Walk: Sycamore Gap & Crag Lough – wall, wood & stone

📌 Once Brewed, Northumberland
★★★★

If you only have limited time to explore Hadrian’s Wall then this short circuit could be the answer. Starting from the car park at Steel Rigg, it visits some of the highlights of the wall’s central section: the well-preserved milecastle dubbed Castle Nick, then a glorious clifftop stretch with glacial Crag Lough far below. There used to be a third: the oft-photographed, lone tree at Sycamore Gap was sadly destroyed in 2023; it’s been left as this page’s cover photo for now to show what has been lost. The return uses a parallel path a short distance to the south, roughly tracing the line of the Roman Military Way which used to follow the wall’s southern flank.

📷 Chronological photo guide

🌍 Location

📌 Start / finish at Steel Rigg car park, minor road 0.5 mi north of Once Brewed

🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NY 751677

🛰️ GPS coordinates: 55.003048,-2.390895

🚌 Bus to The Sill (National Landscape Discovery Centre) (0.5 mi)

🚗 Car park (charge)

📝 Key info

▶ 4 km / 2 mi | ▲ 180 m | ⌛ 1.5-2 hr

Features: 🎖️ Hadrian’s Wall including Castle Nick, Sycamore Gap & Crag Lough

⬤ Moderate | Clear paths, some fainter sections on grass. Very hilly especially on outward route, some unprotected drops.

➡️ Clockwise circuit: start – follow Hadrian’s Wall east – Castle Nick – Sycamore Gap – crags above Crag Lough – leave Hadrian’s Wall once woodland begins halfway along Crag Lough – return by public footpath immediately to south

Download file for GPS

🥾 On our last visit

Wildlife: Roe deer & mute swans at Crag Lough, seen from the crags. Sheep.

Weather: Mostly sunny but with a blustery wind on the crags, feeling cool for August.

August 2023