I walked Hadrian's Wall with my husband and four friends during June 2025. This is an account of our eighth day on the trail.
When we left Corbridge and walked north to rejoin the Hadrian's Wall path, we didn't expect to see much different than we'd seen on the way down the previous day. After all, we were walking the same path! But we surprise ourselves.
Our first surprise was Walker's Pottery, just north of town. The Old Pottery was a small family business, in operation from 1840 until 1910.
It produced firebricks, earthenware, tiles, pipes and agricultural wares using clay from a pit near the site.
The pottery is on private property, but the owners were gracious enough to allow the public access from 9am until 4pm through a pedestrian gate and footpath.
A lot of the original buildings still stand here. two horizontal kilns, one down draught kiln are beyond the area open to the public, but the two bottle shaped kilns were accessible. There are only 44 of these structures left in the country.
After that, we passed Aydon Castle, a fortified manor house that's part of the English Heritage holdings.
The website had said that the castle was open, and that we could buy tickets online or when we arrived. However, we found the place locked up, and no one around to let us in. We peeked through a crack in the door, then were on our way.
The English Heritage Website seems to indicate that Aydon Castle is closed until they develop a new reservation system.
We then passed Halton Castle again. We'd passed it on the way south, but not stopped. This time, we walked through the cemetery and little chapel. Halton Castle is an example of a pele tower, a small fortified keep or tower house. Its first mention in the record is from 1382. The pele tower has four stories and a basement with a stone vault. There was another pele tower back in Corbridge. It was the home of the local priest, but is now a pub.
The chapel was a separate building. It is small, and probably could seat 20 people, but it clearly remains in use.
We finished the day at The Robin Hood Inn, in the town of Wallhouses. This Inn is one of the places we
had to go to get our Hadrian's Wall Passports stamped. It is an old fashioned pub and dates from 1752. We were not able to get rooms in the building itself, but they've erected little cabins out back, each of which has two twin beds and a small bathroom. They also allow tents on their lawn. I don't know if we were early in the season, or if the rains kept the tents at bay, but there were none the night we were there.
I'd gotten a northern lights alert on my phone and was hopeful to see something spectacular. Alas, the whole night was cloudy, dark, and gray.
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