“Outdoor adventure travel only becomes sustainable if we’re mindful about how we get there.“

While I have always loved an active holiday – hiking mountains, climbing rocks, and surfing along tropical coastlines – I’d never considered a multi-day walking holiday. To me, they’d always been reserved for older people who just wanted to ramble onwards. However, following the pandemic and a broken ankle, I began to fall in love with the simple act of walking again.

So, when a female-owned and operated walking holiday company, WalkingWomen, invited me on their five-night trip along Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, UK, I was quick to accept.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary next year, WalkingWomen has trips all around Europe that are designed to be accessible and community-focused. From local female guides to staying in independent inns to endorsing other women-owned businesses like winemakers on their continental hikes, WalkingWomen actively supports local communities and female-centric businesses.

Hiking Through History

Standing the test of time since 79 AD, Hadrian’s Wall is a Roman-era construct that spans the width of Northern England, roughly from Carlisle in the west to Newcastle in the east. Formerly marking the border with Scotland (which is now about an hour further north), the wall spans 84 miles in total, with the most popular section reaching approximately 35 miles.

This 35-mile stretch from Walton to Chesters Roman Fort and Museum takes in some of the most impactful sites along the wall, including the painstakingly maintained archeological sites at Housesteads and Vindolanda, as well as the Sycamore Gap, which after an act of vandalism is now missing its namesake tree.

Combining Roman history with the rolling green hills of Northumberland, this hike is the perfect blend of cultural heritage and outstanding natural adventure. In fact, there are still live archeological digs happening along the wall today. As this was my first multi-day hiking trip, I was a little anxious to see how I’d measure up.

I didn’t need to be worried. 

In terms of beginner-friendly multi-day hikes, Hadrian’s Wall ranks with the best of them. Only on one of the four days did we have hills to climb. On this particular day, the total ascents lasted less than an hour, with the elevation totaling around 2000 feet, all in. Effectively, a large hill for most people. Reaching 35 miles across four walking days, we ended up hiking 5-6 hours per day, at a leisurely pace, including a break for lunch.

Our group ranged from seasoned trek holiday pros who had hiked mountains and deserts, to social walkers who loved the history the wall provides, to multi-activity adventure fans. Led and motivated by our local guide, Jo, we chatted and explored the countryside with relative ease, stopping to occasionally unravel our rain covers – this is northern England, of course. 

Despite the varying experience levels, the wall provided enough places to stop and read informational boards where people could wait for others to catch up or offered a natural place to pause for a water break. This, together with the lower mileage per day, reasonably flat terrain, and many points of interest, makes Hadrian’s Wall a dream multi-day experience for beginners.

Mindful Travel Means Considering Transportation

One of the main things that attracted me to this hike was the location. Haltwhistle is accessible by bi-hourly trains from Newcastle and Carlisle (both major rail hubs with connections across the UK), making it easy to get to Haltwhistle using public transport. From here, you can use the 79 bus – so named for the year of the wall’s completion – which stops along the length of the wall and between the popular walking towns and villages.

Ginny Lunn, one of the sisters who owns Walking Women said, “At WalkingWomen we encourage the use of trains or public transport as much as possible. We’ll plot routes for our guests and give advice as much as possible. For us, it’s so important that we’re aware of the impact on the environment.”

With the rise of walking and outdoor adventure holidays, specifically aimed at solo women, such as WalkingWomen, Gutsy Girls, WHOA Travel, and Women Outdoors, the conversation around sustainability and active travel needs to be reiterated.

It’s not a coincidence that following the pandemic, female-centric walking holidays have become more popular, especially among Millennials. The low-intensity reward of rambling in nature is vast for our mental and physical health, as is the community and camaraderie aspect of group travel. 

However, outdoor adventure travel only becomes sustainable if we’re mindful about how we get there. Whether that’s organizing travel by train, bus, or through car sharing arrangements on Whatsapp beforehand, arriving in an environmentally friendly way should be an automatic thought when we’re enjoying the great outdoors. 

We all want to get out in nature more, whether that’s for a day hike or a multi-day adventure. With an increased focus on sustainable travel of late, it’s refreshing to discover that some of the UK’s most beloved walking routes are accessible by public transport and that walking companies, like WalkingWomen, are actively promoting this eco-friendly way of exploring our natural spaces.