Anyone using the AD 122 Bus running alongside Hadrian's Wall will know very well that AD122 is a highly significant date. Hadrian ordered the building of his great project to start in that year - and 2022 will mark the 1900th anniversary. Hadrian's Wall 1900has been set up to commemorate this, and will co-ordinate and promote a variety of activities to celebrate the Wall and its significance to our history, landscape and culture throughout AD2022.
As seasoned walkers along Hadrian's Wall, we are therefore delighted that the 2022 Haltwhistle Walking Festival will be a part of that celebration.
After months of cancelled plans and uncertainty, Spring 2022 may be our most keenly anticipated Festival ever! Our programme of walks is nearing completion, and will appear here very soon. Take a good look, and join us in AD2022. This time, you will learn even more about our Wall than usual, as our programme has been devised with Hadrian's Wall 1900 very much in mind.
Many of our Festival walks are undertaken in Hadrian’s Wall Country. Every day there will be a longer walk (10 – 16 miles) and a shorter one (6 – 8 miles) of varying grades. Whether you enjoy a relaxing walk or striding out on our rugged moorland, Haltwhistle Walking Festival is ‘more than just a walk’. Our talented leaders will welcome and entertain you with interesting tales; their ‘Did You Knows’? are legendary.
This year, our Festival will open with the ‘Emperor Hadrian’s Round’, a new two-day weekend walk. Other highlights over the 10 days of the Festival include our regular, and very popular, three-day trek over the May Bank Holiday weekend; this time, we will will follow Isaac’s Tea Trail, a long distance path through the stunning North Pennines inspired by the remarkable 19th century tea seller, Isaac Holden. There will be a selection of special interest walks, where we will have an expert on hand to share their knowledge with you. They include a walk, farm tea and guided tour of Epiacum Roman Fort in the South Tyne valley, and "Hadrian's Wall Rocks", when local geologist Ian Jackson will reveal why, geologically speaking, Emperor Hadrian choose our outstanding landscape for his Wall. Gordon Beakes, well known for his fungal forays, will be celebrating the world of ‘Lichens and Mosses’ this year, and we welcome talented local based musician and composer, Fiona Lander, who will be leading our Singing walk. For Peat's sake, love our bogs! With COP 26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, coming up, you will hear a lot about carbon capture and storage. Find out why our peat bogs are a big part of the solution, and how they are being maintained.
We are sure that you will find something that interests you and we will look forward to welcoming you to our Festival. The full programme will be published soon, and Festival Bookings will open on Tuesday 1st February 2022.
