North of Hexham, where the land rises above the Tyne valley, the B6318, the military road built in the eighteenth century partly on top of Hadrian's Wall, runs straight across open country, and here, near the hamlet of St Oswald's, the remains of the wall and the vallum, the great earthwork that ran along its southern side, are clearly visible in the fields. The vallum was a broad ditch flanked by mounds, marking a military zone, and its scale still impresses. This stretch is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site.
The name St Oswald's recalls a battle fought here in 634, when Oswald, the Christian king of Northumbria, defeated the Welsh king Cadwallon at Heavenfield. According to tradition, Oswald raised a wooden cross before the battle, and a small church and a cross now mark the site, standing alone on the hillside with wide views across the valley. A few kilometres west, at Chollerford, the Roman fort of Chesters guards the crossing of the North Tyne, with a well-preserved bathhouse beside the river and a museum full of inscriptions and carvings.
The B6318 is a classic motorcycle road, running west from Newcastle to Greenhead, with long straight sections, sudden dips and crests, and views across the wild landscape of the wall. It can be fast and fun, but beware of hidden dips, livestock, slow tourist traffic and strong crosswinds on exposed stretches. The road becomes more dramatic further west, where the wall climbs along the crags of the Whin Sill. Weather can change quickly, with rain and wind sweeping across the hills even in summer.
Hexham, a market town of around eleven thousand, has pumps, pubs and cafés, as well as a beautiful abbey with a Saxon crypt. Corbridge, a few kilometres east, is a pretty village with tearooms and the remains of a Roman town. Try a pub lunch of pie and peas or a plate of local lamb, and if you are lucky, a slice of stottie cake, the local bread, with ham and pease pudding.