Hadrians Wall - Hexham to Newcastle (★★★☆☆)

I have for many years done walks up on Hadrian's Wall - aided by the easy transport links - but whilst I have typically focused on the middle sections of the trail, I am here today to start to complete the eastern end of the trail, with a walk from Hexham to Newcastle.

Hexham is straight-forward to reach by train, and so today I was heading out on the earliest train of the day, to begin my walk.

Having reached Hexham, there are a few different routes I have used to connect up to Hadrian's Wall, but the route taken today is my favorite.

From the station I head up over Hexham Bridge, following the A6079 - but before it meets up with the A69, I turn off to the left down a quiet drive heading to The Hermitage. Heading along this route the track heads north to pass over the A69, and then I turn right to join up with the local roads.

There are footpaths you can use, but the local roads are very minor and very infrequently used and so these offer a direct and still rather enjoyable walking route. 

And so I turn left onto one of these roads, before take the second right at a junction of five different roads - and then follow a very quiet road, initially heading north east. This road then bends and heads directly north, following the exact line up north from Hexham Bridge to the wall. 

Closing in on the wall, the path briefly bends north west, and then the final task is to cross over the road, and head to the nearest gap into the path - found slightly to the west.

Then it is time to head east along Hadrian's Wall Path, towards Newcastle - and here we are back in very typical countryside for the route - with very open countryside, and a large grassy area to walk along. It makes me relax just to look back at the photos.

Heading east having joined up with the path

Navigating this route really couldn't be simpler, as you are essentially just heading in a straight line - with only a few minor diversions - all the way until Heddon-on-the-Wall.

In winter - or indeed just in bad weather (since this is England after all) - this can be a fairly tough place to go walking, as the landscape is very exposed, and the winds can be particularly harsh - but in summer it is very chilled, relaxed, and never too busy a route.

After about a mile, the path crosses over the road - and the walk continues on the far side, with this involving a slightly less enjoyable stretch through what was at the time a felled set of trees (with lots of debris to navigate around).

But, as you exit the cluster of trees - or former trees in my case - you get back into the traditional grassland path of the trail.

Much more enjoyable now

A cut path through the meadows

I'm not entirely sure who owns all the fields along the route (although I do see a lot of videos of rangers out cutting grass on Instagram), but what is notable is that there are a lot of wildflower meadows, with a path being mown through. This means that you are always walking on a cut section of grass, but in fields full of flowers - and if you want to do wildflower meadows, this is how it is done.

While passing through, a group of American walkers were heading the other way, and stopped me in the way that American's often seem to do on the route, to ask where I was walking to today. 

When I had said Newcastle and then explained the distance, I may as well have told them that I was an Astronaut off to do heart surgery on the International Space Station. In their minds I was Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo, Ernest Shackleton and Ferdinand Magellan all rolled into one. It's great meeting people who think that an hour of walking is a very long way.

From here it is not far before the main road heads up from Corbridge - and this must be crossed - but this spot does pass what looks like an old pub, but what is really a coffee house at the time of passing - and one that I suspect is very used to accommodating walkers on their way through. 

Although main roads are generally fairly uninteresting, this was formerly Deer Street - which was a Roman Road that ran from York to Edinburgh (crossing the Stanegate at Corbridge). This was the Roman's main route north into Scotland, and up onto the Antonine Wall.

Having crossed over, the same sort of countryside continues. There isn't too much to be said along these stretches, as it is all well maintained, pretty to walk through and very easy to do - but just past Halton Red House on the map I do reach a bit of a mound at Down Hill and here I stop for a rest to enjoy the views out over the countryside.

Having a rest while looking at the view

From here, you soon start to follow the road for a bit - but you have your own path to the side - with flag stones ensuring you are not walking through long grass on this occasion. The road while reasonably fast, is not too busy, and all the houses are pretty to look at and exceptionally well presented.

But as you start to tire a bit of spending so long walking along the road, you are given a bit of a break and get split off, with vegetation now between us and that road. 

This is a lot better, but don't get too comfortable, because it doesn't last for too long - and we are soon bumped over to the other side of the road, and doing a bit of a diversion around the houses as we do so.

Still don't let all this talk of roads put you off too much - the walking is very enjoyable. 

But having bumped up, bumped down, and generally bumped a bit all around, we reach the Robin Hood Inn - which does look nicely done and does offer food and accommodation.

Here we turn off the road again into a section that is once again off road. But, as a warning - and a pretty big warning - this bit is boggy, and while I originally head on the official path, I change my route to somewhere that looked a bit drier to the side- but only after putting my foot down, and seeing my foot disappear into the ooze.

Perhaps the reason why it is so wet underfoot, is because of the reservoirs ahead and these - while clearly very man made, and a bit devoid of trees or natural life beyond a few birds - are pretty enough and offer a potential place to take a rest.

However, I decide to continue on and this was the right choice, as the path heads up a gradual incline and then it was the the next treeline that I took a break, looking back towards the reservoir from this higher point.

Here you pass through Harlow Hill, where the houses feel huddled together to protect from the winds - but after moving onto the road to pass through town, you once again return to a parallel route - although on this occasion with a bit more of a feel of being part of the road. The views are decent enough though, and so we mustn't complain.

This route continues on largely unchanged for a short while, and then you cross over the road before starting another of the path's little diversions - heading down a minor road, and then turning onto a footpath - before heading back up towards the road again, on the far side.

While no one really likes a diversion, this is not exactly terrible news because the views from the footpath at the base of the diversion were lovely at this time of year (mid June).

I'll forgive the diversion on this occasion

Very peaceful

By this point, it is getting obvious that this section of the Hadrian's Wall walk doesn't actual involve a while lot of wall. For those who have only walked this section, I would suggest reading the other writeups on this route before you give up and don't bother with the rest of the walk on these grounds - from Carlisle to Hexham is full of history.

And so we head on, generally following the road still, and after one more small diversion, it is time to take on a major diversion in order to get over the A69. 

This done, it is time to head into Heddon-on-the-Wall, which is a lovely town to walk through with great views out over Newcastle.

View from Heddon-on-the-Wall

It deserved a second picture

The pictures from Heddon-on-the-Wall don't really do it full justice, because you don't quite get a feeling of the drop in height below - and you needn't venture off path to get views, because you will get them on the walk as you go.

Here the path drops down the river, and if I am honest I don't think I will ever walk the rest of the stretch to Newcastle again - and for all future visits my plan is to head west along the river (following the River Tyne Trail) to Wylam station to head home.

But you can't leave a section of a National Trail unwalked if you have already done the rest of it, and so you might as well stick with me for the rest of this writeup, and as a reward there will be pictures of some bridges in Newcastle for you to enjoy.

So we head east along the river - and it is pretty similar walking to the stretch heading into Carlisle from the west (at the other end of Hadrian's Wall). This heads round to Tyne Riverside Country Park, where there are facilities if needed - and as I get here I see a big rainstorm, and the sound of thunder up in the hills behind.

Fortunately the thunder is really only a risk for those still up in the hills, so I head on following the river for a bit longer, before what for me is the worst section of the trail. 

This is where you schlep through the outskirts of Newcastle along a cycle path with the occasional dodgy character smoking something with a bit of a herbal edge to it - countered by the occasional friendly Geordie getting over-excited about the rain. 

This part is a real shame, because it really doesn't make you want to come back to Newcastle on a later visit - but eventually you make it through the misery of this part of the trail, and back to the river where things get a bit more interesting, as you pass all the old port infrastructure - as it lies half decayed at the side of the Tyne.

And as you head into Newcastle itself you do of course pass under some of the rather impressive bridges this city has over the river.

Managed to get five bridges into this photo

Only managed the two bridges on this occasion

This is not the end of Hadrian's Wall Path - that lies at Wallsend (the clue is in the name) - which is about 5 miles further along the Tyne. But that will be a walk for another day - and I'm heading to the train station, and heading home.

Total Distance: 26.8 miles (22.3 miles on the trail)

Total Ascent: 1,896 feet (1,079 feet on the trail)

Enjoyment Rating : ⭐⭐⭐ ★ ★ / 5

For the remaining section of Hadrian's Wall click on this link. This was on a walk from Whitley Bay to Newcastle and so is in reverse, with the Hadrian's Wall Path being picked up halfway through the day (scroll down to where it says 'Wallsend to Newcastle - Hadrian's Wall Path').

Click for the previous section along Hadrian's Wall from Haltwhistle to Hexham.

Click to see a writeup of an alternate onward walk from Newcastle round to Sunderland via the coast, click on this link.

Disclaimer: This writeup provides a narrative of what to expect rather than a route guide to follow. The route is covered by the 87 and 88 OS Landranger maps - while there is also a Hadrian's Wall guidebook which includes OS mapping (links redirect to Amazon). The route is in general well way-marked.