In this post, I cover my walk along the Pennine Way and Hadrian's Wall Walk to Milecastle 39 and Sycamore Gap from Steel Rig car park (and back again). The walk is a breathtaking one with plenty of amazing views from the Pennine Way, which follows the top of the cliffs. With several months of lockdown and getting absolutely no exercise at all during that time (there's nowhere for me to walk to, plus I worked the whole time), I was completely out of shape. It is do-able to Sycamore Gap and back, but the first hill particularly is a slog, and even walking back on the more level route required a hefty slope, but at least it was not near-vertical steps. So, be cautious.
The route started at the top of the hill in Steel Rigg car park, which is managed by Northumberland council, and visitors need to pay to park, but the pay covers three hours initially. From the car parking, a footpath descends down the hill into a valley.
The below is the bottom of the valley, where there is the Roman Wall in front of you and "Peel Gap Tower" remains, which isn't noticable until you have started to climb the steep hill.
The steps up are vertical in places with promising views. It's hard work to climb, but it is worth it. It's also not one-way as you have to hug the sides in order for other groups to go around you.
This is a view from the top with amazing views and the tower remains below.
Further along and on the top of the ridge of the cliff hill are a few remains of a turret or watchtower. It would have been a good place for a viewing or signalling tower here at one of the topmost points along this section of wall.
This is the Pennine Way walking trail. There are a couple of more hills to climb and descend before approaching Milecastle 39, one of the Roman strongholds along the wall.
It's quite clear why they built a tower hill. The enemy could not scale the cliffs we walked up, but this Milecastle is nestled between two hills with easier access for enemies. This is a pretty decent-scale Milecastle. They built these every couple of miles along the wall.
You can see that there may have been a weakness here that they wanted to defend from the people on the other side of the wall, north of the wall.
On the top of this hillside are more amazing views with Sycamore Gap coming into view. This area of the wall is named such because it is a valley with a lone sycamore tree growing up. I did not realise it at the time, but this setting was used in "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves" starring Kevin Costner.
This is a fairly steep hill to climb down. It's a stone footpath so mind your step in wet weather. I'm sure these stones could bang you up really well if you make a mistake.
This is really a picturesque place. There are cattle grazing here too.
At the bottom of the hill / valley in front of Sycamore Gap is the Hadrian's Wall Walk, a more level walk. Instead of climbing back up the hills, I walked this route back. There was one area where it was difficult to navigate if you're not wearing the right footwear because it is a spring and is quite muddy. Again, be careful on the rocks though there are not as many on this trail. On the other side, you will arrive at the road where you must walk along the road and back up the hill, which is fairly steep and tiresome if you're not in shape. There are views and more cattle, and from here, you can see the Roman Wall along the cliff. The wall would have stood as high as a three-storey building (at least in places), but the wall crumbled or was removed to harvest the stones for farmhouses and other buildings over the years. A shame really...
One suggestion would be to start the walk on Hadrian's Wall Walk, which is a more level walk and an easier one without hill climbs. There is one place where there is a spring, so boots are recommended for this section. If I could do the walk again, I would walk to Sycamore Gap on this walk and then walk down via the Pennine Way, although the first steep hill is quite high so I am not sure how comfortable it would be if you suffer from vertigo or a fear of heights. I know a couple people coming down the hill struggled in one particular place because it was a bit narrow without anything to hold onto, and that was just a step or two. But, those views! They are amazing.
So, after the walk to Sycamore Gap and back, a hearty meal was needed. I'd booked the General Havelock Inn in Haydon Bridge. I was lucky to have booked because it filled up not long after I had arrived. (Due to coronavirus, they cannot accommodate as many visitors.) It turned out to be a little gem. I had the chicken pie, which was absolutely delicious. Apparently, it's one of their signature dishes too.
I did not sit outside, but the weather was nice and I could have done. It's not always comfortable to sit outside and eat because of insects, though if I was visiting for drinks, it would have been an amazing view. Of course, by that time, all of the seats were taken. I did briefly get to enjoy the view.
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