Rolling farmland with long, gentle rises rather than the sharp crag climbs still to come — the wall itself is visible mostly as an earthwork ditch and low bank rather than standing masonry for most of this stage.

Open countryside for the first time on the trail, ending right beside Chesters Roman Fort at Chollerford — Britain's best-preserved Roman cavalry bathhouse, worth arriving with enough daylight and energy left to visit rather than pushing straight through to a bed.

Chollerford itself is a small village rather than a town; book accommodation here ahead in peak season, and consider timing your day to arrive with an hour or two of Chesters' opening hours still left.

Don't expect standing wall on this stage — for most of Stage 2 the frontier survives only as the Vallum ditch and a low turf-covered bank; the first dramatic standing masonry doesn't start until Stage 3's climb onto the Whin Sill.