In July 2025, some colleagues and I (Danny Briere, Noah Lenz, and Rick Cleary, most of whom are on the advisory board for my company), decided to hike the 85 miles of Hadrian’s Wall, which legend says is the wall the Romans built to keep the ‘barbarians’ of Scotland away from ‘proper’ England. This turned out to be kind of untrue, but that didn’t stop us from having an incredible hike.
This hike was my first experience with long-term hiking, and you can see on my public walking pedometer page that big spike in July 2025. I ended up clocking 191,508 steps — at 2,000 steps per mile, that’s 95 miles of walking!
Arriving In Newcastle
Hiking from Wallsend to Newburn
Since the wall technically begins (or ends) at Wallsend, a little east of Newcastle, we loaded into an Uber and started at the proper beginning of the trail. We got our Hadrian’s Wall passports and walked back to Newcastle, and through the city onto where we were staying for the first night, Newburn, at The Keelman.
Hiking from Newburn to East Wallhouses
Newburn to East Wallhouses was a relatively easy day compared to what was coming up later in the journey. This was the first day where we had no urban environment at all; just following the military road. We passed through a golf course which was kind of fun, but none of Hadrian’s Wall to be found yet (apparently to protect it, it was buried! That’s why only portions of it are visible, more towards the middle of the hiking path (about 30 miles in!)
We spent the night at Robin Hood Inn, with some great food.
Hiking from East Wallhouses to Cholleford
This was another relatively easy day, which set the incorrect expectation for how easy the rest of the trip would be (as it turns out, this was the final day that would be relatively pleasant the entire way through.)
Hiking to Cholleford allowed us some time to visit the Chesters Roman Fort and to explore the relatively small town of Cholleford (there were two places to eat outside of our hotel (The George Hotel) — one was open from 8am to 12pm on weekdays, and the other just decided not to open on the day we visited.
As we were prepping for the next day at dinner, we realized that we had 15 miles ahead of us, it was looking like it would be the hottest day of the trip, and we’d need to leave before breakfast. So Danny and I made a grocery run to the nearby large town of Hexham, to grab supplies for breakfast the next day so we could leave as early as possible.
Hiking from Cholleford to Once-Brewed
As promised, we set out at 6:30am, fog still in the air, to tackle our biggest day yet. This turned out to be a fantastic idea; hiking in the cool air was a welcome reprieve.
Once-Brewed is the ‘village’ (term used very loosely) closest to the famous Sycamore Gap tree which was cut down a few years back. We happened to be in the area the same day the two perpetrators were sentences to jail for the crime.
We stayed at the famous Twice-Brewed Inn, which had very expensive (but still delicious) food and drink. Very odd service from the wait staff, but the owners couldn’t be nicer! Danny and Noah went to Vindolanda, but I was so tired and sore from the day that I hung behind.
Hiking from Once-Brewed to Lanercost
Another terribly long day greeted us on the trek from Once-Brewed to Lanercost. We stopped for lunch, a fantastic Sunday Roast from Gilsland, from The Samson Inn, but that was the only reprieve from another long and hard day.
Thankfully, what awaited us in Lanercost was worth the hike. We had the pleasure of staying at the Abbey Farm House, run by the incomparable Charlotte. She is one of my favorite people I’ve met on my travels, and everyone should stay with her (I’m going back to England and making a detour specifically to spend a night or two with her again.)
Breaking Into The Lanercost Priory
Hiking from Lanercost to Carlisle
With two days left in the hike, our otherwise fantastic weather took a turn for the worse! Halfway through our journey from Lanercost to Carlisle, it started pouring cats and dogs.
This designated the end of the journey for me: there was another day after arriving in Carlisle to hike another 15 miles to Bowness-on-Solway, but the itinerary also showed a day of downpouring rain so I made the decision to stay in Carlisle for the day and explore the various offerings they had available. Fans of Lennox Mutual will note The Citadel, while normal people will appreciate everything else.
Final Thoughts
I’d absolutely do this hike again and highly recommend it. It was actually Danny’s second time doing it; he did it from West to East in 2023 and we did it the other way this time. So there’s definitely repeatability here.
We booked through Maximum Adventure and were very happy with the choice of hotels and path that was given to us.