Hadrian’s Wall has maybe essentially the most single-minded character of all of the Nationwide Trails, tracing because it does the 84 miles from Bowness-on-Solway to Wallsend, which represented the north-west frontier of the Roman empire for practically 300 years. It was constructed by the Roman military (the troopers dug the ditches, quarried the stones and laid them) on the orders of the emperor Hadrian after his go to to Britain in AD 122.
The Hadrian’s Wall path celebrates its twentieth birthday this yr. I’ve now walked all 17 National Trails, together with the Coast to Coast path and King Charles III England coast path (formally opening in 2024 and 2025 respectively). I’m undecided why it took me so lengthy to get spherical to strolling the Hadrian’s Wall path; maybe it was a notion that it was too busy or that there was an excessive amount of street strolling. All my considerations proved unfounded.
I undertook the stroll in the identical model as my 6,800-mile stroll across the coast of Britain, The Perimeter: carrying 15kg of digital camera and tenting gear, primarily wild tenting (pitching late, leaving early and staying out of sight) with a number of nights in a hostel or B&B to scrub and cost up.
All through the route, there’s such a wealth of archaeological stays that it’s unimaginable to disregard the Roman affect, even away from the central part the place the wall is most spectacular and intact.
The path begins within the expansive panorama by the Solway Firth close to Anthorn Radio Station, a matrix of antennae and cables that crisscross the sky like a line drawing, used to speak with submerged submarines and to transmit the UK’s time reference sign. It appears this panorama is destined to be marked by buildings of management.
At Bowness-on-Solway, the system of ditches and wall met coastal forts that stretched alongside the Cumbrian coast and prevented the wall from being outflanked by sea. Though the Ordnance Survey map evocatively states “Hadrian’s Wall (Course of)” and “Vallum (Course of)”, I discovered it onerous to make out something on the bottom. At this level, the Scottish border is just a few miles away; it’s traditionally an ambiguous and lawless land – residence of the Reivers, the band of raiders who marauded alongside the frontier from the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries, conceivably set in movement by the Romans. Consequently, many farmhouses listed here are fortified – extra fortress than residence.
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The trail follows the River Eden to Carlisle previous the imposing Norman maintain. Traditionally, this can be a lawless land. As a border stronghold between two kingdoms, the fortress has been besieged 10 instances – greater than every other place in Britain
After leaving the expanse of sea and sky, the trail follows the River Eden to Carlisle previous the imposing Norman maintain. The primary fortress was in-built round 1100 on the location of a wood Roman fort constructed 1,000 years earlier. As a border stronghold between two kingdoms, the fortress has been besieged 10 instances – greater than every other place in Britain. This exhibits in its ruthless, structure with a particular “Come and have a go for those who assume you’re onerous sufficient” vibe the place barely a stone has been positioned for any function however to kill or defend.
Because the path begins climbing on to greater floor, 23 miles alongside at Previous Wall, the earthworks of the wall are very clear, and there’s a panoramic view again to Blencathra and Skiddaw on the Lake District fells. I’d turn into so fixated on the wall, I used to be momentarily stunned and delighted to be reminded of some place else. Regardless of the ditch being evident, there’s nonetheless no seen wall because the stones had been “borrowed” to construct Lanercost Priory and different close by buildings over the next centuries. A number of hours later, with views throughout to the northern extent of the Pennines, I pitch my tent. Hiding behind the trunk of a wind-blown tree, I think about myself avoiding reivers and legionaries that when roamed these lands.
Approaching Birdoswald, the foundations of the wall turn into thrillingly intact. A soon-to-be acquainted sample additionally turns into evident right here: the stays of a milecastle with two turrets in between. Fourteen massive forts just like the one at Birdoswald had been additionally distributed alongside the size of the wall, all with their granaries, hospitals, barracks, headquarters and commandants’ homes. The wall was as a lot a linear metropolis as barrier.
Strolling previous Gilsland, the place the path leaves Cumbria and enters Northumberland, the wall is now greater than a metre tall with completely reduce going through stones because it emerges on the north-facing scarp of the Whin Sill. These are the pictures of the creativeness, the place a sinuous wall winds by way of a rugged moorland panorama. It feels inconceivable that these stones might have survived up right here for 1,900 years. It’s onerous sufficient to stroll the route, so the gruelling nature of the development venture actually turns into clear.
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‘It feels inconceivable that these stones might have survived up right here for 1,900 years. It’s onerous sufficient to stroll the route, so the gruelling nature of the development venture actually turns into clear’
The wall was constructed from east to west, however I’d determined to go west to east so the prevailing wind was behind me and to benefit from the city pleasures of Newcastle as a reward for completion. Nature laughed in my face, actually, as a chilly gale-force wind blew from the east throughout my complete traverse.
The undulating terrain between Citadel Nick and Sycamore Hole is likely one of the hottest and picturesque sections. Right here stood the much-photographed – and not too long ago criminally felled tree – at Sycamore Hole that featured within the 1991 blockbuster movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and was topped England’s Tree of the 12 months by the Woodland Belief in 2016. I patted the trunk as I walked by, not figuring out that, a number of months later, on 28 September 2023, the tree can be felled in an act of vandalism.
For me, the Sycamore was a reconnection with my recollections as I’d walked previous it 24 years beforehand as this part of Hadrian’s Wall Path can also be on the Pennine Manner, which I used to be following as a part of a three-month stroll from Land’s Finish to John o’Groats. I smiled on seeing the tree fuller – a measure of my very own life and delighted at how acquainted the place felt regardless of having solely been right here as soon as earlier than. For the second time, I questioned how such a mighty tree might thrive in a windswept location.
The picture of the 200-year-old tree beside the practically 2,000-year-old wall is a kind of resilient reminiscence treasures that makes long-distance strolling so rewarding. Regardless of listening to that the tree was reduce down, in my thoughts, it nonetheless stands as strong and inconceivable because it ever was. For me, the timeless poetic energy of Sycamore Hole is how the tree acted as a yardstick of time: two or thrice higher than human life, but 10 instances youthful than Hadrian’s Wall and a mere blink of the attention in contrast with the 295 million-year-old geology of the Whin Sill on which each stand. I hope a sapling can develop from the felled stump, however regardless, its picture, replicated by numerous photographers, will endure.
Maybe essentially the most dramatic part is on both aspect of Housesteads Fort, the place the wall clings intently to the jagged fringe of the escarpment. Housesteads is one of the best preserved of the distinguished forts, with a communal latrine so effectively engineered that it nonetheless drains when it rains at the moment, and water tanks sealed with lead that also survive. Archaeologists discovered a shrine depicting three hooded spirits (Genii Cucullati) related to fertility and prosperity. Nonetheless, they appear to me extra like three folks ready at a freezing and windy bus cease in Carlisle.
One other iconic Nationwide Path, the Pennine Manner, crosses Hadrian’s Wall on its method north to Kielder Forest, the Cheviot hills and the Scottish border. Once I final got here this fashion whereas strolling from Land’s Finish to John o’Groats I slept in a bivvy bag for your entire route (and no, it wasn’t snug).
The Roman troopers dug a ditch on the north aspect of the wall, usually by way of strong rock. The stone was damaged up with iron instruments, and wood wedges wetted to increase and break up the faultlines. At “limestone nook”, essentially the most northern a part of the wall, an enormous dolerite boulder, nonetheless within the ditch, bears the marks of slots reduce alongside the traces of quartz in an unsuccessful try to interrupt it up. I think about many Roman curses had been uttered over this rock. Close to right here, on my fourth night time on the path, I had a mildly determined kip within the ditch itself because the gale-force wind precluded pitching the tent wherever extra uncovered.
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Hadrian’s Wall above Hotbank Crags close to Housesteads Fort, maybe essentially the most dramatic and finest preserved of the distinguished forts with a communal latrine so effectively engineered that it nonetheless drains when it rains at the moment. Archaeologists discovered a shrine depicting three hooded spirits (Genii Cucullati) related to fertility and prosperity
Day 5 begins delayed as there was a lot to see round Housesteads yesterday, so an extended 20-mile-day towards Newcastle lies forward. A typical Roman loaded march distance. I pack the tent as a misty rain hangs within the air, the ditch disappearing into the fog forward of me.
From Chesters Fort, the trail crosses the River North Tyne from the place the path principally runs parallel to minor roads within the adjoining fields with simply the ditch and occasional traces of wall for firm. After an extended day of mild downhill progress below incessant driving rain, the sky clears, and I arrive on the Tyne in darkness, discovering an out-of-the-way wooden to cover my tent by torchlight.
The next day on the method to Newcastle alongside the Tyne, I cross the latticed timber of Dunston Staiths, one of many largest wood buildings in Europe, the place coal was as soon as taken by rail from the Durham coalfields and loaded on to ships, for transport all over the world. Nonetheless soaked to the pores and skin from yesterday’s downpour, I dry my garments on a park bench within the solar. I’ve a mattress to look ahead to in Newcastle – and a transparent view of the Tyne Bridge and the New Citadel.
From Newcastle, there are only a few kilometres to Wallsend. I’m leaving the official route (which favours the picturesque Tyne riverside stroll) to hint the wall’s authentic line by way of town from Ouseburn. I’m rewarded with a fraction of the wall off Shields Street in Byker, found by archaeologists throughout excavations for the East Finish swimming pool in 2000 and now missed by a magnificence salon.
A couple of minutes later, the wall ends at Wallsend, the place Segedunum Fort supplies loads of curiosity for the curious, together with a reconstructed part the place you possibly can admire the impression of its 4.5-metre top. At the moment the precise finish of the wall is a crudely truncated part by the Swan Hunter shipyard, the place its path is misplaced amongst a scattering of crisp packets. In Roman instances a pier prolonged into the Tyne, culminating in a temple. For me, it was time to catch the Metro residence and take the load off my again.
Strolling the wall actually reinforces the dimensions, seriousness, modularity and ruthless effectivity of how the Roman empire was enforced and administered. Of all of the Nationwide Trails, Hadrian’s Wall follows an thought as a lot as a path; the 1000’s of fingers that fashioned the wall remind us that whereas empires wax and wane, they depart persistent traces in our panorama and tradition.
See extra of Quintin Lake’s photographs and purchase prints at theperimeter.uk
