Walking Hadrian's Wall

Walking Hadrian's Wall Overview

This tour introduces you to some of the most awe-inspiring and historic landscapes anywhere in Britain. We offer a different take on the region, aimed to give those who want to walk more of this beautiful countryside the chance to experience its raw beauty, while still visiting the historic sites with the expert guidance that is our hallmark.

Walking Hadrian’s Wall overlaps with its sister tour, but is no mere extension of it: each has sites unique to it, which tell the long history of the Wall region in their own way. Nor is it simply one of those end-to-end walks of all the Wall that so many others do. We see no point in taking you to areas where you can see neither Wall nor Vallum and where the landscape is lacking. We’ll bring you the majesty of the scenery that the Wall threads through, follow its undulating and snaking trace and visit its forts, turrets and milecastles, explaining their history, monuments and archaeology as we go, bringing out the less-obvious features on the way. We’ll bring you the longer history of the area, too – the bastle houses hunched against whatever might come out of the darkness, the romantic ruin of embattled Lanercost priory and the wall-thieving sentinel, Thirlwall Castle.

Unlike other tours, we’ll also set the Roman Wall in its wider context and take the opportunity to roam some outstanding country north and south which helps explain the story. We follow a trail in the beautiful Alston valley to visit the earthwork remains of the fort at Whitley Castle, and head north to the remote outpost fort at Bewcastle, nestled under a mediaeval castle and church, and a rare Anglo-Saxon cross in its original position – and we’ll ascend the outstanding hillfort at Burnswark, where new research is reasserting the idea that the two Roman forts underneath mark a bloody assault in the second century, and take in its magnificent views. And, of course, we’ll not omit the superlative Roman site of Vindolanda, where unparalleled preservation gives us the deepest insight into the lives of the soldiers in garrison, and their families in the surrounding town.

We’re proud of this tour and its unique take on one of the most breath-taking regions in Britain and the Roman Empire. We know you’ll fall in love with every crag, rigg and nick, and take away memories of standing on its heights looking down at the millennia of tangled history below to inspire you long after.