Hiking Hadrians Wall - May

[Bushcraftsman]

Hey guys.

Me and a few others are planning on hiking the 87 miles of hadrians wall in may and just looking for some pointers from someone who has done it already.

Should we go E -> W or W -> E ? Best place to start?

We'll be camping all the way along not bothering with campsites so obviously we need to stop to refuel/restock etc are there plenty places to get more food and fill up water supplies?

Is there enough secluded spots to be kept hidden when camping? (Obv we will have no fires)

What sort of timescale do you think we'll be looking at. Taking a leisurely pace, and stopping to look at like ruins and castles etc. We also want to enjoy the camping aspect as well as the hiking.

Any other pointers or recommendations? If you dont want to oublicise any information feel free to PM me!

Cheers
Regards

Jordan

 

[Shewie]

My mate did it last June in that scorching hot week we had, he did it E to W and wishes he'd done it the other way. He planned to wild camp all the way but just ended up using the little campsites instead. From memory I think he took five days with plenty of exploring, pub meals etc.

 

[Fjord]

I've done it with a couple of friends. We went West -> East. The only problem with that was when we came to the end and one of the others turned around and said:

"We've walked all this time for a f***ing Lidl?". If I did it again I think I'd have to go East -> West. Get the ugly bit out of the way and then enjoy the scenery.

We carried kit and food and took - I think - 6 days of walking although we did have designated campsites. I'd probably say you need to put Steel Rig in on a slower day as we were all knackered! Unfortunately the write-up he did for that trip is on Facebook and not on his website; as a result I can't link it.

One other part we fell down on was that on our longest day (18 miles?) we stopped off at a tea room for an hour and half……….

 

[DaveBromley]

Im looking at doing it at the end of may too, so will watch this with interest

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[treadlightly]

I will be watching this with interest too. Have often thought about doing it.

 

[Dark Horse Dave]

I did it with friends years ago and went west to east, because for us it was preferable to get the more awkward bit of travel - ie to Bowness on Solway - out of the way at the start before we were knackered - plus we had a mate in Newcastle at the time to doss over at the end. Would agree that east to west is prettier though; there's not a lot at Wallsend, though we went right through to the coast.

We intended to camp all the way, and did with a mixture of wild + campsites + a night in a B&B over a pub, cos we couldn't quite be bothered to move at that time of the evening......

Set up in the garden of the pub in Bowness the first night - very obliging landlord! Watching the mist come in up the Solway the next morning was very memorable.

Plenty of places to replen en route.

A good trip; was knackered though, carried far too much of course - as you do when you're young and know no better!

 

[mousey]

In the new year resolution thread - DaveBromley said he was going to do this

this is what I wrote copied from that thread :-

Hadrians wall is a nice walk [I went from carlise train station to newcastle - so not the entire route ] can be busy on the bits which still have wall. Nice youth hostel at greenhead but IIRC if you go on the trail a little there is a castle/ tower type ruin which would have been good for a camp.

 

[spoony]

I did it a few years ago for HFH. If i was going to do it sgsin i would go west to east. (again) But i would miss the wallsend part, not very pretty, a big factor is the wind, east to west it will be in your face most of the trip, not much fun if it lashing down. West to east it will be on your back. The earlier/ later in the year the quieter it will be, i think we did it in march, and only saw a hand full of people on the wall the trip, helpful when your wild camping.

 

[John Fenna]

I did it the easy way - bunkhouses and gear taken around for you!
It is by far the best LDP going and everyone I met was fantastic.
PM me if you would like a copy of my log.

 

[Bushcraftsman]

I did it the easy way - bunkhouses and gear taken around for you!
It is by far the best LDP going and everyone I met was fantastic.
PM me if you would like a copy of my log.

That would be great thanks! The more information I can gather the better!

I think we plan on wild camping the majority of this route, only stopping in towns to resupply. In order to prevent us getting exhausted, not being ar**d to set up camp and getting a B&B I think we're going to try and make this trip Sunday to Sunday. Take our time, enjoy the camping aspect as much as the walking.

I think W -> E would seem the better way because of the prevailing winds, we all know what the weather can be like up there even in May it could be chucking it down, and if it is, I dont want that in my face! Also we will be getting the train from Derby to either start position, I guess getting a train back from newcastle to derby will be less hastle than the other side! Do buses run on sundays up there as I guess the train wont drop us off exactly where we want to start!

 

[greensurfingbear]

I used to be one of the rangers responsible for part of the hadrians wall trail. Can get pretty busy so I you're planning on using the bunk houses book ahead is my advice.


Orric