Some years ago, I named squares by the 6 figs of the map ref. I measured distance of footpaths per square, after some soul destroying hours of endevour I realized that I was wasting my time, this methodical method tells little of the nature of a way. It is the continuity of the way that is relevant and the ways value to a future network.
Only by finding the way and it's destinations, then realizing how it benefits the access network today and in the future, will they stand a chance of getting onto a definitive map. The register of claims will ensure that the claim to an old way can survive after 2026, it will still have to go through the legal process for reinstatement.
Seeing how the old ways interacted with the roads as they were then, often reveals that a so-called shortcut is actually a longer way with a different destination to which the road might seem to show.
If you have a path to a manor, then another leading on from the other side, this creates a throughway and what manner of folk were using them, the clergyman on his rounds, postman, midwives, knife sharpeners and tinsmiths let alone the labourers who would move from farm to farm looking for employment or drifting towards fairs.