Gilhal two

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

A very enjoyable route. No problems. Great mix of landscapes and Hadrian’s Wall Path. Walked as part of National Parks Challenge 2026.

A good route between Gilsland and Haltwhistle. Foot-only, however, given the terrain and number of steps, stiles (normal and ladder) and gates. An improved route that corrects a couple of minor snags on the original.

From Gilsland, with its transport links (although check the bus times, as they're infrequent) pubs and shops, we head straight down a footpath between playgrounds, before heading up steps, and through a subway under the railway. Poltross Burn milecastle is nearby if you want a Roman diversion, but the route takes us uphill along a green path, before heading along Hadrian's Wall Path between the massive earthworks of the Wall.

Through fields and past farms, we're on the Path for a while, until we reach the road to Greenhead. The road is unpaved, but we're not going far, taking the path by the terraced houses, which, once over the railway level crossing, follows the burn down and crossing a little footbridge into Greenhead.

In Greenhead, there's a cafe and a pub if you need a break, but the route continues once over the burn, heading south. It's a bit overgrown in places, but easy to navigate. Once past the vicarage, we're across fields, wet in places, until we reach College Farm. From there, a tarmac track heads uphill past Wrytree Farm. Keeping on the track past the industrial units in an old mine on the right, we then head uphill, past the pylon on the left. Then it's across the field to the edge of the woodlands, and a ladder stile down to the road.

The road is unpaved, but double-laned and wide enough for all to use, with verges if needed, although not much traffic. This road eventually heads downhill, becoming more residential, before we hit the centre of Haltwhistle itself, with shops, station and bus links.

A decent mix of rural and road walking, and not too taxing, despite some uphill sections.

I started from Haltwhistle (station, cafés, hotels, toilets) with quite a long road walk, gradually climbing, to reach the ladder stile into a field at the highest point of the route. There were good views back from this road. It felt quite safe as there weren’t loads of cars and there was generally a good verge.
The field was a bit boggy, but the fact that it had been frozen helped! Staying just south of the pylon, and then just north of the cables brought me easily to where the farm tracks were. I passed a couple of horse riders here who seemed happy for me to be walking there. From the west, the right of way according to OS looked impossible.
The farm road brought me downhill with views of the Tipalt Burn valley, the railway, and the A69. The field I needed to cross next had horses in, but they ignored me. It had a fair bit of mud and bog to negotiate, but was manageable. The river was pretty in the sunlight. The footpath from the vicarage into Greenhead was fine in February, but there were signs of trimmed back brambles.
I used the cycle track from here, and a pedestrian level crossing which was controlled by kissing gates, lights, and audible warnings. After this I joined the Hadrian’s Wall National Trail, which was wonderfully well-maintained and signposted, mostly using sheep grazing on grassy paths. I could look back and see some of the iconic Whin Sill cliffs around Walltown. After enjoying the section of HW Path, I soon found myself dropping down into Gilsland, where there were various useful facilities.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable walk, with just the length of road from Haltwhistle and a few boggy fields losing the route 1* in total.

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