Hadrians Wall

Since you’ll have a car, I’ll throw out Hexham. It’s a fair sized town with plenty of restaurants and lodging choices.

As you have a car, it doesn’t matter too much where you stay. It will be very easy to get to anywhere you would like to visit. I really like Corbridge. It’s very a very pretty, large village set on the river Tyne. There’s the remains of the the old Roman town nearby. You’ll have a good choice of pubs and restaurants including The Valley which is a fantastic Indian restaurant.

I think the best section for walking is from Housesteads heading west. I have never done a long walk so not totally sure on this point!

We stayed in Haltwistle at the Ashcroft Guest house. Very nice place and more or less centrally located for access to the various museums and sights. There are not really a lot of lodging options in that area and Ashcroft seemed the nicest. Owners were very helpful and breakfast was great. As you have probably already concluded an car is essential but the major sights are not really far apart. Consider an early visit to the Roman Army museum for an overview. Also, if you are there several days consider the weather. We almost got blown off the wall at Housesteads and were soaked to the bone by the time we got down to the car despite having good goretex gear. The wind blew the rain around the edges of my hood.

Enjoy your trip. The area is fascinating.

Are you thinking about having a central spot, and driving (or walking) east and west from that spot? We walked the entire length of the wall’s route, starting at the western edge, but there’s not much surviving wall remaining to see, east of Carlisle. Over the last 1,900 years, locals dismantled the wall to build their own wall and buildings. We had our luggage transferred to each next B&B for the night, and the one place we stayed 2 nights was by Once Brewed, north of Bardon Mill (at Old High Shield Cottage), but you might look for any place between Haltwhistle and Hexam. With a car, you could even stay closer to Newcastle upon Tyne, and venture from there.

The places we spent the night, before continuing onward to follow the path of the wall, were: Boustead Hill, Crosby on Eden, Banks, Once Brewed, Hexham, Halton, Heddon-on-the-Wall, and Newcastle. Pick one or more.

Peter Carney did such a fabulous job of making the wall come alive for us that I always like to recommend him. We spent a day with him getting oriented, learning about the wall and going to Vindolanda. It was time well spent. We then spent the next three days walking portions of the wall that he had suggested. We now knew what we were looking at and walking by the wall was so much more meaningful.
https://www.hadrianswall-walk.com/

PS I found out recently that the Ashcroft Guest House (suggested in another post) has been sold and is no longer in business

Oh yes, whatever time of year you need all the gear for walking. Full waterproofs. The wall is very exposed and this far north the weather can be wet, windy and cold all year round. They do get some nice weather there though so you could be lucky!

A vote for Haltwhistle, a small and very friendly town just south of the wall.

Unfortunately Ashcroft Guest House in Haltwhislte which was recommended by Robbie has been sold and no longer does B&B. Try the Old School House instead, which gets consistently good reviews.

Haltwhistle is more centrally situated for all the sites. There is a lovely walk up Haltwhistle Burn that takes you to the B3618 and to the wall. (Call in at the Milecastle Inn on the way!) Walk east from Cawfields Picnic site. There is a ruined milecastle and the wall is about 3' high along this stretch. There are 360` views across Northumberland too. This is less busy than the section of wall around Housesteads.

Housesteads Roman Fort (don't miss the latrines!) is a must. The most popular stretch of wall to walk is west from Housesteads Roman Fort. This follows the crest of the Whin Sill past Housesteads milecastle to Hotbanks and above Crag Lough for wonderful views to the car park at Steel Rigg. For a slightly quieter walk, walk east from Housesteads. Drop down to the Nag Burn and then follow the line of the wall as it climbs up Sewingshields Crags. According to the legend this is one of the places King Arthur is buried...

Vindoland is well worth a visit. This is the site of a provisions fort to the south of the wall and had a big civilian settlement which has been excavated. It has an excellent museum with a display of all the artefacts found during excavations. There is also a full size reconstruction of the stone wall complete with a turret as well as the turf wall topped by a wooden wall.

Chesters Fort has the best remains of a bath house. There is also the remains of a bridge abutment over the river (approached by footpath from the other side of the river. Corbridge was a supply fort with massive granaries.

There isn't a lot left of Bird Oswald Fort, but you can drop down to the river for the remains of another bridge abutment. Tie this in with a visit to the Roman Army Museum and also the section of wall at Walltown Crags (ask in the museum for detials how to get there) whuich is the tallest section of the wall standing 6-8' high.

Other non Roman things to do in the area:

Lanercost Priory

Hexham Abbey (don't miss the Crypt)

The ruined Aydon Castkle near Corbridge

South Tyne Valley and Alston. If you want a change from the Roman Wall, the South Tyne Trail makes for good walking

You don't say when you are coming. Come prepared with plenty of layers as well as windproof/waterproof top. The wall can be very exposed and, if it is windy, the wind chill factor can make you feel cold quickly even in summer. Alternatively in a hot summer you may suffer from sunburn and dehydration!

If you are wanting to walk the full length then you probably only need to base in Hexham or Haltwhistle for the part east of Greenhead/Gilsland and Carlisle for the western part.
Keep hopping along, taking the car to your intended end point for the day and bussing back to that day's start point then return to Hexham/Carlisle. West of Birdoswald that is rather easier said than done.
The problem in some ways is that it is a linear walk and you aren't going to make productive progress the full length by doing circular walks from car parks.
The part where there is visible wall is only really from Banks (3 miles outside Brampton, near Lanercost Priory) to Houseteads then alongside the road to Chesters. That core section could be covered by doing circulars from car parks at 3 or 4 places. Or part of the party start at one end of a section, the other part drive to the other end and swap keys when you meet in-between.
You could even stay at the Twice Brewed Inn, just off the wall, as you are not tied to the towns.
If doing the full walk it is better to do it as a trail, using one of the Packhorse companies to move your luggage between lodgings each day.
With a good map telling you where the isolated visible parts are you can drive the rest.

Wasleys , Thanks for the information on visiting the wall . Sorry to hear about Ashcroft , we had it booked for Autumn of 2020 but our plans were uprnded due to Covid . I think we will book the Old Schoolhouse

Thank you all for the information. We will be going in September. Has anyone ever rented a bicycle and cycled? My husband mentioned he saw that there was a bike ship in the area and part of a trail that was bike friendly.

Yes you can cycle it. There’s a company called Skedaddle that will do this trip or if you look on their website you can see a map of the route.

Here's another recommendation for Peter Carney. He is fantastic and you won't regret hiring him as a guide to Hardrian's Wall

(> https://www.hadrianswall-walk.com/).