Heddon-on-the-Wall is the place where the Wall comes up out of the suburbs and stands in the open. Here, west of Newcastle, a stretch of the Wall's foundation and lower courses survives beside the village, one of the few places in the east where it rises above knee height, and it is of the so-called Broad Wall type, wider than the narrower version built later in the sequence. The Romans changed their plan during construction, and here you can read the evidence in stone. Beside it, the vallum shows as a shallow ditch, and a short walk takes you along the line toward Throckley.
The riding in this part of Tyneside is mixed. The roads are busy around Newburn and Throckley, with traffic and roundabouts, but a short ride west along the Tyne valley brings you to quiet lanes, fields and woods. The village of Wylam, a few kilometres off, was the birthplace of George Stephenson, the railway pioneer, and the engine Puffing Billy was built at the nearby colliery. The cottage where he was born is a National Trust property and sits beside an old waggonway, now a footpath. Weather is changeable, and spring is a good time, with green fields and blossom.
Newburn, with over forty-one thousand people in its larger urban area, and Heddon, with about thirteen hundred, are both close, and fuel and food are easy to find. Newburn was the site of a battle in 1640, when a Scottish army defeated an English one at the ford over the Tyne and went on to occupy Newcastle, a turning point in the build-up to the English Civil War. It is a quiet spot now, with a riverside path and a park.
On the Wall at Heddon, you can touch the stones. They are rough and cold, and each carries the faint marks of the mason who shaped it. A short distance away, the sound of traffic fades, and you can hear birds. There is a good bench, and a fine view over fields toward the river. It is a quiet way to meet the Roman Empire.