Featured holiday Hadrian’s Wall Trail walking holiday North of England

Newcastle is our chosen rendezvous city with its excellent road, rail and air links. You can make your own way to Newcastle where we will be staying for the first night either by car or train, or if you choose to fly into Newcastle Airport we can arrange to meet you and transfer you to your accommodation (see supplement above). If you are arriving by car it may be possible to leave your car at the hotel for the duration of the trip. The hotel is a short taxi ride from Newcastle Central station. Allow time to check your kit, pack your rucksack and study your guides and maps.

From Newcastle we will transfer you to Bowness-on-Solway, and the start of your walk along Hadrian’s Wall National Trail. This is a lovely start to the walk, with fine views over Bowness-on-Solway which has been designated an area of outstanding natural beauty and has an abundance of bird life. To the south we look back on the high peaks of the Lake District. The walk takes you straight back to your hotel for tonight which is located near the Hadrian’s Wall Trail.  During the evening you are free to explore Carlisle and try some of the local cuisine. Carlisle is famous for its Castle, a great mediaeval fortress that has watched over the city of Carlisle for over nine centuries. You can explore its fascinating and ancient chambers, stairways and dungeons and find the legendary 'licking stones' here, where parched Jacobite prisoners found enough moisture to stay alive, only to be brutally executed on Gallows Hill.
Distance: About 14 miles (23 kms)
Time: About 7 hrs

Today’s walk is a pleasant day's ramble through open countryside and passing through quaint villages. Although not always visible, this section of the Wall is made from sod but it’s nevertheless still impressive and a tantalising prelude of what’s to come. We end today’s walk at Lanercost with its hauntingly beautiful Priory founded in 1165 by Augustinian canons, and one of the best-preserved Cumbrian monasteries. Time to relax this evening and prepare for the next day’s walking.
Distance: About 14 miles (23 kms)
Time: About 7 hrs

After two long walking days, today is only a short distance allowing you to have a relaxing start to the day and free time at the end of the day for local visits. After a hearty breakfast you have a gentle day’s walk through some wonderful countryside. Today you walk along long sections of true wall and Birdoswald Fort is certainly worth a visit. Birdoswald Fort stands high above a bend in the River Irthing, in one of the most picturesque settings on Hadrian's Wall. A Roman fort, turret and milecastle can all be seen on this excellent stretch of the Wall. With probably the best-preserved defences of any Wall fort, this was an important base for some 1,000 Roman soldiers, succeeding an earlier fort of turf and timber. As today is relatively short, why not think about catching the AD122 bus from Birdoswald Fort or Gilsland to visit Vindolanda for a few hours? Roman Vindolanda was an important Roman frontier fort and village that was occupied for over 300 years. There is a museum with interactive displays and artefacts excavated from the site including the famous Vindolanda Writing Tablets and there are live excavations throughout the summer months. You can then return to either Birdoswald Fort or Gilsland to continue your short walk to your accommodation for tonight.
Distance: About 5 miles (8 kms)
Time: About 2.5 hours

Leaving Gilsland we pass the 14th century Thirlwall Castle which was built out of stone plundered from the Wall. Before we start to climb out of Walltown Quarry, visit the Roman Army Museum which is part of the Vindolanda Charitable Trust. Watch the superb and award-winning 20 minute 3D Edge of Empire film which takes us on an eagle’s eye view along the section of Hadrian's Wall that we are about to walk along - absolutely stunning and a definite must see!
As we continue through Walltown Quarry and Cawfields, the walking becomes more challenging with a number of sharp gradients and ascents as we gradually rise up to Winshields Crags and the highest point on the Wall. As the ground starts to rise the views are quite simply breathtaking and the impressive nature of the wall starts to grow as you pass milecastle after milecastle and you experience true Hadrian's Wall Country. You will end today’s walk at Steel Rigg where it’s just a short walk to your accommodation for the night.
Distance: About 9 miles (14 kms)
Time: About 4.5 hours

After a hearty breakfast, today you experience what is probably one of the most famous and dramatic sections of the wall, past Sycamore Gap and Crag Lough. This section of the wall has been used a number of times in films, so memories will jump out at you all day. It is also one of the best-preserved sections of the Wall and known as Clayton’s Wall after John Clayton of Chesters,  a Newcastle lawyer, who devoted every Monday of his professional working life to restoring the Wall to what we see today. You pass Housesteads which is the most complete example of a Roman fort in Britain, and now the most popular site on the Wall. It stands high on the exposed Whin Sill escarpment, commanding breathtaking views. It was one of 12 permanent forts added to the new frontier by Hadrian in about 124 AD. Known as Vercovicium ('the place of effective fighters'), it was garrisoned by a cohort of around 800 infantry (for most of its history Tungrians from Belgium), later reinforced by Germanic cavalry.  Your route then takes you to Chollerford where a well-earned drink is in order. Your accommodation for this evening will either be in the Chollerford area or we take a transfer back to the previous night’s accommodation.
Distance: About 12 miles (19 kms)
Time: About 6 hours

If necessary at the start of this day you will be transferred back to Chollerford to re-join the Trail. This day's walking starts by climbing up out of Chollerford with some lovely views North to the Cheviot Hills. Although the distance today is more than on previous days, it really is an easier day's walking as the terrain is fairly flat and in stark contrast to what we have previously done. More importantly there are a number of places to stop off en route for light refreshments and to take a well-earned breather. Upon reaching Heddon-on-the-Wall, there will be a short transfer to your accommodation at Newburn, where after a relaxing shower or bath you can have a lovely evening meal and look back on the superb walk that you have nearly finished.
Distance: About 15 miles (24 kms)
Time: About 7 hours

Enjoy your last hearty breakfast on this trail and then there is a short transfer back to Heddon-on-the-Wall to start the last leg of our epic journey. This final day truly is a day of contrast. Firstly, you follow the River Tyne through some lovely countryside, before walking through some of the rich industrial heritage which Newcastle upon Tyne was built on. Much of the waterfront has now been redeveloped as you pass grand hotels, the Tyne Bridge, Sage Gateshead (new music centre) and the recently opened Baltic (arts centre), a cultural revolution evolving from an Industrial one!
At the end of the Trail is Segedunum Roman Fort which stands on the banks of the River Tyne and was the last outpost of Hadrian’s Wall. For almost 300 years, Segedunum which means ‘strong fort’, was home to 600 Roman soldiers. Congratulations are in order and you can look back with pride and say with hand on heart that you walked the Wall!
You are then transferred to your car in Newcastle, Newcastle Railway Station or Newcastle Airport (if requested). Alternatively, we can add an extra night's stay for you in Newcastle upon Tyne, allowing you to make your own way home the following day.