Day 1 Arrival Newcastle - Arrive Day

Your arrival day into the region, ready for your holiday!

Newcastle is our chosen rendezvous city with its excellent road, rail and air links.

Arrive by train and your hotel is a short taxi ride away from Newcastle Central Station.

Arrive by car and park at the hotel for the duration of your holiday for an added supplement.

Arrive by air into Newcastle Airport and arrange for us to meet you and transfer you to your accommodation.

The choice is yours! 

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Day 2 Bowness-on-Solway to Carlisle - 14 miles (23 kilometres)

From Newcastle we will transfer you to Bowness-on-Solway, and the start of your walk along Hadrian’s Wall National Trail.

This is a lovely start to the walk, with fine views over Bowness-on-Solway which has been designated an area of outstanding natural beauty and has an abundance of bird life. To the south we look back on the high peaks of the Lake District.

The walk takes you straight back to the Hotel which is located near the Hadrian’s Wall Trail.

During the evening you are free to explore Carlisle and try some of the local cuisine.

Carlisle is famous for its Castle, a great medieval fortress that has watched over the City of Carlisle for over nine centuries. You can explore it's fascinating and ancient chambers, stairways and dungeons and find the legendary 'licking stones' here, parched Jacobite prisoners found enough moisture to stay alive, only to be brutally executed on Gallows Hill.  

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Day 3 Carlisle to Lanercost - 14 miles (23 kilometres)

After saying farewell to your hosts in Carlisle you set out on today's walk; a pleasant day's ramble through open countryside passing through quaint villages. Although not always visible, this section of the Wall is made from sod but it’s nevertheless still impressive and a tantalising prelude of what’s to come. Todays walk will end at Lanercost with its hauntingly beautiful Priory founded in 1165 by Augustinian canons.

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Day 4 Lanercost to Steel Rigg - 14 miles (23 kilometres)

The first section of the 4th day actually takes you next to the wall, passed Birdoswald Fort and up over the famous Winshields Crags to Steel Rigg.
 
Birdoswald Fort stands high above a bend in the River Irthing, in one of the most picturesque settings on Hadrian's Wall. A Roman fort, turret and milecastle can all be seen on this excellent stretch of the Wall. With probably the best preserved defences of any Wall fort, this was an important base for some 1,000 Roman soldiers, succeeding an earlier fort of turf and timber.
 
As the ground starts to rise, the impressive nature of the wall starts to grow and you pass mile castle after mile castle and you experience true Hadrian Wall Country.
 

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Day 5 Steel Rigg to Chollerford - 12 miles (19 kilometres)

Today you will cover what is probably one of the most famous and dramatic sections of the wall, past Sycamore Gap and Crag Lough. This section of the wall has been used a number of times in films, so memories will jump out at you all day.

On this day you will pass Houseteads which is the most complete example of a Roman fort in Britain, and now the most popular site on the Wall. It stands high on the exposed Whin Sill escarpment, commanding breathtaking views. It was one of 12 permanent forts added to the new frontier by Hadrian in about 124 AD. Known as 'Vercovicium' ('the place of effective fighters'), it was garrisoned by a cohort of around 800 infantry (for most of its history Tungrians from Belgium), later reinforced by Germanic cavalry.

Your route takes you to Chollerford, where you will be staying for the night.

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Day 6 Chollerford to Heddon-on-the-Wall - 15 miles (24 kilometres)

At the start of this day you rise up out of Chollerford and there are some lovely views North to the Cheviot Hills. Today’s is an easier day's walking than the previous two, and there are a number of places to stop off en route for light refreshments.

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Day 7 Heddon-on-the-Wall to Segedunum Fort - 15 miles (24 kilometres)

The final day is a day of contrast. Firstly you follow the Tyne through some lovely countryside, before walking through some of the rich industrial heritage Newcastle upon Tyne was built on. Much of the waterfront has now been redeveloped as you pass grand hotels, the Tyne Bridge, Sage Gateshead (new music centre) and the recently opened Baltic (arts centre), a cultural revolution evolving from an Industrial one!

Segedunum Roman Fort is the end of the trail and where you will be greeted by a member of staff from Shepherds Walks to celebrate your achievement.

Segedunum Roman Fort stands on the banks of the River Tyne, the last outpost of Hadrian's Wall. For almost 300 years Segedunum, which means 'strong fort', was home to 600 Roman soldiers.

Congratulations are in order!

You will then be transferred to your car in Newcastle, Newcastle railway station or airport. 

Or if you chose to add an extra night to your holiday, we will transfer you back to your hotel. 

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Why are your holiday's West to East along Hadrian's Wall?

This is so you have the prevailing wind behind you.

We have walked the Hadrian's Wall Trail many times and seen people battle against the wind and we ask the question why don't you let the elements help you out.

Also what better place to finish your walk than Wallsend, the clue is in the name.

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We are thinking of a self guided trip, what happens if we need to speak with you during our holiday.

Before your holiday starts we will give you a 24 hour helpline number for us here at Shepherds Walks Holidays. If there is anything we can help you with during your holiday just give us a call and we can sort it out for you.

We would rather sort any problems out during a trip and then you can get on and enjoy yourself rather than finding out there has been a problem at the end when it is to late.

Don't forget we are here to give you the best holiday experience we can.

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Do you provide maps and a guidebook of the trail?

Yes we do, we provide the Harvey Map for this route and also more detailed maps to guide you to your accommodation each night. You also will receive detailed trip notes that we have compiled which has everything you need in it to really help you make a great walk into a holiday of a lifetime.

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Once I have booked when will I receive the final holiday info?

You will receive all your final walk info by email approximately four weeks prior to departure. A hard copy of your holiday pack will be posted to you the following day, including your map, giving you plenty of time to go through all of the information before your departure. Anything you are not sure about, we are only a phonecall or email away! 

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Where do we eat at lunchtime and in the evenings?

We give you a set of 'trip notes' for your holiday (that we have compiled) listing all the places to eat on route, places to buy food, banks, toilets and places to visit on route.

As we also do guided trips throughout the year we can keep this info up to date.

We appreciate food is an important part of your holiday so we have worked hard to make sure you eat well at lunchtime and every evening.

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What is a Double, Twin and Single room?

Room descriptions

Double – One double bed for two people.

Twin – Two single beds each for one person.

Single – A room with a single bed in.

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Hadrian’s Wall

Friday 16th July 2021 Susanne Herdman

I absolutely loved my 6 days Hadrian’s Wall walk organised by you, Shepherds Walk. The accommodation booked for me was very clean and friendly. My bag was transferred from accommodation to accommodation and I had nothing to worry about. I would like to thank all at Shepherds Walk for an outstanding, professional and friendly service provided x

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Fantastic Walk

Sunday 30th September 2018 Jaon and Larry

The package provided was very easy to follow and easily organized our day. The accommodation provided was excellent, providing a hearty breakfast each morning. The transfers at the beginning and the end of the walk makes the walk more enjoyable as this major concern is covered.We would highly recommend Shepherds Walks.

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Thanks so much for a very memorable family holiday

Wednesday 9th September 2015 Catherine C

We walked the Hadrian's Wall Trail with you earlier this year.

Really like the personal touch, especially the transfer to the start as it gave us plenty of times to ask all the questions we had.

We loved our Shepherds Walks Holiday on Hadrian's Wall.

 

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The holiday exceeded our expectations.

Wednesday 9th September 2015 Stephen T, Hampshire

We chose the Shepherd’s Walks for our Hadrians Wall Path 7 day self guided holiday because they are locally based. We were not disappointed and the holiday exceeded our expectations. All the staff at Shepherds walks provide a very friendly and personal service. We particularly appreciated being met by Jon Monks so that we had the opportunity to chat to him about the holiday ahead as we were driven to Bowness-on-Solway. This historic walk passes through some beautiful scenery with extensive views. In our opinion it is best walked west to east because of the prevailing wind. Accommodation, luggage transfer, route notes and itinerary were all excellent. And we didn’t need our waterproofs! It was a nice touch to be rewarded with a completion certificate and badge when we had finished the walk. We highly recommend Shepherds Walks Holidays

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