Day out – Walking Hadrian’s Wall Path National Trail

As a National Trail Volunteer Ranger, I am normally found walking on my section of the Trail. This is a three and a half mile stretch from Port gate (The Errington Arms, Stagshaw roundabout, near Corbridge) to Heavenfield (near Chollerford).

With such a good spell of weather, I decided to travel a little further west and visit some of the iconic sites in the Central Section of the World Heritage site. The first decision of the day was, where to start my walk from?

For the day walker, there are a number of good places to park the car and set off on the Trail. For example:

• Walltown – near to the Roman Army Museum, a good place to park, picnic and join the Trail travelling east or west.

Walltown Quarry

• Cawfields – car park situated beside the quarry, again a good place to picnic and explore the Trail travelling east or west.

Cawfields Quarry

• Steel Rigg – car park is located adjacent to the monument and offers outstanding views of the Wall.

Steel Rigg

I decided to park at Steel Rigg and walk east towards Housteads. With ‘wall to wall sunshine’ other people had obviously had the same idea. The overflow car park was in use, but I managed to get a space in the main parking area.

I readied myself for the walk ahead and made sure that I had my camera. Normally used to take photographs of any problem areas on my stretch of the Trail, today it was to get some views of such an important historical site.

 If you are to follow the route of the Wall from Steel Rigg, walking boots or shoes are an essential piece of your equipment. Parts of the Trail follow the contours of the land and this means some climbs and descents on stone steps. One thing to remember is that you will be walking at a fairly slow pace, due to you following the contours of the land in this section.

 There is an alternative route which can be used; it follows The Roman Military Way. On a clear day you get some stunning views of the magnificent scenery, I was also able to get the following pictures of Milecastle 39 and Sycamore Gap.

Milecastle 39 - 'Castle Nick'

Sycamore Gap

Returning back to the car park at Steel Rigg ended an enjoyable but quite tiring day. For visitors not used to this type of terrain, I think there would be some aching leg muscles the day after!