In September, we spent a weekend in Northumberland, staying in the town of Corbridge.
From there, Hadrian’s Wall is just a short drive away.
We decided to spend Saturday there, taking the dog for a hike. Starting at Housesteads Roman Fort, we hiked the route along the wall towards Sycamore Gap. If you’ve ever seen Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner, you might be familiar with it as one of the locations – a tree that sits alone by the wall in the space between two hills.
Our walk started a little frustratingly: we paid the entrance fee for the fort, as you need to pass through the shop to join the path, not realising that you only had to pay for entrance to the ruins, not the walk itself. In the end, we did go into the ruined fort, purely because we struggled to find the path!
There’s an obvious road away from Housesteads, but that isn’t the route that takes you along the wall. Instead you need to go around or through the ruins and through a gate into the woods.
Unfortunately it was locked when we visited, so we had to climb over the fence to get to it. Not a very auspicious start to our hike, as I’m not a natural climber and had a bit of a wobbler, despite it only being a small fence. Cue husband mocking me and me getting pissed off!
But the three hour circuit was worth it in the end. The grey autumn weather was perfect for hiking and the dog absolutely loved her adventure.
This is only a small part of the walk you can take along Hadrian’s Wall and there are other ruins to visit. But it’s a good introduction to this famous historical site.
Jennifer says
What absolutely gorgeous photos! I especially like the third one down and the last two.
Amy Lord says
Thanks Jennifer 🙂