.html Professor Thurstan Shaw – Obituary]. The Daily Telegraph.</ref><ref>[http://cambridgeramblers.org/2013/04/30/cantab73-april-2013/ CANTAB RAMBLER73 April 2013 – Thurstan Shaw, 1914 – 2013]. cambridgeramblers.org</ref>

The combination of the Wessex Ridgeway, Ridgeway, Icknield Way and Peddars Way, together with the Cranborne Droves Way and Sarsen Way, is promoted as a family of routes called the ''Great Chalk Way''.<ref>[http://greatchalkway.org.uk/ Great Chalk Way], Friends of the Ridgeway and the Icknield Way Association.</ref> The author Ray Quinlan calls a similar route the ''[[Greater Ridgeway]]'', with a length of approximately {{convert|584|km|mi}} from Lyme Regis to Hunstanton.<ref name="Qui"/>

Parts of the Ridgeway National Trail and the [[Icknield Way Path]] are only usable as a footpath, so the ''Icknield Way Path Riders Route'' or ''[http://www.IcknieldWayTrail.org.uk Icknield Way Trail]'' have been created for horseriders and cyclists. The route runs from [[Bledlow]] to [[Roudham Heath]], where it joins the ''[http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/peddars-way-and-norfolk-coast-path/information Peddars Way Riders Route]''.<ref name="LDW"/><ref name="BCC"/>