Pale, the German in Gateshead, roaming (9)
I believe the answer is:
wandering
'roaming' is the definition.
('wander' can be a synonym of 'roam')
'pale the german in gateshead' is the wordplay.
'pale' becomes 'wan' (wan can mean pale or grey).
'the german' becomes 'der' ('the' in German).
'gateshead' becomes 'g' (head letter of 'gates').
'wan'+'der'+'in'+'g'='WANDERING'
(Other definitions for wandering that I've seen before include "Moving about aimlessly" , "Rambling" , "vagrant" , "Oceanic animal -- large bird's not a swan (anag)" , "Straying" .)