Introduction to Hadrian’s Wall Path and Our Plan to Walk It

At the beginning of this year, Janet and I were hungry to complete another multiday hike in England, but it’s difficult to choose as there are many options. There are fifteen national trails, but this list does not include either England’s Coast to Coast or Scotland. Trailblazer and Cicerone publish many walking trail guidebooks. Several companies organize walking holidays, and their lists of walks is another resource. Macs Adventures is an example, and their offerings go beyond Britain’s shores. During the tremendous fun that we had completing the 192-mile Coast to Coast over 18 days in 2022 with excellent organizational assistance from Packhorse (who only support the Coast to Coast), one frustration was the lack of flexibility having booked (through necessity) accommodation every night. In 2023, in an attempt to inject some flexibility, Janet and I tried a different approach, hiking the Northern half of the Cotswold way using a hotel in Cheltenham as a base and finding a way (bus, taxi, or train) to and from the trail each day. However, we discovered that you still need to plan the beginning and end of each day’s walk and there are not many options. Also, while the walk was still a lot of fun, it lacked the sense of forward progress that you get when you walk each day from inn to inn, starting a morning by re-crossing the threshold that you staggered over the previous day, and heading off once again into the unknown.

While many possibilities caught my eye, a hike of Hadrian’s Wall Path, organized through Macs Adventures, won and we booked it in April. Janet and I were still busy with theatre commitments and dissertation completion, but we wanted to get something book as we knew accommodations got booked up. We chose September as both kids would be back in college and it was a nice shoulder season where there would be less tourists, British schools were back, hopefully lower prices, but the weather was still good.

While many possibilities caught my eye, a hike of Hadrian’s Wall Path, organized through Macs Adventures, won and we booked it in April. Janet and I were still busy with theatre commitments and dissertation completion, but we wanted to get something book as we knew accommodations got booked up. We chose September as both kids would be back in college and it was a nice shoulder season.

The Walk

As this was somewhat a last-minute decision, eight days of walking seemed a good amount and the Macs Adventures itinerary fit our desire to average about 10 miles a day and trying to avoid days with more than 13 miles. We knew this was easier than the Coast to Coast, and I was confident that Macs would propose a robust plan. They were very responsive to my initial enquiry in April, confirming the bookings five days after we had placed a deposit. This involved securing suitable accommodation at the requisite stops along the way and arranging luggage transportation. As I was US based, my point of contact with Macs was also US based, and she liaised with the UK team, which is based in Glasgow, Scotland. We look forward to a well-organized trip.

However, Janet and I are not the type who follow other people’s guidance blindly. Janet virtually walked the path using the Trailblazer guide to familiarize herself. I mapped each day using the OSMap website (the UK’s standard for walking), both to familiarize and to work out the actual distance each day.

My detailed mapping led to some unanswered questions. On a particularly long day, the Macs itinerary has us passing a pub/hotel a couple of miles before where we are booked, and I would have liked to have considered this alternative. Some accommodation was also a little off trail. It’s quite possible that the Macs organizers booked the optimum route for us, but we have learned that we enjoy the research and the booking. While recognizing that the research and booking takes a tremendous amount of time, I think that doing it yourself can enhance the trip, if you have the time and knowledge. We realized that what Macs (or any other organizer) does is (1) book the accommodation in the appropriate places and (2) book the luggage transfer company, as well as having the framework to support you. Having a place to stay ~10 miles from the last place, and having a company that will carry your bag, are the two ingredients for our walks. A couple of months ago, we booked a walk of the southern half of the Cotswold Way without going through an agent, and it comes out at approximately 1/3 of the cost. The luggage transfer companies are the backbone of an inn-to-inn hike where you are looking for the lightest load when hiking. They are typically independent, their websites can be great planning tools, and they have fun names like Hadrian’s Haul or Carryabag.

Our Plan

The table below shows the planned distance each day. We are heading East to West.

Day	Route	Distance
Day 1	Wallsend to Newcastle Hotel	7 miles
Day 2	Newcastle Hotel to Heddon-on-the-wall	10.5 miles
Day 3	Heddon-on-the-wall to Humshaugh	15.5 miles
Day 4	Humshaugh to Twice Brewed	13 miles
Day 5	Twice Brewed to Blenkinsopp Castle	8.8 miles
Day 6	Blenkinsopp Castle to Brampton	12.6 miles
Day 7	Brampton to Carlisle	13.6 miles
Day 8	Carlisle to Bowness	16 miles

What are we hoping to experience? Our priority is to enjoy walking in the outdoors. I’m unsure how exciting we will find all the Roman stuff. Growing up in England, I dreaded visits to the local Roman ruins. I am more interested now, but equally interested in nature. Unfortunately, Sycamore Gap‘s famous tree was cut down by vandals last year, but we look forward to seeing the shoots emerging from the trunk as a sign of its return.

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