This is a walk that gives perfect views of one of Britain's ancient wonders, and illustrates clearly why it was built where it is.
The Roman Wall itself is enough for most people, but there are museums, milecastles and all sorts of other remains to be seen on this walk.The car park at Housesteads does tend to fill up at weekends and holiday times, so try to get there early, and have £4 in change ready. Don't complain about the price ... it's cheaper than NCP.

Ancient and modern ... Hadrian's Wall, built 2,000 years ago to keep the trouble-making Scots out, and a fresh pork pie. What would an ancient centurian have paid for such fare in these hostile surroundings?

Clockwise from top left: Crag Lough from the east, Sycamore Gap from the south, the path north of the Wall with Highshields Crags in the background and Hotbank Crags from the north.

Follow the wall path east up and down a few hills, through King Burn Gateway, where Romans collected a toll from those going through the wall. Climb the hill, keeping the Wall to you left, and go over a stile to follow the path. Don't worry about the big hill to the north east. That's Sewingshields, and as the path turns left/north, you leave it over the Wall, via a step stile.

Follow the path west, with Houseteads high on the left and Broomlee Lough to your right. At the fork, bear right to head for a small plantation (amazingly not marked on OS map), going through it via a stile at each side. Stay with the clear path, the Wall high up to your left showing how well the site was chosen all those years ago.

You'll cross the Pennine Way, pass a ruined kiln on your right, and keep going ahead with a plantation to your left. Greenlee Lough is occasionally visible to your right, and you'll also notice in a gap half a mile or so to your left, a lone tree. That is the famous Sycamore Gap. The old tree is showing its age and a new one has been planted nearby. This is the spot made more famous by Kevin Kostner in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, when he landed his boat near Dover and then miraculously appeared immediately at Hadrian’s Wall, en route to Nottingham. He clearly needed satnav.

Stay with the path as it curves left past a very low waymarker, then with a farm gate in front of you, turn right over a stile and again follow the path west, the beautiful Crag Lough at the foot of the cliffs on which the Wall was built. You'll pass a couple of barns, the ruins of Peatrigg and then Peatrigg Plantation all to your right.

When you come to the  minor road, turn left and follow it up, past a car park, and then down to the Military Road, and turn right for the Twice Brewed Inn.
You'll be surrounded by tourists as you take your libations, but suitably refreshed, retrace your steps north on the minor road, and at the first stile on your right, take to the fields. You have a choice now ... up the steps of Steel Rigg, which become more difficult with every pint you've had, or bear right and take the gentler track that follows the line of the Wall to the south.

The climb up Steel Rigg is both the Hadrian's Wall Path and the Pennine Way and as you head east, it provides great views, and lots of ups and downs, including Sycamore Gap.

The other path is less cruel, but affords less good views. But after just over two miles, both emerge at Housesteads, where you head back to the car park via the track you used at the start of the walk.