Two thousand years ago, Dere Street, the Roman road heading north into Scotland, crossed the Tyne here, and a town grew up around a supply base just behind Hadrian's Wall. Coria, now called Corbridge Roman Town, was a bustling place with granaries, temples, workshops and a main street, and its remains, managed by English Heritage, are among the most important Roman sites in Britain. The museum displays finds including the Corbridge Hoard, a chest of armour and equipment, and the Corbridge Lion, a sculpture of a lion attacking a stag.
The modern village of Corbridge is a handsome place of stone houses, a market square, a medieval church with a defensive pele tower, and a seventeenth century bridge over the Tyne, which was the only bridge on the river to survive the great flood of 1771. The village has a range of independent shops, cafés and pubs, and it is a popular stop for walkers and visitors to Hadrian's Wall.
The riding in the Tyne valley is pleasant, with roads winding along the river and climbing into the hills on either side. The A69 runs along the valley as a fast main road, but smaller roads offer more interest, rising onto ridges where the whole dale opens below. North of the river, the roads climb toward the wall and the moors, with open views and quiet roads. The weather can be changeable, and the roads can be wet and muddy, especially in winter.
The town's position on the river has shaped its whole story. After the Romans left, the site of Coria became a quarry, and its dressed stones turn up in Hexham Abbey and in the walls of local farms. In the Middle Ages Corbridge was rich enough to be a target, burned by Scottish raiders more than once, which is why the vicar's pele tower beside the churchyard has walls so thick. Today the Tyne here is a broad, clear salmon river, and in autumn you may see fish leaping at the weirs upstream.
Corbridge has a small range of services, and Hexham, four and a half kilometres away, has more, including fuel and a fine abbey. Tea rooms around the square do a fine scone, and the pubs pour ales from Northumberland breweries. The Roman town is open to visitors, and the museum is well worth a visit.