Walking Holidays in the UK

The new timetable for the Hadrian’s Wall bus has just been published. The bus follows (roughly) the course of the Hadrian’s Wall National trail, starting at Newcastle and calling at Heddon, Corbridge, Hexham, Chesters, Housesteads, Once Brewed, Haltwhistle, Roman army Museum, Gilsland, Birdoswald, Lanercost, Brampton, Crosby and Carlisle. - So plenty of opportunity to walk a section the Hadrian's Wall Path, of if you are doing a longer walking holiday, the bus can provide a useful backup when the weather’s bad, you get injured, of just feel like a rest.

This year’s timetable is very similar to last year’s. The big change is one extra afternoon bus between Hexham and the Roman Army Museum, the central section where the bus is most heavily used. This had been at the expense of the 2 o’clock departure from Newcastle. Apparently this was little used. If you need to get from Newcastle in the afternoon, jump on the train to Corbridge or Hexham, and pick up the AD122 there. Definitely an improvement, in my opinion.

It’s an excellent service, heavily subsidised by various bodies, including the County Councils – so make use of it to make sure we keep it. Hopefully this year Hadrian’s Wall Heritage, the body in charge of publicising and managing the Wall, will manage the get the timetable printed before the season is over. Whilst they do well to organise and oversee the bus service, they need to improve their publicity, and get things organised earlier, to maximise its usage.

In the meantime, the timetable can be downloaded at

http://www.hadrians-wall.org/ResourceManager/Documents/HWC%20Bus%20Timetable%20%20AD122,%20185,%20681.pdf

Labels: Bus, Hadrian's Wall, Hadrian's Wall Heritage, National Trail