The Canterbury Rings
The Canterbury Rings Project
To help everyone explore the riches of Canterbury's countryside
Our goal is to create a network of waymarked walking routes in and around the city of Canterbury and out into the surrounding countryside. The project will make pathfinding simple and easy, help to showcase some of the wonderful historic sites around the city, and promote tourism, exercise, and connection with nature and our heritage.
The network will be created entirely from existing public rights of way, forming three distinct circular walking trails from which walkers can choose a plethora of routes of different lengths to suit their interests and abilities.
The rings themselves represent a characterful and diverse range of possibilities from the urban to the rural, and from the simple couple-hour sojourn of the Inner Ring to the day-long expedition of the Outer.
King Ethelbert's Ring now open
King Ethelbert's Ring is am 80 mile circular walking trial which takes you on an amazing tour of East Kent.
It is named in honour of the greatest King of Kent, Ethelbert who was was the real life "Lord of the Rings" from which Tolkien took the idea for his famous books.
The trail is a vitual walking route which has no waymarking but you can download the route in sections from this website. Much of the route follows the well marked Saxon Shore Way and the North Downs Way. The main unmarked section is between Hastingleigh and Faversham which crosses from the escarpment of the North Downs to the North Kent coastline and will take you through some of the most magnificent landscape Kent has to offer.
We want to give a big Thank You! to everyone who's supported the project so far...