Hadrian's Wall Path · Stage 3
Walking time measured on the mapped line (TrailSplits time model, moving time; within 22 % on four in five test legs). Outside Switzerland our walking times often run short of the times route operators publish; treat them as optimistic. Climb measured on the mapped line, on terrain heights.
Onto the higher pasture of the central Wall to Steel Rigg: about 18.6 km on the route file, 19.5 km on our line. National Trails calls Chollerford to Birdoswald, 37 km over this section and the next, the hardest part of the trail: many short climbs and descents, and little shade. The beds at Once Brewed and Twice Brewed are few: book ahead.
Best season: May to October. National Trails recommends May to October, when the ground is normally dry and the buried archaeology is least at risk, the beds are open, the buses run and the trail passport is on sale (its season runs from Easter to the end of October). The trail is at its busiest in the main school holidays, from the end of July through August. The Solway marsh roads flood at high tides all year. Before you go
Facts read from the guide's sources and OpenStreetMap on 13 October 2026. A page can change after we read it, so confirm with your accommodation before you rely on a date or a bed.
Stage start
Town
A bridge over the North Tyne with a hotel. National Trails lists more beds a few kilometres off, round Humshaugh, Wall and Hexham, reached by the AD122 bus in its season.
A town or village: find accommodation yourself. TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
The George Hotel · Hotel
Season 2026: 2026 dates not published
Stage end
Trailhead
The car park below the crags. The beds are about 0.7 km south at Once Brewed and Twice Brewed, and few for so busy a place: book ahead.
Winshields Campsite and Bunk Barn · Hostel or bunkhouse
Season 2026: 2026 dates not published
No walking time is published for this leg. Measured on the mapped line, the stage takes about 5 h 23 of walking.
Make it your trip
There is no booking for the whole trail: book each night with its host. National Trails strongly recommends booking ahead, because beds fill quickly, and most of all in the main school holidays from the end of July through August. Its walking holiday companies page lists firms that carry bags and book the nights for you.
National Trails' six sections, a night at the end of each.
Plan this journeyFrom the Tyne to the crags of the central Wall in three sections.
Plan this journeyFrom the crags by Birdoswald and Carlisle to the Solway in three sections.
Plan this journeyLoading the forecast for low point (59 m) and high point (321 m)…
Typical weather on this stage: at the lowest point (59 m) and the highest point (321 m). Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.
| Month | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weather | Mixed | Mixed | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Mixed |
| High point, day / night | 6°/0° | 6°/0° | 8°/1° | 11°/3° | 14°/5° | 17°/8° | 19°/10° | 18°/10° | 16°/8° | 12°/5° | 8°/2° | 6°/0° |
| Low point, day / night | 7°/2° | 8°/1° | 10°/2° | 12°/4° | 16°/6° | 18°/9° | 20°/11° | 20°/11° | 17°/9° | 14°/6° | 10°/3° | 7°/1° |
| Rain, mm | 114 | 97 | 81 | 66 | 70 | 78 | 88 | 102 | 86 | 114 | 115 | 122 |
| Snow at high point | Possible | Possible | Frost | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | Possible |
| Daylight | 7 h 44 | 9 h 39 | 11 h 44 | 14 h 03 | 16 h 05 | 17 h 20 | 16 h 52 | 15 h 04 | 12 h 50 | 10 h 37 | 8 h 28 | 7 h 13 |
Source: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages. Averages for the area at each point’s elevation (4 km grid, corrected for height). Not a forecast or a report of current trail conditions. Snow at the high point is estimated with a simple snowpack model from these temperatures and precipitation, not observed; steep islands and high summits can hold more snow than it shows. Daylight is for the 15th of each month. Hut, transport and park seasons are separate: check them for your dates.
Before you go
Arrange your stays, food and travel first, then check conditions again near departure.
Dykesfield to Drumburgh and Port Carlisle to Bowness-on-Solway, on the last section, are at sea level and flood at high tides. Do not walk them from one hour before to one hour after a high tide of 9 m or more at Silloth: add one hour to Silloth's times in winter (GMT) and two hours in summer (BST). Boards at the Dykesfield cattle grid and at the east entrance to Bowness show the month's tides. National Trails' route description, read 13 October 2026.
National Trails: route descriptionA footbridge between Gilsland school and the railway has collapsed, on the Steel Rigg to Walton section. A signed diversion goes through the village: follow its signs, not our line, which still crosses the mapped footbridges. National Trails' notice, read 13 October 2026, gives no date.
National Trails: Gilsland diversionBetween Kirkandrews-on-Eden and Beaumont, west of Carlisle, a landslip into the Eden has closed the riverside path until further notice, and its gates are locked. A signed diversion follows a narrow road, and our line takes it. National Trails' notice, read 13 October 2026.
National Trails: Kirkandrews to Beaumont diversionThe underpass below the A689 north-west of Carlisle, between Knockupworth and Stainton, floods again and again. If it is flooded, do not try to cross the road above it: retrace your steps. National Trails' notice, updated 27 April 2026 and read 13 October 2026.
National Trails: possible flooding of the underpassChollerford to Birdoswald, 37 km, is the hardest part, National Trails says: many short climbs and descents and little shade. Steel Rigg to Walton is the longest section, about 27 km. The trail passport, stamped along the way from Wallsend to Bowness, is on sale from Easter to the end of October. Use National Trails' own pages for the trail: its old separate website address now belongs to someone else. Read 13 October 2026.
National Trails: Trail InformationGetting there
Travel around Chollerford to Steel Rigg.
Google Maps journey searches, not confirmed services. A mountain endpoint may need a booked transfer or an additional walk.
Newcastle has inter-city trains and National Express coaches. The start, Segedunum fort at Wallsend, is a 10-minute ride on the Tyne and Wear Metro from Newcastle station.
Nexus: Tyne and Wear MetroNorthern's Tyne Valley line from Newcastle to Carlisle stops at Corbridge, Hexham and Haltwhistle, 2 to 5 miles south of the Wall. The seasonal AD122 Hadrian's Wall bus links them with the Wall; National Trails says it runs daily, but we could not read its timetable: check it with Go North East.
National Rail: Hexham stationBowness has no car parking: National Trails asks walkers to arrive and leave by the No 93 bus. We could not read its timetable, so check it before you book your last night. Carlisle has inter-city trains and coaches.
National Trails: route descriptionTake your trip with you
Prepare each section while you still have a connection: the signal can be weak along the central Wall.
Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.
Saving a bookmark is not a map download. Storage can be cleared by your device; keep a backup map for remote trips.
Route & sources
National Trails describes the Hadrian's Wall Path as six sections, 84 miles (135 km) from Wallsend to Bowness-on-Solway, and publishes no stage times, nor a distance for each section: it suggests 6 or 7 days. Its route file measures 137.7 km. The line here is the route on OpenStreetMap (relation 38791, from the planet of 11 October 2026): 137.8 km, cut at the six section ends; the section lengths on National Trails' route file are within 0.9 km of ours. Between Kirkandrews-on-Eden and Beaumont, west of Carlisle, the riverside path is closed after a landslip, and the line follows the signed diversion on a narrow road. At Gilsland the line still crosses the mapped footbridges between the school and the railway, where a footbridge has collapsed: there, follow the Gilsland diversion signs through the village, not the line. Our climb is measured on terrain heights, so the short steep steps along the crags are smoothed out.
Official guidance and mapped-source comparison checked 13 October 2026. Map data is a route reference, not confirmation of today's path, weather or accommodation availability.
National Trails: Hadrian's Wall PathMap data © OpenStreetMap contributors · Source relation