Hadrians Wall - Bowness on Solway to Haltwhistle (★★★★★)

One of the National Trails I have been keen to complete in its entirety has been Hadrian's Wall - partly because it is a nice area for walking, partly because it has a lot of history and partly because it is fairly short and therefore pretty easy 😃.

For this visit, I was walking the stretch from Borwness-on-Solway to Haltwhistle, over two days (having already done Carlisle to Haltwhistle on a prior walk). Normally I'll split the walks day by day in separate writeups, but with the first day being fairly short and less eventful, I figured it made sense to do both days in one.

Day 1 - Bowness-on-Solway to Carlisle

As it was early March, the amount of daylight was a bit of a limiting factor - and with Bowness-on-Solway being slightly awkward to get to, that meant catching the early train to Carlisle - making it in time to get on the 9am bus - to arrive in Bowness-on-Solway at 10:15am. The alternative bus doesn't run until 12:30pm and doesn't get in until 1:15pm - giving a much later start to the day.

At the start of the route there is a little shelter which marks the beginnings of of the walk, but from then on the first part of the walk involves some road walking, in what is quite a remote part of the world at the edge of Solway Firth.

Upon reaching Port Carlisle the path does split off from the road and you can follow a path heading parallel on the side of the river (or estuary?). Eventually, this path rejoins the road to cross over and head along some farm tracks to Glasson. 

From here, there's a certain amount of farm track wandering, until you come round to Drumburgh, which is a prettier village - which includes a well fortified manor, which was a site used to defend against any Scots raiding across the mud and sand to the north.

No Scots invading from the north today 😳

Here the path heads onwards along the road, but as there isn't much here, you can really make your own path along the side of the road as you head down a long straight route to Burgh by Sands (the romans did like their straight roads after all).

Here you head through town and having past through, you turn off the road to the left across the fields towards Beaumont, where I had to observe a diversion on a modified road route that eventually rejoined with the intended path following Beaumont.

Here it starts to get a bit less desolate and turning more into farmland - an indication that you are starting to close in on Carlisle. Having cleared Kirkandrews-on-Eden this means the route starts heading through sheep fields to feed in to the village of Grinsdale - from which the route follows the path of the River Eden.

Having passed through Grinsdale, it is a quiet route along side the river and whilst its not the most amazing river walk (I have walked the other side of the river which I enjoyed more) you eventually make your way round to the parks and greens near the centre of Carlisle - with views of the castle on the higher ground above.

Here I headed off to sort some food in town both for tonight and ready for tomorrow - and set off to my hotel to get an early night ahead of a bigger effort the next day.

Day 2 - Carlisle to Haltwhistle

The first day was a bit low key and I'm not sure I'll ever do that stretch of Hadrian's Wall again as it's not the most exciting - but I am a big fan of the whole stretch from Carlisle round to Wylam so there is still plenty to look forward to on this walk.

In terms of accommodation and food isn't a whole lot on the wall except an increasing number of Shepherd Huts which keep popping up and a few pubs - and so I tend to use Haltwhistle and Hexham as my main entry / exit points set down from the wall. On my return I'll probably come back to do Carlisle to Haltwhistle as a one day hike, with Haltwhistle to Wylam as an option for a two day hike (staying over at Hexham) or for two one day hikes.

One of the good points about Hadrian's Wall is that you do have easy train access running beneath the wall - even though it can be a bit of a trek up and down to the wall itself. Getting down off the wall does also help in terms of buying food - which I have always found tricky on the trail itself.

But having stayed over in Carlisle, it was a very early start to the day to make the most of the available light. And the first task of the day was to join up with the path heading out of Carlisle along the river on the opposite side of Carlisle to my direction of arrival the previous day.

As you start to head out of town among all the morning walkers, joggers and dog walkers - you cross a bridge and into Rickerby Park - which is a really pleasant park to walk through and from here you start heading out following a road - which will take you through Rickerby and onwards to pass over the M6.

Having got over the M6, the path continues to follow the road into Linstock, where you drop down into the local streets and then along the farm tracks past the former site of Linstock Castle (there was nothing I could see that remained of the castle). 

From here the path starts to head out over the fields and follows the River Eden to Low Crosby. 

At this point the path has diverged somewhat from the route of Hadrian's Wall, but after a tiny bit more road walking, it is time to head north and once again rejoin the path of Hadrian's Wall - heading up and then along to the east on farm tracks.

It is here that for me the real walk heading out from Carlisle begins, and here you start to get the feel of what the scenery of the walk will be like ahead.

As you head along to the east, you pass a small local airport and continue through sheep fields before starting to head slightly more northwards towards Newtown.

On the trail not far before reaching Newtown (June 2024)

Just before reaching Newtown (June 2024)

For the pictures on this writeup I have decided to use a mix of pictures from both March 2025 and from a previous visit in June 2024 to make use of the best pictures from both visits. When I use the pictures from the prior walk I will indicate that those were in June 2024 but the change of seasons will probably be a bit of a hint.

Having past through Newtown, the next section sees a series of short stints between farms and houses, before returning to slightly less interrupted countryside on the run to Walton - further along the trail.

Walton is a very residential village, but there are some little stalls out offering some basic refreshments for sale as you pass through and after you head through there is a bit more road walking - but it is a very quiet stretch of road as you drop down the hill to Dovecote Bridge. 

It is easy to miss, but there is an information board just before the bridge - but it doesn't really tell you much except that they have buried the only section of the wall which used Cumbrian red sandstone which was previously visible here. So yeah, basically just head on as before.

Heading on, the route heads off into the fields - but on this visit I kept things easier and stuck to the road to join up again with the path past Dovecote as that section wasn't as easy to follow last time I came through.

In any case, you are soon back off the roads and on quieter footpaths, following close to the route of Hadrian's Wall as it passed over this landscape. 

Following the wall through some pretty countryside (June 2024)

The countryside generally continues for the following stretch as in the photo above and since you are now genuinely following the path of the wall, the route is dead straight through to Banks where it is time to return to a bit of road walking - although again following minor roads.

Although road sections are normally a bit of a negative on a walk - up ahead at the back end of Banks you head up a hill and then there are a group of homes clustered around a green which offers a nice spot to stop and have a break on a waiting bench (if the bench is already taken I humbly apologize, but you only get so many people walking this route so you should be fine).

From here there is a tiny bit more road walking to do, but very soon you are directed onto footpaths running alongside the road and - more significantly - there are genuine bits of wall along this stretch.

Some genuine wall

This is a particularly enjoyable stretch along the wall, as you get plenty of genuine examples of the old roman wall or forts to take a bit of a look around, whilst having a nice ridge to walk along with views to the south. 

On this stretch there are also often American tourists who will normally stop you for a chat and no matter how short a distance you are walking, I promise that what you are doing will blow their minds. Americans can be quite direct, but if they are impressed by what you are doing they will similarly be direct about that which can be a bit of an ego boost - by comparison if you told a Brit you were walking round the globe they would probably just try and out compete you somehow with their own achievements 😆.

Looking out to the south in summer (June 2024)

Once again, navigating this stretch isn't particularly hard, but eventually the footpath markers will tell you that you've had enough fun walking on the grass ridge and put you back on the road. However, before long you are once again given permission to turn down and head through some woods (passing a stall that you can buy food/drink from in summer) that takes you back to a route through the grassland below.

After this drop down, you head back up closer to the road - but then as the path drops away from the road you hit the real special section of this path which runs from here to Gilsland ahead (don't worry there's still plenty more good bits to come!)

This part has a really chilled feel to it and in this section I tend to slow the pace down and just try and enjoy walking through this very special landscape.

A really chilled section to walk through (June 2024)

But if the beauty of the countryside isn't quite enough for you 😑 - then you need not get too concerned yet - because soon the path starts to head back towards the road and this is to pass by Birdoswald fort. Unless you are a member (£42 a year - which is possibly worth paying for if you've not seen all this stuff before and will see more English Heritage sites on your travels) - you do have to pay to get in and its not particularly cheap given that its really just some ruins on the ground that you can see perfectly well from the path as you head past the fort. 

An artists impression of the original fort - the path I think essentially goes from the gate on the right round to the front and then back inside the wall just past the main gatehouse before following the front wall to the left of the image

So before you fork out to go take a look at a few rocks on the ground, bear in mind that this part is not actually best bit, because once you get past the fort the remains of the wall become more substantial and you start a section where you do finally get more of an idea of how this would have felt in the roman days.

After heading through some ruins on the ground (free ruins on this occasion) - you head down the hill (try not to think about having to regain all this height on the other side, but you will have to), in order to cross a bridge over the River Eden.

The original bridge over the river - your bridge will be more modern and is slightly inside the original wall route

Having crossed over the river, the fun does not stop, as you head through some of the ruins on the opposite side of the river.

Be careful - you are on the Scottish side of the wall along this bit (June 2024)

Back on the safer side of the wall heading towards Gilsland - Phew! (June 2024)

I don't think I can over emphasis how enjoyable this stretch is, with all the roman vibes going on and I have seen kids walking along here being taken to and from school - which isn't the worst school run in the world.

Having reached Gilsland, you find yourself in a larger town and this is an option to stay over or get some food, but for both of my last visits the original path has been blocked and there is a diversion down the hill and back up the road on the other side of town, to rejoin up with the original route.

Heading out of Gilsland, you will pass by some pretty houses of which the highlight has a delightful stream running through with chickens running all over the place.

But as you clear these houses, one of the perks are the views ahead where you can see more of the trail running forwards, running out as far as Crag Lough - which is another great section of the walk (although one that won't be covered in this walk today). Hopefully by this point you realise that this trail is a set of walks that you should be doing 😠.

Heading on, the path bounces around a bit as you head up to a busier road and the next task is to head south along this road and get over the other side (and just before you do cross over you will be joined by the Pennine Way which will run over the same route until just past Crag Lough when it will head off to the north).

Safely across the road - and having not been flattened like a hedgehog - a quick follow up task just to check that you are still thinking properly this late in the day, is to get across the railway line. I'm pretty sure this site now has a traffic light to tell you if a train is coming (I may have imagined this), but in any case it is easy enough to get over without anything nasty happening.

Now the path heads up northwards towards Thirlwall Castle. Normally I'd be pretty excited to see a castle, but let's be honest, by this point a castle feels dreadfully modern and hardly noteworthy at all.

Instead the route heads directly east again - once again following the exact route of the wall) and it is a good climb up the hill - but as you stop to rest, you will get a good chance to look back over the route you have just past.

By the time you reach the top, you get diverted down along the road to sneak into the car park and visitor centre at Walltown. And once again, this is a really special section to walk through.

Initially, you have a really pleasant walk past the lake and through the trees underneath the cliffs above, which have clearly been cut away and mined for rock (I wonder what they needed all the rock for 😐). This lake is worth remembering, because next time you watch a film based in old England you will watch someone ride past this exact spot in the film and then magically transport to another site in southern England a few miles later - and as we all know remembering this and pointing out this inconsistency while watching a film, will make that film far more enjoyable for everyone else watching it with you 😇. 

Then as the path heads northwards, there is some more climbing to do and this section will be a final leg tester to finish off the day, but its another really great section to walk through.

I have made it to the top of my first hill

The joggers ran past me quite easily but at least they struggled up the other side 😏

I'm not entirely certain which direction this is looking in

It's been a long one to writeup, so yeah we're just doing pictures now

There are a lot of ups and downs

Throughout this section the path repeatedly bumps from hill to hill with fairly substantial pieces of wall either remaining - or having been rebuilt - and combined with the great views its a great end to the day.

But with Haltwhistle being my destination, at this point I'm thinking through an exit strategy to get down from the wall, and my plan is to head down at Great Chesters where there is a permissive route down the farm drive.

This then joins into a minor road, which in turn heads down to the main road, which is quickly crossed, before heading further south along a farm track past Lees Hall - and then there is the choice of following the road, or diverting into the path in the trees.

As it is I stay on the road until I reach the bridge, where its easy to cross over and then the footpath runs down along Haltwhistle Burn and into Hatlwhistle itself where there is the opportunity to pop to the shop to get some food and drink for the way home - before heading round to the station to catch the train home. 

Further Routes :

An additional walk that joins up with this one that runs to the south is the Cumbrian Way - and a writeup for the section from Carlisle to Keswick can be found here. This one can be done via two shorter days walking with a stay in Caldbeck, and while the walking to the west of Carlisle was a bit barren, the walking to the south is really nice - followed up with some amazing scenery heading into the lakes.

Click for the next part of the Hadrian's Wall path, running from Hatlwhistle to Hexham

Enjoyment Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5 (day 1 only gets 3 stars)

Disclaimer: This writeup provides a narrative of what to expect rather than a route guide to follow. The route is covered by the 85 and 86 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.