Walking the Wall: Day One, Bowness-on-Solway to Carlisle

 

In June 2025, my husband, five friends, and I walked the length of Hadrian's Wall. We'd decided to walk west to east, with the prevailing winds at our backs, and so we'd taken a bus to Bowness-on-Solway the evening before and spent the night  at the Shore Gate House, a lovely B&B run by Dave and Lucy, two of the kindest people you'd ever hope to meet. After an excellent full British breakfast in their sunny dining room, we headed out to begin our walk. 

The reason Bowness-on-Solway is the western end of the Hadrian’s Wall Trail is that it was where the wall ended. Defenses continued for another 40 miles down the coast, but although there were turrets and a milecastle, there was wall. A Roman fort called Maia controlled this western terminus of the wall. It was the second largest fort on the Wall,boasting an area of 5.8 (some sources say 7) acres, and was 616 ft. long and 420 ft. wide. The first fort was, like the wall in this area, built of turf and wood. Both the fort and the wall were later rebuilt in stone. Maia was an important fort, because it guarded the western shore and is at the furthest western point  that the Firth can be forded. The fort is almost completely buried under the modern village and there are no visible remains.

Our first stop was at the Banks Promenade, where we got our first stamp on our National Trail Hadrian's Wall Passport and took our starting picture. We had to take a selfie, which is no mean feat for a group of six, because there was no one around to take our picture. Then we began our longest day -- a walk of close to 16 miles. 

 The first part of the walk was along the coast of the firth, and we saw some signs warning us that the road could be under a foot of water during high tides. (Dave, our host in Bowness has assured us that the water wouldn't get close to the road, and he was, to our great relief, correct. We did see cattle being herded along the waterfront, and could look across the water to Scotland on the other side. 

Sometime of the trail was along roads and some went through fields. The trail got quite muddy in places, but we were never lost. Hooray for good signage! As long as we saw an acorn, we knew we were going in the right direction. 

We passed through  the hamlet of Drumburgh (pronounced Drum Bruff), where we encountered our first Honesty Shack. Honesty Shacks are little places set up by the locals that offer hikers snacks. Some (like this one) have a roof so it’s a respite from the rain and a few (like this one) have a toilet and a sink for filling water bottles. Others are nothing more than a cooler set out by the curb. None of them are manned: they trust you to be honest and put some money into a provided tin if you eat something. There are honesty shacks all along the first half of the walk, and I found them enchanting.

Drumburgh also has a castle, which is really not a castle at all. It's a 14th century a pele, or tower house. These were built to protect people and their good from reivers, people who came from over the firth to steal. It has extremely thick walls built with stones taken from Hadrian’s Wall, and the first floor was used as a barn, to protect cattle. 

We ate our sack lunches on a picnic table in a park in Burgh-by-Sands, a little town with a lot to recommend it. The Greyhound Inn was right next to the park, and looked to have nice offerings. Also in the park was a statue of Edward I of England, sometimes called "The Hammer of the Scots." Bus 93 passes through, so people who are too tired to go on can catch a ride back to Carlisle or to Bowness-on-Solway. Burgh-by-Sands was once the site of a Roman fort named Aballava, but all its stones have been taken and used in other building projects. 

Next, we stopped at St. Michael’s church, which is largely built of stones from Hadrian's wall. It is also where King Edward's body lay after he died  in 1307 while on his way to war against the Scots.

Sometime after that, the firth narrowed into a river, which we followed into Carlisle. It was a pretty walk, and we could tell by traffic noises that we were leaving the country and coming into an urban area. We walked through a nice city park in the last few miles, and ended at the Sands Center by Eden Bridge, where we were able to get our passport stamped once again.

We were tired by the time we got to Carlisle, and we knew that the next leg of our journey was also a long one, so we were glad that we'd seen the sites in this lovely town before we began our wall walk. 

Jennifer Bohnhoff is a retired middle school and high school English and History teacher, and the author of 13 novels. Most of her writing is historical fiction and is written for middle grade readers and above. She is currently at work on a story set in Roman Britain.