The M6 motorway comes up the length of England and ends at Carlisle, only a few kilometres from the line of Hadrian's Wall, a fair joke for a road that also moves people from one side of a border to the other. The stretch of Wall between the motorway and the suburbs of Stanwix is a quiet one, where the line has to be guessed at from low earthworks and a few modern signs. Junction 43 sits just east of the city and serves the A69 towards Newcastle and the Roman Wall country, while the last junctions carry on to the north of the city and the road to Scotland.
What lies underfoot is the unusual thing. The Wall here was first built in turf, with timber gates, and replaced in stone. Beside it was the vallum, a broad ditch with banks, and a military road ran along the line, linking the forts. The system was designed to be walked, patrolled and controlled, with gates at the forts and milecastles and small turrets between. It lasted, with some interruptions, for around three hundred years.
For the rider, the M6 is a way to cover distance rather than a pleasure in itself. It runs through the Eden valley, with the Pennines on the east and the fells of the Lake District to the west, and on a clear day the views are fine. Traffic is heavy, with lorries in the nearside lane, and at weekends and holidays the holiday traffic slows things. Rain and spray are the real hazards, and the exposed section north of Penrith can be bitterly cold and windy. Leave the motorway at junction 43 and the roads become quiet again, with small lanes through red sandstone villages and an easy run into the heart of Carlisle.
The city has fuel on all the main roads, and a number of services at the motorway junctions. Scotby, a village with fifteen hundred people on the eastern edge, is a quiet place for a stop. The old market hall in the city centre is a good place for a pie and a coffee.
Spring is lovely, with lambs in the fields. Winter fog can linger on the plain.