Hiking from Newcastle to Carlisle along Hadrian’s Wall

Hiking and camping from coast to coast in the middle of January, with a Siberian shitstorm on the way.

Arriving in Heddon on-the-wall after leaving Newcastle, the trail is very well marked throughout. All you have to do is follow the acorn west across the country.

First sighting of the wall at Heddon. Only 100 metres long but still impressive. Little did we know we wouldn’t see the wall again for days.

Nearing the end of the first day and facing exhaustion, we came across this Super Nintendo embedded in a wall outside a house. This, for me, was one of the highlights of the trip.

In the absolute armpit of nowhere and with the sun rapidly setting we finally came across The Robin Hood Inn. They kindly let us pitch our tent up outside if we bought a meal. We couldn’t say no and it was good to put our feet up by the fire before we retired to our tent.

The next morning after a freezing cold sleep we prepared a sensational gourmet breakfast on our Trangia stove which I cannot recommend enough.

We rejoined the trail and crossed a nice bridge and finally saw our first signs for Carlisle, many more miles to go!

 

Came across a beautiful forest just as the sun was going down so decided it was a perfect time for a selfie.

Still many more miles to go. Most of the early trail you are walking either in or along the ancient trench dug by the Roman’s as part of the defence system. Another sighting of the wall as we arrived in Chollerford. Camping took a back seat to hotels and B&B’s from now on 🙂

Nice bridge outside the hotel the next morning. The weather looks bad but by some divine miracle it didn’t rain once.

Aqueduct at Chester’s Roman Fort, still had water in it!

Looking down on the gate house.

Entering the very well preserved Bath House you find 7 lockers in the old changing rooms.

Enjoying the hot tub and then on my own in the cold plunge pool.

Phallic symbol relied on the floor of the fort. Symbol of good fortune and power.

Walking over the old underfloor heating.

A lone column base stands watch over the hills of Housestead’s Fort.

Where hadrian’s Wall joins the outer wall of the fort.

The best preserved latrines in all of Britain.

Canot recommend this B&B enough. Hunter’s Crook B&B in Bardon Mill. We were the only ones staying and were treated like royalty. Home cooked dinner and breakfast. The owner even gave us a lift back the the trail in the morning.

This cock woke up up in the morning. I wasn’t even mad.

Today was by far the most scenic of the whole trip. The views from the top of the windswept crag were breathtaking and the wall stretched out for miles and miles.

Precarious steps leading up to the top of the crag.

 

Hadrian’s Wall stretching way off into the distance.

Doing our bit to help the Roman’s keep the Picts out.

Making a brew on top of the world 🙂

Sheep are now the new guardians of the wall.

Had to leave the trail and tramp it on the road in order to get to our hotel by sundown, this road went on and on and on and on…

Nice hotel but a bit expensive for what it was. Food was superb.

  

Almost back to Carlisle. Boots after all the walking, held up fine, didn’t get a single blister and didn’t get wet once. Would recommend.     

Bonus Newfie in Carlisle.

All in all 10/10 would recommend. The only thing i would change is to go in Summer so all the campsites are open, meaning it would have been wayyy cheaper.