seeing Hadrian's Wall
 

We were planning to take a tour to Hadrian's Wall while at Windermere and then going from the Lakes to York, but the tour no longer takes place. We can do a rail/bus trip to Vindolanda & Housestaeds, but it makes a very long day. I was wondering if it would be better to spend two nights in Haltwhislte or Hexham to get a full day at the wall w/o taking much travel time.

Whether we start from Windermere or elsewhere, we'll still go to York after the wall visit.

Hi sallyky,

I visited the Wall last month by taking a day tour from Edinburgh. I knew it would be only a quick visit to the Wall (it was, only about an hour actually there), but I wanted to at least see it on my one-week trip.

As you say, you can do a visit using a long travel day or stay local. To stay in the area and be able to use the AD122 bus for a more relaxed visit will definitely be my next trip to Hadrian's Wall.

Cheers.

My recommendation would be to stay in Haltwhistle. There is a great 4* B&B in the village and places to dine. I did the bus as well as taxi. Good rail service as well.

I know you are planning your whole trip by public transport --but if you <i>could</i> bring yourselves to rent a car for a day you could <u>very</u> easily tour all of Hadrian's Wall as a day trip from Windermere. There is hardly any traffic along the Wall so it is an easy drive.

If that is just too awful to contemplate :) - then you really should spend the night in Haltwhistle or Hexham. You could spend 2 nights - but really 1 night is all you would need.

But honestly - renting a car for the day would be better.

Has anyone seen the &quot;No handball&quot; signs on tha wall?

I did &quot;just happen&quot; to point out at length to my DH the steps it would take to go by rail/bus, as well as the 3.5 hrs one way, as per traveline, as compared to appx. 1.5-2 by car, and of course the freedom to go as we pleased. He says maybe we can rent a car for that. We'll see. :-)

We'd like to see Vindolanda and Housesteads as well as walk the 3 miles or so from Housesteads to Steel Rigg or Once Brewed, and we're pokey walkers, so that's why I was thinking two nights. And I'm thinking the journey to Hexham was about 5 hrs, but I could well be wrong on that.

But I just realized, we could do the museums/fort one day and the walk the other and then go on to York that same day. OTOH, after some checking, I see Haltwhistle and Hexham both look rather nice in their own right and might be nice for a stay in any case. Hard choices, but I'm thinking any of it will turn out wonderful.

Thanks for the help. Fodorites are fantastic!

I can strongly recommend this b&amp;b in Halstwhistle

www.ashcroftguesthouse.co.uk

We toured the area by car- and I can't imagine how inconvenient buses would be - delaying you and preventing you from seeing everything.

(We started out from York early in the am, spent the bulk of the day touring the wall area and ended up in Edinburgh in time for dinner.)

The walk along the wall is amazing - its just beautiful country, and to think of those soldiers posted there at the edge pretty much of nowhere. We had an afternoon of walking the wall and visiting housesteads fort - Id say that was enough for a good feel.

Durham is well worth a stop if you are headed east and south. the Cathedral is remarkable.