Wallsend to Chollerford
The Tyne Country
You leave the river behind by the time the first wall stones appear, and the country starts to feel Roman in earnest.
Hadrian's Wall Path
Your walk from
Wallsend to
Bowness-on-Solway
You'll walk 135 kilometres from the Tyne to the Solway Firth, taken along the line of Hadrian's frontier — through Newcastle suburbs, Whin Sill crags in the centre, pastoral Cumbria, and salt marsh at the end. A route where the wall comes and goes, but the country always tells you what's underneath.
Northern England
UK
Trail Essentials
- Start
- WallsendNewcastle upon Tyne
- End
- Bowness-on-Solway
- Distance
- 135 km84 miles
- Total Ascent
- 2,130 m6,988 ft
Difficulty
Moderate
Hilliness
Hilly
Time to Complete
Explorer
6 days ~22 km/day
Hiker
5 days ~27 km/day
Fastpacker
4 days ~33 km/day
Trail Runner
3 days ~45 km/day
When to Walk
Best
Good
Avoid
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Hadrian's Wall Path runs 84 miles from Wallsend at the mouth of the Tyne to Bowness-on-Solway on the Cumbrian coast — past Segedunum's east-end fort, up onto the Whin Sill volcanic ridge, through Housesteads and Sycamore Gap, down into Carlisle and out across the salt-flat country of Burgh Marsh to the Firth. Most British long-distance trails run with the grain of the country — a coast, a ridge, a chain of valleys. This one runs against it. It walks the line of a Roman empire's edge for 84 miles, taking you through three completely different countries — industrial Tyne, volcanic upland, pastoral Cumbria — joined only by the wall itself.
Walking the Hadrian's Wall Path
How The Trail Unfolds
Your trail divides naturally into three parts — not by day, but by what's underneath. The wall starts on the river-flat of the Tyne, climbs onto a 30-metre slab of volcanic rock for its dramatic centre, and falls away into Cumbrian pasture and salt marsh on the way to the Solway.
Chollerford to Gilsland
The Whin Sill
The wall climbs onto a slab of volcanic rock and walks the spine of the empire's northern edge.
Gilsland to Bowness-on-Solway
Down to the Solway
The crags fall away, the wall fades, and the trail finishes on a salt-marsh coast looking across to Scotland.
— Now Make It Yours —
Find Your Hadrian's Wall Path
Most people walk it in 5 days. Some want longer to take it all in. Others want the challenge of doing it quicker. Pick the trip that suits you — or customise yours below.
ABTOT 5690 · Financially protected
Guidebook authors on every trail
72-hour confirmation or no charge
Refund promise if we can't deliver
Included with every trip
Your personalised
Trail Book
Everything you need for every day of your trail — built around your exact itinerary. Your route, your accommodation, your packing list. Ready before you leave, works offline when you're out there.
Tonight's accommodation
Check-in time, room type, phone number and directions — all in one place
Day-by-day trail description
Route map, elevation profile and written description for each stage
Packing list and pre-trip checklist
Everything you need, nothing you don't. Tick items off as you go
Works offline
Open it once with data and it's yours — no signal needed on the trail
Included with every trip
Your route on every device you use
Your custom GPX file is built around your exact itinerary — day by day, door to door. Load it onto any device or app before you set off and navigate with confidence.
Works with
Talk to a Specialist
Knows the trail. Plans yours.
Craig
Trail Specialist
The Wall is the trail I recommend to walkers who've done the West Highland Way or the Coast to Coast and want something with more history under their feet. People underestimate the central crags — they're not long but they're properly up and down. Plan a softer day either side.
Craig has spent over ten years in adventure travel, most of it talking walkers through trails like this. He's helped hundreds of customers plan their Hadrian's Wall Path, knows where people typically misjudge the Whin Sill central section after a flat opening day, and has the calls in his pocket from those who walked it last week.
Ask Craig about the Hadrian's Wall Path
If you want to talk through your timing, your fitness, your pace, or anything the planner can't answer — call. Most of our customers do, and Craig's the one who'll answer.
The Practical Side
Before You Book
The things walkers ask us most often — answered plainly, so you don't have to ring to find out.
How fit do I need to be?
You should be comfortable walking around 27 km / 17 miles a day for five consecutive days, with some short steep sections in the middle. The Whin Sill central stages have several short ascents in succession — not high (the trail's highest point is 345 metres) but they come one after another. If you'd rather walk shorter days, the Explorer pace gives you six days instead of five and eases the harder middle. Most people can build the fitness with a few longer training walks in the months before.
When should I walk it?
May to September is the settled stretch. The trail is mostly under 350 metres, so high-summer heat and storms don't shut it down — but the central crags are exposed and any wet day on the Whin Sill is rougher than the same weather on a low stage. April and October work if you're flexible with weather. Winter is technically open but the days are short and the central section becomes hard work in cold rain. June and September are the sweet spot — long days, settled weather, fewer people than July and August.
Do you include luggage transfer?
Yes — your luggage is moved between accommodation each day, with a 20 kg allowance per bag. You walk with a daypack containing whatever you need until evening. The whole route has reliable transfer service except occasional remote sections where the carrier swaps providers — we handle the booking and timing. Most walkers carry around 5–7 kg in their daypack: water, lunch, layers, waterproofs, and a small first-aid kit.
What kind of accommodation do you book?
Family-run B&Bs, traditional inns, and the occasional small guesthouse — never chains. All en-suite, with breakfast included and drying space for wet kit. On the central Whin Sill section the village of Once Brewed is the obvious overnight, with the Twice Brewed Inn and the youth hostel. Gilsland and Walton have fewer options, so we book those well ahead — they fill up in summer and you don't want to be three miles off-route looking for a bed.
How do I get to the start and finish?
Wallsend at the start is a 10-minute Metro ride from Newcastle Central Station — Newcastle is on the East Coast Mainline, around three hours from London King's Cross. The finish at Bowness-on-Solway is rural: a seasonal 93A bus runs to Carlisle (about an hour, infrequent — check the timetable before you walk), and Carlisle is on the West Coast Mainline. If you're flying, Newcastle International Airport is the most convenient. Travel back from Bowness needs a little planning — we'll talk you through it when we book.
What's the realistic total cost?
The Hiker package starts at £609 per person for the five-day route — that covers all accommodation with breakfast, daily luggage transfer, planning, route notes, and our support line while you walk. On top, expect £15–20 a day for lunches, plus dinner and drinks (£25–35 for a pub meal in this part of the country). Optional fort entries — Chesters, Housesteads, Vindolanda — are around £10–15 each. Most walkers spend roughly £200–300 on top of the package across the trip.
Still not sure? Ring us on 0131 560 2740 — Craig usually answers.
Still Thinking?
Speak to Craig
If you've scrolled this far, we need to help you get onto this trail. The bit the planner can't help with — "is the pace right for me?", "is August really that busy?", "can we add a rest day in Keswick?" — that's a two-minute phone call. Most people who book the Hadrian's Wall Path ring first.
