The British Museum's featured exhibit this summer is Hadrian's Wall.

The Wall was built some 2,000 years ago under the direction of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. It runs for some 73 miles across the narrowest cross country point of England, from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-On-Solway in the west. The Wall marked the most northern boundary of the Roman Empire which stretched east for 2,500 miles to present-day Iraq and south for 1,500 miles to the Sahara Desert. It proved very effective in keeping the marauding barbarians to its north out and is such a major feat of engineering, that large tracts of it can still be traced today.

We decided to go and explore it ourselves and would recommend you do the same.

What follows are some helpful tips and information to whet the appetite.

There are bag courier services which will transfer your luggage from one overnight stay to another. Prices range from $10 to $30 a bag a day. We opted to go light and carry our own knapsacks. Also essential are some good walking boots, as the terrain is quite rugged at points.

We start our journey from King's Cross station in London. Our first and possibly only disappointment on the trip was the price of a one-way train ticket to Newcastle – $200. The air shuttle from Gatwick is some $60 cheaper. We decide to walk from east to west but the reverse is possibly more popular.

The first day before our walk we visit the Segedunum Museum at Wallsend, a few metro stops outside Newcastle. In the precinct of the museum are the excavated remains of a Roman garrison fort which comprises accommodation for soldiers, stables, workshops, a commanding officer's house, a hospital and a bath house.

The bath house at the museum has been replicated in its entirety and one can only be awed by the ingenuity. Rooms were heated and cooled by subterranean drains and situated to best catch the sun's rays and the toilet seats shaped like key holes are designs that could and should be implemented today! The Dark Ages followed the 300-year occupation of the Romans and like a game of snakes and ladders mankind fell several tiers backwards during this period.

The bus AD122 (the year the Wall was started) leaves twice a day from Central Station in Newcastle. We caught the 9.30 a.m. and rode the first 15 miles of the Wall with a very informed guide. The Roman Mile Castle in Newcastle is now part of the Norman Castle remains around which the city was built and the Wall runs right beneath the station from where we begin our journey and appears and disappears alongside the motorway.

We tumble out of the time capsule bus as it forks away from the Wall towards the Roman town of Corbridge. We find ourselves in Harlow Hill and quickly find the acorn-capped Hadrian's Wall sign posts and begin our trek. We are in countryside and are pleased with our decision to cut out the portion of the Wall walk that wends its way through the industrial area of Newcastle. It is now 10.30 a.m. There are beautiful vistas of green fields and patches of cadmium yellow crops in full bloom. These I later discover are fields of rape and linseed now being used as a biofuel source.

We trek across farm fields filled with nervous lambs nuzzling for their mother's teats.

Our numerous maps point out a farm with a tea house. We stop in the sunshine and enjoy a cuppa with a shared slice of walnut cake. The Wall is only making brief appearances mainly because vestiges of it have been utilised in the old farm buildings scattered along its route! Towards day's end we are dragging our feet and any detour to see a particularly good view of the Wall is hotly debated. We finally roll into Chollerford, we walk over a stone bridge over a tranquil river and on its banks is the picturesque and very welcome George Hotel.

We have walked 13 miles. I can barely make it up the stairs. Will I be able to walk tomorrow? No worries. A hot bath, a good meal and a night's sleep and I am as right as rain. The hotel is excellent value. Our bill for two is $195 and included breakfast as well as a very good dinner with medicinal/alcoholic drinks! Please note, book your accommodation ahead of time, as in many of the stops there is only one guest house in town. Unless of course you want to camp out!

The next day we walk to Chesters Museum. It was set up beside the major Roman fort of the same name by Newcastle lawyer John Clayton in the 1840s. Clayton made it his business to buy up tracts of the Wall across the country to preserve it. This was a time when the full historical importance of the Wall was not appreciated. The museum has priceless relics salvaged from under farm ploughed fields of life during Roman occupation. The items are displayed in handsome dark wood exhibit cases just as they were during the Victorian era. This is definitely a place to visit. Yes, it does tag on an extra walking mile but there is always the AD122. We catch it outside the museum and get dropped off some three miles up the road and avoid a section of road walk. We are now really in the company of the Wall. It marches on relentlessly. It was built to a height of 21 feet with a width of nine. After 2,000 years of erosion and pillaging the Wall has been whittled down considerably.

Alongside the Wall to its south, a great moat called a Vallum was built, while to its north there was a ditch. Mile Castles were built every mile and to a set pattern.

Between the Mile Castles, there are lookout stations called Turrets. They are built at one-third mile intervals. Romans built the Wall while soldiers drawn from its colonies manned it. As we move towards the centre of the country, the countryside becomes more remote and rugged. No crops here, just grazing cattle and sheep. It begins to drizzle, that fine English rain, and we reach Housteads Roman Fort, which is a spectacular vantage point for a fort. On a high point of land with views off to the horizon in every direction. The fort visits cost $9 each. Fortunately, we had picked up a bunch of two for one coupons at the Segedunum Museum in Wallsend which reduced the cost.

It is getting late and we get on our way. Our stop tonight is a Youth Hostel in a place called Once Brewed. It is not clearly marked and map in hand we hike down from our cliff heights to the road where we estimate our night accommodation to be. Unfortunately this was not the oasis of the night before. The Youth Hostel is a rather bleak affair and we decide to skip bathing, just as well – we have no towel. However we do find a pub down the road called Twice Brewed. It is hopping and even has accommodation. The hostel works out at $130 with breakfast but no dinner or libations. Certainly not as good value as the night before. We walked nine miles on this second day and although the terrain is getting more demanding, we are beginning to get our walking legs.

The next morning we enjoy the activities of the communal dining room: a young Goth with flame decorated hob nailed boots, a leather trench coat youth downing a single diet coke for breakfast and fit German cyclists setting off with weighted down bikes.

We retrace our steps back to the point where we left the cliff and Wall the night before. The Wall begins to rise and fall in earnest as it follows the Whin Sell, the unique geological outcrop that creates a sheer rock face towards the north. We walk for some three hours without stopping and then split a sandwich with backs resting on the Wall face.

This section features spectacular scenery and the longest stretch of uninterrupted Wall. The walking becomes quite tough with lots of steep inclines and just as challenging declines. We begin to envy the day trippers, with their handbags slung over their shoulders and dogs on leads.

We limp into Gilsland and stop at a pub before walking the tortuous last mile to our night's stay at Howard Farm. We are shown our room with a magnificent view of farm fields and a well-tended garden.

Howard Farm has been a family run business for some five generations. Elizabeth, the matriarch of the family, has been running the B&B for some 40 years and is winding down, accepting only three guests at a time from a former six.

We feel lucky to have ventured on this find. Helen the daughter is a great raconteur and she gives us a glimpse of farm living. A heifer in the nearby barn is close to giving birth. We learn that her brother is now disabled after a new mother tossed him from one end of the barn to the other. He was airlifted to the nearest hospital in Carlisle and was lucky to survive.

We learn that sheep are no longer raised for their wool but for their meat. Shearing still takes place but the gathered wool is used for carpets. The return for the wool barely pays the cost of shearing. This explains the number of black sheep I see along the route.

We are directed up the hill to Gilsland Spa for dinner. This is a magnificent 200-room hotel that used to be called the Gilsland Rehabilitation Centre. During Victorian times Gilsland was famous for it's mineral waters and its pure air. Miners were awarded an annual two-week vacation at the Centre to clear their lungs. There is a bingo game going on in the big hall. I stick my head in the room and feel like I have stepped back in time.

There is a carvery. An all you can eat for $40. Beef, pork, duck, Cumberland sausage and oh yes some vegetables. I took some beef but dew eyed cattle kept dancing in my head until I discreetly pushed it to the side.

We walk back to the farm after dinner. It is a beautiful night and en route we explore a small country church that has a flower arrangement rota pinned up for each year back to 2005. It keeps the files simple.

We sleep well and after a slap up English breakfast we are sent on our way by our very hospitable hosts. The cost was $120 and well worth the money.

We are expecting today's walk to be a lot flatter after coming down from the central spine of the region while at the same time we expect to see less of the Wall because of the increase in the number of farms and towns. We walk to Birdoswald Roman Fort and after exploring the fort and enjoying the view from its former battlements we decide something non-Roman is in order. We hop onto the AD122 and head down the track to Lanercost Priory. Once there we applaud our decision and congratulate ourselves on a most excellent diversion.

We enter the Abbey built in 1166 and still in use today. The on duty warden is steeped in local knowledge and we instantly feel connected to the Augustine Order of monks set up to run the Priory. Unfortunately, the location of this most holy order meant it was constantly engaged, in warfare as the border land was in constant dispute with the Scots. The Priory was later dissolved by King Henry VIII and was awarded to one of his supporters. It did fall into disrepair but has been revived into its present form which is part museum and part parish church. The church itself is much renowned for its superior acoustics.

Refreshed after our non Roman interlude we return to the acorn track. The walk leads us through many farm fields and we find ourselves going through every variety of turnstiles and climb-overs. We reach our final night's destination for the bewitching drinks hour.

Fortunately our night's stay is in a pub – the Centurion in the town of Walton. The pub is a disappointment after our farm stay. There is a nice coal fire burning in a low ceiling bar but our room upstairs is matchbox size.

Our last walk day is beautiful. We walk until 3 p.m. and realise we have not seen the Wall at all although we are assured it is there. We can hear the constant hum of the motorway now and we decide it is time to catch the bus into Carlisle. In Carlisle we visit the cathedral and the castle and then catch the evening train back to London.

The four hour trip to London allows us to reflect on our walk that had us on the track some six to eight hours covering nine to 12 miles a day at a very leisurely pace.

The best and most evident part of the Wall can be seen in its central section and it is possible to do day trips to see this. But for us to walk in the company of the Wall for several days with sidebar visits to fort museums gave us a real appreciation for the sheer strength and ingenuity of the Roman occupiers who ruled England for some 300 years, 2,000 years ago.