Hadrian's Wall and the Lake District: a guided walking week

1. Day 1: Arrive in Newcastle

   Newcastle Airport or Central station to your hotel, then the Quayside on foot

   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Newcastle upon Tyne
   Day 1 details

   Arrive in Newcastle upon Tyne by early afternoon: trains from London King's Cross take about three hours, and we collect you from Newcastle Airport or Central station within a set window (confirmed with your final itinerary). Your See Sight Tours guide meets the group at the hotel in the afternoon for a walk through the city that grew up where the Roman frontier began. We start at Grey's Monument and walk down Grey Street, one of the finest Georgian streets in England, to the Castle Keep and Black Gate, built on the site of the Roman fort of Pons Aelius; the 'new castle' of 1080 gave the city its name. From the roof of the Keep you look over the river and the bridges. Then we go down to the Quayside, under the Tyne Bridge, and across the tilting Gateshead Millennium Bridge. In the evening we sit down together to a welcome dinner and a briefing on the walks ahead.

   Included

   • Transfer from Newcastle Airport (NCL) or Newcastle Central station within the arrival window
   • Guided walk of central Newcastle: Grey Street, the Quayside, the Tyne Bridge and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge
   • Newcastle Castle: the Keep and the Black Gate
   • Welcome dinner and walk briefing

   Optional experiences

   • Segedunum Roman Fort at Wallsend, the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall, if you arrive the day before

   Free time: Free until the afternoon meeting. Arriving early? Leave bags at the hotel and walk the Quayside or visit the Laing Art Gallery; if the meeting runs late, the guide does the Castle first, as the last entry is 4 pm and the Black Gate closes at 4:30 pm

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot on city pavements, with steps down to the Quayside and stairs inside the Keep.

2. Day 2: Housesteads and the crags to Steel Rigg

   Newcastle to Planetrees and Housesteads, on foot to Steel Rigg, then Hexham

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Hexham
   Day 2 details

   We leave Newcastle after breakfast and drive west into Northumberland, stopping at Planetrees, where a short length of Wall in a field shows the join between the original broad foundation and the narrower wall the Romans actually built on it. By the 10 am opening we are at Housesteads Roman Fort, high on the ridge: the barracks, granaries, commander's house and the famous communal latrine, with the museum explaining who lived here. Then we walk west along the Wall itself, the most dramatic stretch of the whole frontier, as it rides the Whin Sill crags: Cuddy's Crags, Hotbank, the cliff above Crag Lough and down into Sycamore Gap, where the famous tree stood until it was felled in 2023. A last steep climb over Peel Crags brings us to Steel Rigg after about three hours, and a sit-down pub lunch near Once Brewed. The van takes us to Hexham, where the evening is free.

   Included

   • Stop at the Wall at Planetrees
   • Housesteads Roman Fort and Museum at opening
   • Guided walk along the Wall from Housesteads to Steel Rigg via Crag Lough and Sycamore Gap
   • Sit-down pub lunch near Once Brewed
   • Bags taken to the Hexham hotel by minibus

   Easier option: Walk from Housesteads to the top of Hotbank Crags and back, about 3 km and an hour and a half, then meet the group for lunch by van.

   More active option: Start the walk at Sewingshields Crags, east of Housesteads, adding about 4 km and an hour along the open ridge.

   Free time: Evening free in Hexham

   Activity: About 6 km and 3 hours on foot, on grass and stone steps with several short, steep climbs and descents between the crags. Exposed to wind; bring a warm layer.

   

3. Day 3: Vindolanda and Winshields Crags

   Hexham to Vindolanda, on foot from Steel Rigg to Cawfields, then back to Hexham

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Hexham
   Day 3 details

   Vindolanda opens at 10 am and we are there for it. The fort and its civilian town sat on the Stanegate, the Roman road that marked the frontier before the Wall was built, and excavations still run here most summers. The site is famous for the Vindolanda writing tablets, thin wooden letters from soldiers and their families, and the museum holds shoes, combs and other everyday things preserved in the waterlogged ground. After two hours on site and a sit-down lunch nearby, the van takes us the short way to Steel Rigg. This afternoon the Wall climbs to Winshields Crags, at about 345 m the highest point on its line, with views north to the Cheviots and south over the Tyne valley, then dips and rises over Cawfield Crags past the remains of milecastles and turrets to the old quarry pond at Cawfields. The van brings us back to Hexham for a free evening.

   Included

   • Vindolanda Roman fort, excavations and museum at opening
   • Sit-down lunch at or near Vindolanda
   • Guided walk along the Wall from Steel Rigg over Winshields Crags to Cawfields

   Optional experiences

   • Hexham Abbey, with its 7th-century crypt, if we are back before it closes in the late afternoon (free entry, donations welcome); otherwise a stroll in the Sele park or along the Tyne at Hexham in the free evening

   Easier option: Walk from Steel Rigg to the summit of Winshields Crags and back, about 2.5 km and an hour, then rest in Hexham.

   More active option: Carry on past Cawfields to Walltown Crags, adding about 5 km and an hour and a half; the van meets you at Walltown.

   Free time: Evening free in Hexham

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot at Vindolanda, then about 7 km and 3 hours on the Wall, with steep steps up and down the crags.

4. Day 4: Birdoswald, Lanercost and over to Keswick

   Hexham to Birdoswald, on foot to Gilsland, then Lanercost Priory and Keswick

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Keswick
   Day 4 details

   A shorter walking day as we cross from Northumberland into Cumbria. Birdoswald Roman Fort stands on a spur above a bend of the River Irthing, with its walls and gateways traced on the ground, and the stretch of Wall running east from it is one of the longest unbroken lengths left. We walk with it past the milecastle at Harrow's Scar, down to a footbridge over the river and up past the Roman bridge abutment at Willowford to Gilsland, about 3 km. The van takes us a few minutes west to Lanercost Priory, founded for Augustinian canons in 1169 and built largely of stone taken from the Wall; the nave is still a parish church and the ruined east end and cloister stand beside it. After a sit-down lunch nearby we drive about an hour and a quarter to Keswick (two and a half hours of driving across the whole day), arriving mid-afternoon. A ten-minute walk takes you to Friars' Crag and your first view down Derwentwater.

   Included

   • Birdoswald Roman Fort
   • Guided walk along the Wall from Birdoswald via Harrow's Scar and Willowford to Gilsland
   • Lanercost Priory
   • Sit-down lunch at Lanercost or Brampton
   • Drive to Keswick, with bags

   Easier option: Stay at Birdoswald and walk the Wall to Harrow's Scar and back, about 1.5 km, then rejoin the group by van.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Keswick

   Activity: About 3 km and an hour and a half on foot from Birdoswald, with a steep path down to the river and back up. Lanercost Priory is a seasonal English Heritage site and we confirm its opening days for your dates; if the ruins are closed, we visit the nave, which is the parish church and usually open, and take lunch in Brampton.

   

5. Day 5: Catbells and Derwentwater

   Keswick by launch to Hawse End, on foot over Catbells to the lakeshore, then back by launch

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Keswick
   Day 5 details

   We walk down from the hotel to the Keswick landing for the first launch that calls at Hawse End, usually about 9:45 to 10 am across Derwentwater to Hawse End. From the jetty the path climbs straight onto the north ridge of Catbells, with two short rocky steps near the top that need hands as well as feet. The summit, at 451 m, looks down the full length of the lake to Borrowdale, across to Skiddaw and Blencathra, and west over the Newlands valley. Starting on the first boat puts us on the ridge before the midday crowd. We drop to Hause Gate and down through the woods to the lakeshore path, then walk the shore to the next landing for the launch back to Keswick, about four hours in all. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the town, and the afternoon is free: the Pencil Museum, the Theatre by the Lake programme, or a walk to Friars' Crag.

   Included

   • Derwentwater launch from Keswick to Hawse End and back from the lakeshore
   • Guided walk over Catbells (451 m) and down to the Derwentwater shore
   • Sit-down lunch in Keswick

   Easier option: Skip the summit and walk the flat lakeshore path from Hawse End through the woods to the next landing, about 4 km, then the launch back.

   More active option: Carry on along the ridge from Hause Gate over Maiden Moor to High Spy and down to Grange, about 11 km and 5 to 6 hours, with a later lunch.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Keswick

   Activity: About 6 km and 3.5 to 4 hours, with about 350 m of ascent on a steep, rocky path and two short scrambly steps near the top.

   

6. Day 6: Grasmere, Loughrigg Terrace and Rydal Water

   Keswick to Grasmere, on foot round Rydal Water and back by the coffin route

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Keswick
   Day 6 details

   A half-hour drive south past Thirlmere brings us to Grasmere, the village Wordsworth called home. We walk out along the lake to Loughrigg Terrace, a broad path high above the water with one of the best-known views in the Lakes, looking back over Grasmere water to the fells. From the end of the terrace we contour round to Rydal Cave, a great hollow left by old slate quarrying where you can step inside over stepping stones, then down to the shore of Rydal Water. The return is by the old coffin route, the track along which the dead of Rydal were once carried to be buried at Grasmere, past White Moss and back into the village. It is about 9 km and four hours. After a sit-down lunch in Grasmere you can visit St Oswald's churchyard, where Wordsworth is buried, before the drive back. Tonight we share a farewell dinner in Keswick.

   Included

   • Guided walk: Loughrigg Terrace, Rydal Cave, Rydal Water and the coffin route
   • Sit-down lunch in Grasmere
   • St Oswald's churchyard and Wordsworth's grave
   • Farewell dinner in Keswick

   Optional experiences

   • Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum in Grasmere (extra, price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Take the van to White Moss and walk the flat path along Rydal Water and back, about 3 km, then meet the group in Grasmere for lunch.

   More active option: Climb from the terrace to the summit of Loughrigg Fell (335 m) for the view over Windermere, adding about an hour. In the evening, walk up Latrigg above Keswick for the sunset over Derwentwater.

   Free time: Late afternoon free before the farewell dinner

   Activity: About 9 km and 4 hours on good paths and tracks, with a steady climb of about 150 m to the terrace and some rough steps near Rydal Cave.

7. Day 7: Castlerigg and on to Penrith

   Keswick to Castlerigg Stone Circle, then Penrith station

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 7 details

   After a last breakfast in Keswick the van takes the bags and the group a couple of kilometres up the hill to Castlerigg Stone Circle, a ring of 38 standing stones raised about 4,500 years ago on a plateau with fells on every side: Skiddaw and Blencathra to the north, Helvellyn to the east. We go early, while it is quiet and the light is low. From there it is about half an hour east on the A66 to Penrith, where we arrive at the station by about 11 am. Penrith is on the West Coast Main Line, with direct trains south to London Euston in about three and a half hours, north to Glasgow and Edinburgh, and to Manchester Airport in about two hours. Your guide sees you onto your train before saying goodbye. If you fly home today, book a flight from Manchester leaving after about 4 pm.

   Included

   • Castlerigg Stone Circle with your guide
   • Drop-off at Penrith station by about 11 am

   Activity: Book onward trains from Penrith after about 11:30 am, and flights from Manchester Airport after about 4 pm.

Wildlife and weather: May and June bring the longest days and fewer midges; July and August are busiest in Keswick and on Catbells; September is quieter with the heather out. Rain is possible on any day, so the walks can be swapped.

• Newcastle upon Tyne1 night
• Hexham2 nights
• Keswick3 nights