It passes through Alcester, Studley, Redditch, Metchley Fort, Birmingham, Sutton Coldfield, Lichfield, Burton upon Trent and Derby.

Higdon gives the name as Rikenild Strete, which, he says, tends from the south-west to the north, and begins at St David's in Wales and continues across England to the mouth of the Tyne, passing Worcester, Droitwich, Birmingham, Lichfield, Derby, and Chesterfield.

[2] Harverfield, writing in the Victoria County History of Warwickshire[3] doubted whether the road had any real and original right to either name, preferring Ryknild as no less correct (or no more incorrect), and being able to distinguish it from Icknield Street in Oxfordshire and Berkshire.

[5] George William Collen's book Britannia Saxonica (1833) concisely outlines the route, drawing on Leland's Itinerary: ... stated to have led from St. David's to Tynemouth.

Its exact course [through Wales] is little known: it may, however, be traced from Gloucester to Norton; thence to a little east of Tewkesbury; thence to Ashchurch, Bekford, Aston-under-hill, to the west of Sedgebarrow in Worcestershire; thence to Hinton, a little east of Evesham, South Littleton, to Bitford in Warwickshire, through Wicksford to Alcester; thence near Coughton, Studley, and Ipsley; enters Worcestershire again near Beoley, passes near Egbaston in that county, and a little west of Birmingham crosses the [River] Tame at Woodford Bridge into Staffordshire; runs through Sutton Park and by Shenston, cuts the WAETLINGA-STRAETE (Watling Street) about a mile from Wall and Lichfield; thence to Streetley, crosses the [River] Trent at Whichnor; then taking Branston in its way, leaving Burton-upon Trent half-a-mile to the east, passes through Stretton, enters Derbyshire over Monk's Bridge near Egginton.

A road in this line, passing on the west of Weston-sub‑Edge, leads on to a highway with a parish boundary along it called Riknild or Icknield Street, which is crossed by the railway at Honeybourne Station.

[2] Heading north much of the route is lost, since Codrington wrote, in the development of Redditch, however Icknield Street Drive, Battens Drive approximates the route until a small road through the residential area of Churchill marked Ryknield Street on the modern 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey map, exactly in a line with Haydon Way, is reached.

Here, a hedge line and footpath run directly up the hill while the modern road deviates slightly to the east to accommodate the incline before rejoining the original route and continuing north until it enters the suburbs of Birmingham at Kings Norton adjacent to the Romano British settlement of Longdales Road.

Hutton[9] gave the course as "onwards by Stirchley Street, crossing the Bromsgrove road at Selly Oak, leaving Harborne a mile to the west, by the observatory in Lady Wood Lane, crossing the Dudley Road at Sandpits, and along Worstone Lane, passing five furlongs north of the Navigation Bridge in Great Charles Street, Birmingham.

[2] The line of Hazelwell Street sets the course of the road towards the next established point of the route at Metchley Fort in the grounds of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

[2] However, Walker cast doubts on this orthodox view of the road's course in this area[12] and resistivity surveys undertaken on sites either side of the crossing in 1992, showed that, although the line of the road is clearly indicated on old maps and aerial photographs, the site has been considerably altered this century by, among other things, the embankment of the M6.

[4] The course is preserved as it crosses the Western edge of the park, where the ridge appears very plainly, of a rounded profile, eight or nine yards wide over all, and three to four feet high in the middle.

From near Birmingham to Wall (Letocetum) for nine miles the road is not perceptibly out of a straight line, which may very well have been set out from intermediate points at Streetley Hill, and the high ground 500 feet (150 m), south of the old Royal Oak Inn.

This in turn leads to Austin Cote Lane, which crosses the Brittania Enterprise Park onto the Old Burton Road, joining the A38 at Streethay.

"[17] At Littleover the road turns to the east[2] as the modern A5250, but named Rykneld Street and later Pastures Hill where a section of road has been examined adjacent to Derby High School and Pineview Gardens, 2 miles (4 km) south west of Derventio, the Roman fort at Little Chester.

The buried remains of the Roman road are not visible above ground but include drainage features and construction pits flanked by shallow boundary ditches.

The course is well marked beyond Breadsall, one and a half miles from Little Chester, but the intervening length has not yet been ascertained, however, there is a Ryknield Hill in Denby, which may be part of the route.