There are Roman roads you can ride on a motorcycle today, along with ancient ridgeways, drove roads and salt ways. Many of the green lanes still open to motor vehicles are open precisely because they were public roads long before anyone tarmacked the network around them. We searched every lane open to motorcycles* on Holloway for the names that give their history away, and picked 20 worth riding.
What lane names tell you
Lane names are a surprisingly good record of what a route was for. Counting sections of open lanes in England and Wales, "drove" appears 392 times, "green lane" 192 and "ridge" or "ridgeway" 186. "Street", which in old English usage often meant a paved Roman road, appears 128 times, though plenty of those are village back streets. "Roman" itself turns up on 25 sections, "pilgrim" on 21, "coach road" on 12 and "salt" on 4.
How often historic words appear in the names of open green lane sections in England and Wales.
A name is a clue, not proof. Some "Roman Roads" are named on hope rather than archaeology. But the routes below are a good way to ride something with a story behind it, and the numbers match the map above.
Roman roads
1. Cam High Road, North Yorkshire, 10.2 km. The Roman road running west from the fort at Bainbridge, dead straight over the fells above Wensleydale. The best known Roman lane in the country and mostly gravel.
2. Watling Street, Northamptonshire, 3.5 km. A short unsurfaced stretch carrying the name of the great Roman road from Kent to Wroxeter, most of which is now the A5.
3. Buckle Street, Gloucestershire, 1.6 km. Part of the Roman Ryknild Street, climbing onto the Cotswold edge near Saintbury.
4. Stone Street, Herefordshire, 1.4 km. Another "street" name with a Roman line through the Herefordshire countryside.
Lanes simply named Roman Road are worth a look too: Roman Road in Hampshire (5.0 km), Roman Road near West Barsham in Norfolk (2.4 km), Roman Road at Fromes Hill in Herefordshire (2.1 km), and two in Wales at Halfway (3.8 km) and Brithdir (0.9 km). These are numbers 5 to 9 on the map.
Ridgeways and ancient trackways
Ridgeways kept to high, dry ground long before anyone built roads, which is partly why they still drain well today.
10. Kerry Ridgeway, Shropshire and Powys, 3.6 km. An ancient ridgeway and drovers' route along the border hills, with big views both ways. Recorded as gravel.
11. Icknield Way Trail, Essex, 1.3 km. A section of the Icknield Way, a prehistoric route along the chalk from Norfolk towards the Thames.
16. Pilgrim’s Way, Kent, 1.3 km. Named for the medieval route to Canterbury, running along the foot of the North Downs.
Drove roads
Drove roads moved cattle and sheep to market, often over long distances, and many were deliberately wide so herds could graze on the way.
12. Harling Drove Road, Norfolk, 5.5 km. A Breckland drove through forest and heath. A second section, Harling Drove Road near Santon Downham, adds another 5.2 km. The Norfolk trail riding guide covers the area.
13. Drove Road, Surrey, 2.3 km. Recorded as compacted.
14. Sheepdrove Road, Berkshire, 2.5 km. A downland drove, recorded as part asphalt and concrete.
Salt ways
15. Salt Way, Gloucestershire, 1.7 km. Salt ways carried salt out of Droitwich across the Midlands and into the Cotswolds. This section is near Syde.
Old coach roads
Before turnpikes and bypasses, coaches used routes that were later abandoned when better roads came along. A few survive as green lanes.
17. Old Coach Road, Cumbria, 8.0 km. A former coach road across the open fell north of Threlkeld. Long, remote and exposed.
18. Buxton Old Coach Road, Derbyshire, 2.2 km. Climbing out of Burbage above Buxton. See the Derbyshire guide.
19. Old Coach Road, Wiltshire, 1.6 km, and 20. Old Coach Road, East Sussex, 1.3 km.
Why so many old roads are still open
Most byways open to all traffic exist because a route was a public cart road before modern rights of way law was written. When councils drew up the definitive map in the 1950s and later, many of these old roads were recorded as byways rather than lost. Our explainer on every green lane classification covers what each status means, and our guide to the definitive map explains where the records come from.
That history is also why these lanes are worth looking after. Ride them slowly, keep to the line, and give way to walkers and horses. Old roads are easy to damage and hard to get back once closed.
How we found these lanes
We searched the names of every lane recorded as a byway open to all traffic or unclassified road with no closure, seasonal order, caution or unverified note in our data, excluding Ireland, and counted matching sections. Section counts include short pieces of the same lane, so they are not counts of separate routes. Historical notes are kept brief, and where a name is the only evidence we say so. Data as held on 9 November 2026. Open any lane in the Holloway map to check its current status before you ride.
*Open to motorcycles means the lane is recorded as a byway open to all traffic or an unclassified road, with no closure or caution on it in our data at the time of writing. Legal status changes and our data is for reference only, so check the signs and any current traffic regulation orders before you ride. How we check lanes.