Hadrian's Wall Path hiking guide: route map, stages & where to stay

The Hadrian's Wall Path is a National Trail in the north of England. It runs for 84 miles (135 km) from Wallsend, on the River Tyne east of Newcastle, to Bowness-on-Solway on the Solway Firth in Cumbria, coast to coast across the narrowest part of England. For most of the way it follows the line of Hadrian's Wall, the Roman frontier begun in AD 122, which is part of the "Frontiers of the Roman Empire" World Heritage Site. The path opened in 2003. It is waymarked with the National Trail acorn, and most walkers go from east to west, the direction in which the Wall was built, and take six or seven days.

The route

The path starts at Segedunum Roman Fort in Wallsend, the fort at the "Wall's end". The first day follows the River Tyne through Newcastle, past the Quayside and its bridges, then along riverside paths and an old waggonway to Newburn, with a climb to Heddon-on-the-Wall, where you see the first stretch of Wall. The second day crosses quiet farmland beside the B6318 Military Road, which was built on top of the Wall in the 18th century; the ditch in front of the Wall and the Vallum earthwork behind it are often clear in the fields. The day ends at the bridge over the North Tyne at Chollerford, close to Chesters Roman Fort.

West of Chollerford the country becomes higher and wilder. The best-preserved part of the Wall runs along the Whin Sill, a line of dark crags with long views north, past Housesteads Fort and Sycamore Gap to Steel Rigg, near The Sill visitor centre at Once Brewed. The next day continues over the crags to Winshields, the highest point of the path, past Walltown, Thirlwall Castle and Gilsland to Birdoswald Fort, and on through farmland to the hamlet of Walton. After that the land is low and green: the path follows the River Eden into Carlisle, past the castle, and then along the river and the salt marshes of the Solway estuary to Burgh by Sands, Port Carlisle and Bowness-on-Solway, where the Wall ended.

This guide follows the main route as mapped on OpenStreetMap and splits it into 6 stages, about 23.0 km each, the six sections used by the National Trail. The highest point is 345 m on Winshields Crags. The elevation profile used here adds up to only about 1,100 m of climbing in total, but the central crags have many short, steep ups and downs that a smoothed profile does not fully show.

Highlights

• Segedunum: the excavated Roman fort at Wallsend, where the path begins
• Newcastle Quayside: the famous bridges over the Tyne and Roman remains in the city
• Chesters Roman Fort: a cavalry fort with a well-preserved bath house beside the North Tyne
• The Whin Sill crags: the most dramatic stretch of Wall, on top of cliffs with views over Northumberland National Park
• Housesteads and Vindolanda: the best-known fort on the Wall, and a short detour to Vindolanda with its museum and writing tablets
• Sycamore Gap: the famous dip in the crags; its old tree was cut down in 2023
• Birdoswald and Willowford: a fort on the Irthing gorge and a long, high stretch of Wall with a Roman bridge abutment
• The Solway marshes: salt marsh, wading birds and wide views to Scotland at the end of the walk

When to walk the Hadrian's Wall Path

The path is open all year, but the trail authorities recommend walking it between Easter and October. In winter the grassy path over the buried archaeology is wet and easily damaged, and walkers are asked not to walk the whole trail at that time; choose a shorter circular walk or a Roman site instead. May, June and September are good months; July and August are the busiest, and beds fill early. Days are long in summer, and the weather can be wet and windy in any month, especially on the crags. On the Solway section near the end, some parts of the path flood at high tide, so check the tide times. The Passport stamping season runs from spring to the end of October.

How many days do you need?

Most walkers take six or seven days. The 6 stages in this guide follow the National Trail's six sections, from about 17 to 28 km a day. The longest and hardest day is Steel Rigg to Walton (about 28 km, with many short climbs on the crags), so many people split it at Greenhead or Gilsland and walk in seven days. Fit walkers sometimes finish in five days, and you can also walk the path in parts, because buses and trains reach many points along the route. It is worth adding half a day to visit Housesteads or Vindolanda.

Getting there and logistics

Newcastle and Carlisle both have mainline railway stations, and Newcastle has an international airport. The Tyne and Wear Metro runs from central Newcastle to Wallsend, a short walk from Segedunum. The Tyne Valley railway between Newcastle and Carlisle has stations at Hexham, Haydon Bridge, Bardon Mill, Haltwhistle and Brampton, a few kilometres south of the path. The AD122 Hadrian's Wall Country Bus runs daily all year (except 25 and 26 December and 1 January) between Hexham and Haltwhistle via Chesters, Housesteads, The Sill, Vindolanda and Walltown. At the western end there is no car parking in Bowness-on-Solway; bus 93 runs to Carlisle a few times a day, Monday to Saturday.

You sleep in inns, B&Bs, hotels, hostels, bunkhouses and campsites. There is no general right to wild camp in England, and you must not camp beside the Wall without the landowner's permission. Rooms are few in the middle of the walk (Chollerford, Once Brewed, Gilsland and Walton), so book early. Several companies can book your rooms and carry your bags between overnight stops. Shops are scarce on the path between Heddon-on-the-Wall and Carlisle, and Housesteads has no café or toilets for walkers, so carry lunch and water.

Near Carlisle, the underpass under the A689 between Grinsdale and the Sheepmount sometimes floods; if it does, do not try to cross the road, and use a bus or taxi instead. Check the news page on the National Trail website for diversions before you go.

Difficulty

The Hadrian's Wall Path is a moderate walk with no technical sections. Most of it is on grass, field paths, riverside paths and quiet lanes, with many gates and some stiles. The first and last days are almost flat. The central section, from Chollerford to Birdoswald, is a switchback of short, steep climbs and descents on rocky and sometimes slippery steps along the crags. In mist, rain and strong wind the crags feel exposed, so carry waterproofs, warm layers and a map. Walk side by side on the grass, do not walk or climb on the Wall itself, and keep dogs on a lead near sheep and cattle. In an emergency call 999 or 112 and ask for the Police, then Mountain Rescue.

History

The Roman emperor Hadrian ordered the Wall in AD 122, after he visited Britain. Three legions built most of it in about six years: a wall of stone and turf 80 Roman miles (73 miles, 117 km) long, with a small fort called a milecastle every Roman mile, two turrets between each pair of milecastles, larger forts for the garrison, a ditch in front and the Vallum earthwork behind. In the 140s the Romans moved north to the Antonine Wall in Scotland, but they came back to Hadrian's Wall in the 160s and held it until the end of Roman rule in Britain in the early 5th century. Later, people took much of its stone for farms, churches and roads; in the 18th century General Wade's Military Road, built after the Jacobite rising of 1745, was laid on top of long sections. In the 19th century John Clayton, the town clerk of Newcastle, bought land along the Wall to protect it and excavated its forts. The Wall became a World Heritage Site in 1987, and the National Trail along it opened in 2003.