Day 1
Carlisle

Our challenge will begin bright and early tomorrow, so we’re staying in the area tonight. This way, you have all day to travel to Carlisle and will benefit from a good night’s sleep at our accommodation.

Please make your own way to our accommodation and check-in to the hotel room we have arranged for you. We first meet as a group this evening with a welcome dinner and an exciting briefing from our challenge leader.

We’ll send you all the accommodation and parking details as the challenge draws closer; but rest assured that parking throughout our trek is included in your challenge costs. If you choose to drive. Carlisle also has fantastic public transport connections for non-drivers.

Day 2
Carlisle – Bowness-on-Solway – Carlisle | approx. 22km/14 miles

Waking to an early breakfast at our accommodation, we transfer to our starting point at the beautiful Bowness-on-Solway, an ancient seaside village at the western end of Hadrian’s Wall. Built on the site of the Roman Fort Maia, this pretty village is bedecked in history and we can still see Roman stones in several of its buildings, including the Norman church of St Michael.

As such, it makes the perfect place to commence our trek and we start off hiking along the coast. Today, we enjoy an idyllic, fairly flat route, with sandy shores and the sea to one side and lush countryside to the other. We’re also in for a spot of wildlife watching, as the nearby reserves and fantastic natural landscapes provide a home for oystercatchers, curlew, golden and grey plovers and many other birds.

We see no above-ground remains of Hadrian’s Wall today, but we glimpse whispers of the great landmark on the stretches of turf walls, signalling where the Wall once stood.

Hiking inland, we follow quiet roads and tracks through the countryside and patches of woodland, stopping to visit the fascinating local landmark of Dumburgh Castle along the way. This medieval castle has stood in the little village since 1518, but the site on which it stands dates way back to the reign of the Roman emperor, Hadrian, as a tower on Hadrian’s Wall. We take a few moments here to explore the site, before pressing on to the bustle of Carlisle.

We finish our day’s hike at Carlisle Castle in the heart of the city. Declared a Scheduled Ancient Monument, this captivating, red sandstone castle has been at the centre of several wars and episodes of British history, including the famous Jacobite Rising of 1745–6.

Fortunately, we find the area at peace today and we find our accommodation for dinner and a good night’s sleep.

Day 3
Carlisle – Lanercost | approx. 22.4km/14 miles

After breakfast at our hotel, we head east out of the city and leave the inner-city buzz for another stretch of rural walking. The trail leads us along the edge of a pretty park and follows the River Eden for a short time to Crosby.

We spend the rest of the day following the ghosts of the Wall through charming farmland. Trekking along tranquil country lanes, rustic footpaths and trails across lush fields on fairly even terrain, we may spot a few sheep or cows enjoying the ample grass for grazing.

Having seen few remains of the ancient barrier so far, we now find the line of the buried Wall, its ditch and vallum as we reach Oldwall and continue to Newton. We hike through some beautiful woodland and cross the river to Walton, with a short road stretch to the picturesque Dovecote Bridge. Here, we catch our first sight of the remains of the Wall’s turret and we enjoy views of the remains as we continue to Haytongate.

Reaching the village of Lanercost, we pass the majestic English Heritage site of Lanercost Priory. Although clearly not Roman, this tranquil monument has played its own significant part in history, having suffered several attacks in the Anglo-Saxon wars.

We end our day tucking into a well-deserved dinner at our accommodation.

Day 4
Lanercost – Once Brewed | approx. 25km/15.5 miles

With two days behind us, our hike picks up today with tough climbs and better-preserved sections of Hadrian’s Wall ahead. We leave Lanercost after breakfast, tackling the long, but rewarding Hare’s Hill, which takes us back onto the Wall path and treats us to incredible panoramas of the rural landscape.

Before long, we reach Gisland and continue through the rolling countryside and across the Tipalt Burn River to the remains of the 12th Century Thirlwall and Motte Bailey Castle. Although strengthened by stones from Hadrian’s Wall, the castle began to fall in the 17th and a lot of it has even fallen into the river. Its decrepit remains now hold a ghostly air on the grassy banks beside the water.

Crossing the river, we press on through the sprawling, green Northumberland National Park, tackling some steep climbs along the way. We follow the line of the wall until we reach its magnificent remains at Walltown Crags, one of the best-preserved sections of the monument.

Here, surrounded by seemingly endless lush grassland, Hadrian’s Wall makes an incredible spectacle, winding down over the crags of the Whin Sill, with strips of rustic stones dotted here and there along its snaking line. On a clear day, we may be lucky enough to see Southern Scotland and the north Pennines.

We now follow visible remains of the wall through more undulating terrain, enjoying extraordinary views of the remaining stones and the expansive fields beyond. The monument grows only more extraordinary as we reach the highest point of the wall, Winshield’s Wall.

We proceed to the famous Sycamore Gap, featured in a significant scene in the 1991 film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Here, a lone sycamore tree stands alongside the Wall in a shallow dip. Then, it’s all down-hill to our accommodation at Once Brewed, where we end our day.

Day 5
Once Brewed – Chollerford | approx.20km/12.5 miles

We’re in for more challenging terrain today, as we continue to follow Hadrian’s Wall up and down through the countryside. Although our legs are starting to fatigue, the ancient monument keeps us captivated and we soon reach the Wall’s flagship site of Housesteads Roman Fort. Here, we can stand on the edge of the Roman Empire and marvel at the panoramas, along with the remains of an ancient hospital and barracks. We may even see the Roman toilets!

Leaving the site, we enjoy another day of walking mostly alongside the remains of the Wall through a sea of grass. With nothing but green on either side, the Wall stands out clearly, snaking into the distance and marking our trail alongside it. What’s more, after our tasty, packed lunch, our second half of the day is all down-hill!

Trekking on, the lush expanse of fields meets the Roman road of Stanegate, which we follow to Tower Tyne and down to the awesome Chesters Roman Fort and Museum, where we can learn loads about the fort’s fascinating history.

We then tackle the final stretch to Chollerford, where we settle down for dinner and a great night’s rest.

Day 6
Chollerford – Heddon-on-the-Wall | approx. 25km/15.5 miles

After breakfast at our accommodation, we begin our penultimate day following the Roman road we met yesterday afternoon. Hiking south east, we soon encounter the B6318, an old Military Road, which was built directly on top of Hadrian’s Wall. Our route takes us alongside the road and almost entirely through more open fields.

Along the way, we see signs of how the ancient Wall has shaped the countryside, with a series of mounds and ditches that provided an additional defence for the Romans. Today, we also enjoy a delicious lunch at a local brewery, with a short coach transfer there and back.

Signs of the Wall diminish further, but we encounter a brilliant ancient landmark towards the end of the day, just south of the Wall: the Vindolanda Roman Fort. Dating back to AD85, this amazing fort once guarded the Stanegate and hosts replica altars to the Roman God, Jupiter Dolichenus.

The fort was constructed here because of the fertile soil, nearby spring and other fantastic resources for the Tungrians, who came here from Spain, France, Belgium and what is now the Netherlands, to man the fort.

We leave the landmark and end the day at our accommodation at Heddon-on-the-Wall for dinner.

Day 7
Heddon-on-the-Wall – Wallsend – Newcastle | approx. 25.12km/15.7 miles

Rise and shine to our last day trekking. Our route today takes us alongside the winding River Tyne, on cycle lanes, footpaths, a rustic wagon-way track and a few stretches of road. We follow the river for the majority of the day, savouring the final rural stretches, until we enter the vibrant city of Newcastle.

The bustle here makes a stark contrast to the tranquillity we have enjoyed throughout our challenge, but it comes as a relief to our fatigued feet! Our river-side trail takes us through the sprawling suburbs and outskirts of the most populous and metropolitan city of North East England.

We journey deeper into the town until we reach our triumphant finishing point of Wallsend. As the eastern ending point of the wall, the site hosts a brilliant museum, along with an observation tower and an incredible reconstructed bath-house – the perfect end to our ancient trek.

Having conquered a mighty trek of around 120km, we’re well ready to celebrate. As the saying goes, “When in Rome (or at an iconic Roman landmark) do as the Romans do” and so we’ll toast our success over a fantastic feast and even have a chance to party in Newcastle.

Tonight, we’ll stay in the city, before parting ways in the morning after breakfast. Please make your own way home from our accommodation or take this opportunity to spend more time in Newcastle.

Day 8
Newcastle - Carlisle

After our big night in Newcastle, we can recover with a refreshing breakfast at our accommodation, before we transfer back to Carlisle. Please make your own way home from here or take this opportunity to spend more time in Carlisle. Of course, you’re also welcome to stay in Newcastle. Please simply let us know and we’ll bid goodbye to you after breakfast.