From the tourist information in Wallsend, by the Swan Hunter Ship Yard, the trail heads out following the walls of the ancient Roman fort of Segedunum. Take the Fossway through Walker and Byker. There can be very busy traffic along Shields Road, until there is the opportunity to drop down to the Tyne river via ‘Broad Chare’ road for a vista of the elegant Tyne bridges, and of the Newcastle skyline. There should be time to climb up to Newcastle Keep. Walk out of the city by the built-up banks of the River Tyne. Cross the busy A69 and then the Western Newcastle bypass and continue through Newburn, before steeply ascending from the river with the countryside about to open up. You enter Northumberland - continue to the first substantial section of the wall just before reaching Heddon-on-the-Wall.