Built in AD 122, Hadrian’s Wall traverses 84 miles of England’s north country. A fortification marking the northern reaches of Roman Emperor Hadrian’s realm, it crosses hills and dales through Northumberland and Cumbria, from Wallsend near Newcastle in the east to Bowness-on-Solway at its westernmost location. As a defensive border, its years were short as Hadrian’s successor pushed the line further north; however, markets and villages grew up in its shadow. Over the centuries, locals pilfered stones and the harsh weather diminished its architecture until only about ten miles of the actual Wall remain. Hadrian’s Wall Path, with its remnants of the Wall interspersed with forts and milecastles, became a World Heritage Site in 1987, and was named a British National Trail in 2003.

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We begin our trek after visiting the museum and minimally excavated fort in Wallsend. For the next seven days, we walk the trail, crossing rivers, admiring gardens, navigating through gates, and climbing over stiles. We count milecastles and stone bridges and sunsets. We dodge sheep and border collies, and avoid the farmyards with “Danger! Bull!” warnings. We wade ankle-deep in wet fields. We gasp in awe at the hues of the landscape, at the Sycamore Gap Tree of Robin Hood fame, at Chesters Fort (and especially its bath houses), at the Temple of Mithras. We overnight in a manor house turned hotel with a four-poster bed and fireplace in our room, in a bed-and-breakfast in a renovated pigs’ sty (complete with homemade organic soap, lavender bath salts, and melt-in-your-mouth shortbread), and a tiny inn above a restaurant. (The church across the street is celebrating its 350th anniversary, and wakes us early and optimistically with its pealing bells.)

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Above it all, we hear the land! The wind blows strong. The dappled sunlight highlights the remaining stones of Hadrian’s marker. The hills and the valleys endure. The Wall – its trace - is a steadfast backdrop to our hike through time. When the notorious British weather inevitably descends and mist shortens our vista, we thankfully spy a tiny pop-up tea stand in a parking lot, where a warm cup and biscuit hearten our remaining miles.

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