Hadrian's Wall walk & best views: Route from Steel Rigg to Housesteads, via Sycamore Gap.

Sycamore Gap on this Hadrian's Wall Walk - one of the most iconic and best Hadrian's Wall views on this stunning and historic short walk. This blog post tells you all you need to know to plan the best part of Hadrian's wall to walk. Including where the best views are, map route and photos of what to expect. 

Hadrian's Wall Walk: The best bits on this walk:

The view towards Housesteads Roman Fort is stunning and a must-see Hadrian's Wall view and is one of Britain's best views on this short 3 mile Hadrian's Wall walk.

This impressive view on this Hadrian;s Wall walk gives a real sense of the rugged, rolling Northumbrian landscape that Hadrian's Wall covers and what a superb section of the wall it is to walk.

Hadrian's Wall walk overview to that takes in the best views:

Hadrian's Wall Walk Distance: 3.2  miles 

(If you get the Hadrian's Wall bus back from Housesteads to the Car Park)

Time: 2 hours

Walk Difficulty: Easy to Moderate

There are a few little hills to climb on the path - but it's suitable for reasonably fit adults and children 6+)

Hadrian's Wall Walk - the best bits

Map route of this 3 mile section of Hadrian's Wall to Walk

Being 73 miles long and originally stretching from coast-to-coast, it can be a bit daunting for the first time visitor knowing how and where to visit Hadrian's Wall. However, some of the best views of Hadrian's Wall can be seen in this relatively short, slightly hilly, walk of around 3 miles (if you take the frequent bus service back to the car park).

I've done this walk a number of times now, sometimes with kids (if they can manage 3 miles!) and it's perfect for the tourist visitor who doesn't have much time on their hands. The best bit of Hadrian's wall to walk, is west to east from Steel Rigg to Housesteads (see map below), and then you can explore Housteads Roman Fort at the end of the walk and get a drink :-)

(Click map image to enlarge) The Ordnance Survey map of the best Hadrians wall walk (route highlighted in yellow) - the Hadrian's wall path is identified with the diamonds on the green dotted line. I parked at The Sill: National Landscape Discovery Centre (Postcode NE47 7AN) and walked a short section of the wall from Steel Rigg to Housesteads Roman Fort, west to east. The frequent & punctual bus service (£1.20) was my preferred way to get back from Housesteads to Once Brewed! You can do a circular walk if you wish (and maybe take in Vindolanda on the way back) - but obviously this doubles the distance/time.

This Hadrian's Wall walk starts at the car park at The Sill Discovery Centre at Once Brewed in Northumberland. It's worth a look here as it contains exhibitions, events, cafe, shop selling local produce and even a Youth Hostel. You can find out more here www.thesill.org.uk

Hadrian's Wall - a Very Brief History…

Construction by the Romans began around 122 AD under the instructions of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. It stretches 73 miles across Northern England from the Solway Firth on the West Coast to Wallsend in the East Coast and at the time all land south of the wall was part of the Roman Empire. Apparently the wall originally was around 16-20ft high in many parts (see photoshopped image below), but now not much of it is left in terms of height - being only a few feet high in places.

A photoshopped image found on the internet (link here) of how high the original Hadrian's Wall was and how Hadrian's Wall must have looked when it was built. Don't get too excited it's only a few feet high now....

Despite popular opinion, there is still no agreement on why the wall was built, some believe it was built to keep the "Barbarians" north of the wall at bay (Scotland as a term had not yet existed - these so-called Barbarians were the Picts and the Celts). Some scholars say those north of the border where not much of a threat really and it could be more likely the wall was just built to reflect the power of Rome and how far its Empire stretched.

The full Hadrian's Wall Route from coast to coast. My walk was only a very short part of this, covering the best, most scenic route, and began at the 'Once Brewed' point on the map above.

Here's what to expect!

Photos from this short Hadrian's Wall walk and the best views

The stretch of Hadrian's Wall covered below is on the Hadrian's Wall path from Steel Rigg to Housesteads, as shown in the map above. For a walk of about 3 miles I don't think there are many better or more interesting in the whole of the UK. Below are a few photos I took on my walk to give you a glimpse of what to expect and to help you plan your walk (everybody has got to visit Hadrian's Wall at least once!)

This is where we got on the actual Hadrian's Wall path at Steel Rigg and we head east.

The first time we glimpse Hadrian's Wall on this walk, going up East towards Peel Crags. We would now follow a path next to the wall for just under 3 miles and you can see some of the hills you will have to walk up.

View from the summit of Peel Crags looking back, towards Winshield Crags

Walking east along Peel Crags to Milecastle 39

Coming down the hill to Milecastle 39

First glimpse of Sycamore Gap, one of the best views on Hadrian's Wall.

Sycamore Gap, Hadrians Wall

One of the most popular, most photographed and best images of Hadrian's Wall is Sycamore Gap, made famous in the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves film. Now most of us know Robin Hood was supposed to be from the Nottingham area, but I guess the director took a bit of creative license and filmed in locations all over the North of England - whilst giving the impression it was all in the same place!

The iconic Sycamore Gap on Hadrian's Wall and one of the best views on this walk.

Where is Sycamore Gap on Hadrian's Wall?

Before I had visited Sycamore Gap for the first time I had seen lots of photos of the place, but I had no idea where it was on the wall. It was also hard to figure out, even searching the web, exactly where it was - so I hope to shed some light on it's location for anyone else planning a visit!

Sycamore Gap is located just to the east of Milecastle 39 (maybe only 100m or so) - if you look at the map at the top of this page - Milecastle 39 is to the east of Steel Rigg - and to be exact on the map above, Sycamore Gap is actually just above the 'L' on the text 'MILECASTLE 39' - so not far at all from Milecastle 39. The closest place to park to sycamore gap is Steel Rigg car park or Once Brewed Car Park) - and it's about a 15minute walk east from these car park's to sycamore gap.

Sycamore Gap is definitely a good place to stop on this Hadrian's Wall walk fro a rest and a bite to eat!

We get back on the path and leave Sycamore Gap behind

Heading up to Highshield crags looking back to Sycamore Gap, Peel Crags and Windshield Crags in the distance

Now the walk follows the side of Crag Loch

A rare bit of shelter from the wind

Looking back over Crag loch with Windshield Crags in the far distance

The track now goes up beside Hotbank Farm House

This was one of the best views of the day on Hadrians Wall and you can see pretty much the entire route the walk along the wall has covered so far.

This impressive view gives a real sense of the rugged, rolling Northumbrian landscape that Hadrian's Wall covers and what a superb section of the wall it is to walk.

Heading east right besides Hadrian's Wall towards Housesteads Roman Fort with Broomlee Loch now in sight

There are quite a few ups and downs on this Hadrian's wall walk but nothing too strenuous

I didn't realise the Pennine Way came this far North. But on this walk we stay on the Hadrian's Wall route :-)

Heading towards Housesteads Roman Fort -  if you are looking for a classic Hadrian's Wall view and one of the best bits on the Hadrian's wall walk, then this view is it. This particular view is my own favourite view of Hadrian's wall and indeed one of my best UK view's - it makes for a great photo and is a nice place to stop and soak in the view

Another photo of my favourite Hadrian's Wall view - I told you I like it :-)

The only part of the wall you can actually walk on as you approach Housesteads Roman Fort

We're nearing the end of the walk now right on top of Hadrian's Wall and approaching Housesteads Roman Fort...

Housestead's Roman Fort:

The end of this particular Hadrian's Wall walk finishes at Housesteads Roman Fort which is really well preserved and worth a good look round. Here you can see the remains of the Granary. The pillars supported a raised wooden floor to keep the food dry. 

How Housesteads Roman Fort will have looked at the end of the third century

Also at Housesteads is a visitor centre and a cafe to get a bite to eat and a drink. It is from Housesteads where you can also get the Hadrian's Wall bus (see details below) back to the Once Brewed Visitor Centre car park and is what we did on this walk to keep it shorter.

Information on Hadrian's Wall Bus (HWD Bus AD122)

In this walk we got a bus back to the carpark at Once Brewed Visitor Centre from Housesteads, this saved us having to retrace out steps along the wall or walk back another way. If you want to see as much of the actual wall as possible, then a liner walk is probably best as you can go further, and the bus is very useful to get back to where you started! I found information on the bus service here (The bus you want is the HWD Bus AD122 - it departs roughly hourly - but check the exact times first using this link http://hadrianswallcountry.co.uk/travel/bus )

Vindolanda & the Roman Army Museum

If you have more time I would recommend checking out these 2 separate nearby places as there is a lot to see and it lets you find out more about Hadrians Wall. (The distance between the 2 places is a 10/15 minute drive). At the Roman army museum you can watch a 3D film about Hadrian's wall called Edge of Empire, which gives you a taste of what the wall was like in Roman times. The film is on for 20 mins or so and runs every 30mins - view more info here www.vindolanda.com/doorway-articles/edge-of-empire-3d-film

You can buy a ticket for either place or one ticket costing a bit more which gets you access to both places. More info can be found here www.vindolanda.com

I hope you have found this blog post useful!

I really recommend a walk on this must-see section of the wall - as it offers in my opinion the best of what Hadrian's wall has to offer, and it's one of the best walks in England for that matter so I hope this blog post inspires you to want to visit it.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions - just post a comment and I'll try and answer. 

Post by Stuart Hodgson 

'The Hiking Photographer'

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