Hadrian's Wall begins its life not on a windswept crag but in the streets of Newcastle, and wall mile 7 runs through the western suburbs around Benwell and Denton, a few kilometres from the city centre. The Romans numbered the miles westward from the fort at Wallsend, and in this stretch the line of the Wall follows the ridge now taken by the West Road. Most of it lies under houses and tarmac, but fragments surface where you least expect them, which is half the fun.
At Benwell stood the fort of Condercum, and two pieces survive among the semi-detached houses. One is a crossing of the vallum, the great ditch-and-mound earthwork that ran behind the Wall, with a stone causeway and gateway still visible in a fenced patch of grass. The other is the small temple of Antenociticus, a local god otherwise almost unknown, its foundations sitting at the end of a suburban cul-de-sac with replica altars in place. A little further west, beside the main road at Denton, a short length of the Wall itself and the base of a turret stand behind railings while buses rumble past. It is wonderfully incongruous.
The riding at this end is pure city: traffic lights, bus lanes, roundabouts and speed cameras, with the A1 western bypass close by. Do not come here for corners. Come here because it is where the story starts, and because heading west from Newcastle you can follow the Wall almost all the way across the country. The A69 is the quick route along the Tyne valley; the better one is the B6318, the Military Road, built in the eighteenth century after the Jacobite rising of 1745 so that troops could move quickly between Newcastle and Carlisle. For long stretches it runs straight on top of the Wall's foundations, dipping and rising over the ridges with views north into Northumberland.
On the Military Road, take care. The crests are blind, the dips can hide oncoming cars, and sheep wander freely. Wind across the open country can be strong, and rain can come in sideways from the west.
Newcastle has every service you could want, and the West Road is lined with petrol stations, takeaways and shops. For a quieter coffee, the villages up the Tyne valley such as Wylam or Corbridge are pleasant stops. Before you leave the city, though, find that little temple; it is one of the strangest Roman sites in Britain.