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Trek England — Northumberland, United Kingdom

Hadrian's Wall: The Central Section

Two days along the best-preserved stretch of Hadrian's Wall Path, where the Roman frontier rides the crags of the Whin Sill past Housesteads, Sycamore Gap and Vindolanda.

Hadrian's Wall: The Central Section
Photo: The original uploader was Moyn2000 at English Wikipedia. · Copyrighted free use
Duration
2 days
Distance
32 km
Walking time (est.)
9 h 45 min
Ascent
900 m
Difficulty
Moderate
Best season
Late spring to early autumn, May–September (winter walking is wet and erodes the path)

Walking

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    Getting there and back

    Start
    Chollerford
    Finish
    Walltown Crags

    One-way: plan your trip back

    Directions to the start Back from the finish

    Hadrian’s Wall Path runs about 135 km (84 miles) coast to coast, from Wallsend on the Tyne to Bowness-on-Solway. Most walkers agree the middle is the best of it: the roughly 30 km between Chollerford and Walltown is the highest, wildest part of the trail, and the stretch where the Wall itself is most visible.

    Here the Roman frontier climbs onto the Whin Sill, a hard band of dolerite that erupts out of the Northumberland moorland as a line of north-facing crags. The Romans simply built along the top — in places the natural defence needed no addition at all. Below the crags sit dark upland lakes; above them, mile after mile of standing Wall, milecastles and turrets.

    Getting there. Trains reach Hexham and Haltwhistle on the Tyne Valley line from Newcastle or Carlisle. The seasonal AD122 bus links the trailhead villages and Roman sites along the Military Road, running daily from about mid-April to October and weekends only either side — check before relying on it out of season.

    Good to know:

    Elevation profile

    Highest point
    289 m Day 1
    Lowest point
    66 m Day 1
    Total descent
    213 m

    Point at the profile, or focus it and use the arrow keys, to see that spot on the map.

    Terrain heights along a straight line between each day’s stops, not along the footpath, so a pass or a switchback the path takes can be missing. Descent and walking times use the same line.

    Elevation data: Terrain Tiles (Mapzen, AWS Open Data)

    Day by day

    DayDistanceAscentDescent (est.)Walking time (est.)
    Day 1 Hardest dayChollerford to Steel Rigg
    Distance18 kmAscent500 mDescent (est.)74 mWalking time (est.)5 h 30 min
    Day 2Steel Rigg to Walltown
    Distance14 kmAscent400 mDescent (est.)139 mWalking time (est.)4 h 15 min

    Number of days

    Fewer or more days? Pick a number and the written stretches regroup into balanced days.

    4 days

    Your plan in 4 days

    1. Day 1 Chollerford → Housesteads Roman Fort

      13 km 350 m 3 h 45 min

      Leave by 4:10 PM

      Stretches: Chesters Roman Fort and the climb west Sewingshields to Housesteads

      Not an overnight in the written plan: check there is somewhere to sleep before you book.

    2. Day 2 Housesteads → Steel Rigg

      5 km 150 m 1 h 30 min

      Leave by 6:42 PM

      Stretches: Sycamore Gap and Crag Lough

      Sleeps where the written plan does (day 1).

    3. Day 3 Steel Rigg → Cawfields

      9 km 250 m 2 h 45 min

      Leave by 5:14 PM

      Stretches: Down to Vindolanda Back to the crags at Cawfields

      Not an overnight in the written plan: check there is somewhere to sleep before you book.

    4. Day 4 Cawfields → Walltown Crags

      5 km 150 m 1 h 30 min

      Leave by 6:46 PM

      Stretches: Cawfields to Walltown Crags

      Sleeps where the written plan does (day 2).

    Back to the written plan (2 days)

    Days are cut only where a written stretch ends, balanced by estimated walking time. The written plan below is unchanged.

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    Day 1

    Chollerford to Steel Rigg

    Chollerford → Steel Rigg 18 km 500 m 5 h 30 min

    Leave by 2:10 PM

    Navigate this day

    A gradual climb out of the North Tyne valley onto the Whin Sill, then the trail’s most dramatic miles along the crag tops.

    Water and food

    Water
    None found near the stops. Carry enough for the day.
    Food
    Chesters Tea Room Cafe 240 m from stop 1
    Riverside Kitchen Cafe 780 m from stop 1

    Places mapped by volunteers on OpenStreetMap; opening times and taps change, so check before relying on one. © OpenStreetMap contributors

    Ways off

    No way off mapped for 11.9 km (as the crow flies) between stop 1 and stop 2.

    Mountain lifts and buses often run in summer only. Check the timetable before you rely on one. Places mapped by volunteers on OpenStreetMap; opening times and taps change, so check before relying on one. © OpenStreetMap contributors

    Segments

    1. Chesters Roman Fort and the climb west
      Chesters Roman Fort and the climb west 9 km 250 m Map

      Chollerford → Sewingshields Crags

      Farmland and moorland track

      Start beside the North Tyne at Chollerford, where Chesters — the Roman fort of Cilurnum — guarded the river crossing and preserves the best-surviving Roman bath house in Britain. Head west across pasture, climbing steadily until the ground tilts up and the first crags appear. About 3 hours.

      About this place

      Cilurnum or Cilurvum was an ancient Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall at Chesters near the village of Walwick, Northumberland. It is also known as Walwick Chesters to distinguish it from Great Chesters fort and Halton Chesters.

      Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany · CC BY-SA 2.0
    2. Sewingshields to Housesteads
      Sewingshields to Housesteads 4 km 100 m Map

      Sewingshields Crags → Housesteads Roman Fort

      Crag-top path beside the Wall

      Walk the crag edge with the whole of Northumberland opening out to the north to Housesteads, the most substantial Roman fort on the Wall, set spectacularly on the end of a mile-long crag. Its granaries, barracks and famous latrines are all still legible in the stone.

      About this place

      Housesteads Roman Fort was an auxiliary fort on Hadrian's Wall, at Housesteads, Northumberland, England. It is dramatically positioned on the end of the 1-mile (1.6 km)-long crag of the Whin Sill over which the Wall runs, overlooking sparsely populated hills.

      Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Lieven Smits · CC BY-SA 4.0
    3. Sycamore Gap and Crag Lough
      Sycamore Gap and Crag Lough 5 km 150 m Map

      Housesteads → Steel Rigg

      Steep switchbacks between crags

      The signature miles. Drop into Sycamore Gap — the glacial notch where a well-known sycamore stood for around a century until it was illegally felled in 2023 — then climb past the cliffs above Crag Lough, where the Wall needed no help from the Romans at all, to the car park at Steel Rigg. About 2 hours.

      About this place

      The Sycamore Gap tree, also known as the Robin Hood tree, is a 150-year-old sycamore tree next to Hadrian's Wall near Crag Lough in Northumberland, England. It now exists only as a stump, having been illegally felled in 2023 by Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers, but has since sprouted a thick ring of shoots. Standing in a dip in the landscape created by glacial meltwater, it was one of the country's most photographed trees and an emblem for the North East of England. Its alternative name is derived from featuring in a scene in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. The tree won the Woodland Trust 2016 England Tree of the Year award, receiving a £1,000 care grant funded by the People's Postcode Lottery.

      Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Clementp.fr · CC BY-SA 4.0
    Day 2

    Steel Rigg to Walltown

    Steel Rigg → Walltown Crags 14 km 400 m 4 h 15 min

    Leave by 3:27 PM

    Navigate this day

    A morning among the finest Roman finds in Britain, then a rolling afternoon on the Wall to finish at Walltown Crags.

    Water and food

    Water
    Drinking water 330 m from stop 2
    Food
    Vindolanda Cafe Cafe 250 m from stop 1
    Milecastle Inn Pub 670 m from stop 2

    Places mapped by volunteers on OpenStreetMap; opening times and taps change, so check before relying on one. © OpenStreetMap contributors

    Ways off

    Mountain lifts and buses often run in summer only. Check the timetable before you rely on one. Places mapped by volunteers on OpenStreetMap; opening times and taps change, so check before relying on one. © OpenStreetMap contributors

    Segments

    1. Down to Vindolanda
      Down to Vindolanda 4 km 100 m Map

      Steel Rigg → Vindolanda

      Field paths off the ridge

      Drop south off the ridge to Vindolanda, an auxiliary fort that pre-dates the Wall and guarded the older Stanegate road. Waterlogged soil here preserved the Vindolanda tablets — thin wooden letters carrying the everyday handwriting of the garrison, from duty rosters to a birthday invitation. Excavation is ongoing most summers.

      About this place

      Vindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort (castrum) just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, which it pre-dated. Archaeological excavations of the site show it was under Roman occupation from roughly 85 AD to 370 AD. Located near the modern village of Bardon Mill in Northumberland, it guarded the Stanegate, the Roman road from the River Tyne to the Solway Firth. It is noted for the Vindolanda tablets, a set of wooden leaf-tablets that were, at the time of their discovery, the oldest surviving handwritten documents in Britain.

      Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Mike Bishop · CC BY-SA 2.0
    2. Back to the crags at Cawfields
      Back to the crags at Cawfields 5 km 150 m Map

      Vindolanda → Cawfields

      Rolling crag path

      Rejoin the Wall and follow the Whin Sill — the tabular sheet of dolerite that gave the frontier its cliffs — over a run of sharp ups and downs to Cawfields, where an old quarry has bitten clean through the Roman line and left a milecastle sitting on the edge.

      About this place

      The Whin Sill or Great Whin Sill is a tabular layer of the igneous rock dolerite in County Durham, Northumberland and Cumbria in the northeast of England. It lies partly in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and partly in Northumberland National Park and stretches from Teesdale northwards towards Berwick.

      Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Michael Hanselmann · CC BY-SA 3.0
    3. Cawfields to Walltown Crags
      Cawfields to Walltown Crags 5 km 150 m Map

      Cawfields → Walltown Crags

      Steep crag switchbacks

      A final rollercoaster along the crag tops to Walltown, where one of the most photogenic lengths of standing Wall snakes along the ridge beside the site of Milecastle 45. Greenhead and Haltwhistle are a short way on for transport home. About 2 hours.

      About this place

      Milecastle 45 (Walltown) was a milecastle on Hadrian's Wall (grid reference NY67716657).

      Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Mike Quinn · CC BY-SA 2.0

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