The Hadrian’s wall path is a popular tourist destination. Every year several hundred thousand visitors visit the wall. However, tourist numbers have been steadily falling in the past decade. As a result, the counties through which the wall runs realised that they needed to offer visitors more.
Over the years, at various points of the wall, additional Roman exhibitions and events have been put on. These have proved quite popular with people who visit Hadrian’s Wall with many visitors taking in the exhibitions as well. Sadly, they do not seem to have brought in more visitors overall. Therefore, the local tourism authorities involved in running the wall decided to put together a proper path to run alongside the wall in its entirety.
Details of the Hadrians Wall Path
The Hadrians wall path opened, in its entirety, in 2003. It is one of 15 National Trails run by Natural England and the Countryside Council for Wales.
The path runs from Wallsend on the east coast to Bowness-on-Solway, which is located on the west coast. The path is 84 miles long. It largely follows the route of the wall and passes through some really beautiful countryside. However, sections of the walk also pass through suburbs of the cities of Newcastle and Carlisle. Dotted along the path are several villages and farms.
The walk is not particularly taxing; at its highest, the route only reaches 1,130 feet. However, it is muddy in places, and walkers are encouraged, by the authorites, to walk the path in the summer rather than the winter. They are worried that too many people walking the path during the winter will permanently scar what is a pristine landscape.
Preparing to Walk the Hadrians Wall Path
If you want to walk the Hadrian’s wall path it is a good idea to do a little research. If you want to walk the whole path, you will need six or seven days to do so. Some people walk it in portions over several weekends. Restarting their walk each weekend at the point they left off the previous weekend. There are plenty of lovely places to stay en-route.
To find out more about the Hadrians wall path visit the Mickledore website. They offer a range of holiday packages of between 3 and 10 days for those who want to walk the path.
