I can see this depending greatly on the type of heather habitat you are planning on destroying, more specifically, the underlying soil type and depth. Heather (Calluna vulgaris) grows on a range of soil types, from deep soft peats, to loose fine sand, or coarse sand overlying shallow bedrock. They vary from being great to ride on, to absolute gubbins.
Personally, I think you might want to be careful thinking about hacking up sections of heather, as much of it (upland moorland, lowland heathland) is a strictly protected SSSI habitat. It also does a great job holding our very fragile upland soils together, by preventing soil erosion. These soils have only formed in the last 6,000 years and are now being irreversibly lost at a rapid rate, so the small piece of damage you do to create your new trail could end up causing lasting harm.