The main Macmillan Way runs from Boston on the Lincolnshire coast to the Dorset coast at Abbotsbury. It is called the Macmillan Way as it has been developed to increase public awareness of Macmillan Cancer Relief and to assist in the raising of funds for this vitally important charitable organisation, whose role is to improve the lives of people with cancer and their families.
The fully waymarked Macmillan Way is 290 miles in length and follows existing footpaths, bridleways and byways, and small stretches of minor roads when these are unavoidable.
It runs across beautiful open fen country for its first thirty miles and for the rest of its journey it then follows, as near as possible, the course of the oolitic limestone belt, comprising stone known as 'Cotswold' in the Cotswold area, but which runs in slightly varying form all the way from South Yorkshire to Dorset.
It passes through a number of small towns and villages, the architectural features of which have much in common. Many walkers have expressed great surprise at the many areas of unspoiled countryside that they have passed through while on the Macmillan Way.
Macmillan Way West is a 102-mile, fully waymarked branch-path leaving the main path at Castle Cary in Somerset and heading westwards across the Somerset Levels, the Quantocks and Exmoor, to Barnstaple. It is therefore now possible to walk across England from Boston to Barnstaple, a distance of 346 miles.
