The road west from Heddon-on-the-Wall runs straight as a ruler, and there is a reason for that. The B6318, known locally as the Military Road, was built by General Wade's engineers after the Jacobite rising of 1745 so that troops could move quickly between Newcastle and Carlisle, and for long stretches they laid it right on top of Hadrian's Wall, using the Roman stones as foundation. At Oatens Bank, just beyond Heddon, you ride with the Wall beneath your tyres and the ditch and vallum still visible in the fields beside you, two thousand years of frontier engineering compressed into a few metres.
Hadrian ordered the Wall built from AD 122, stretching about 73 miles from the Tyne to the Solway, with milecastles, turrets and forts along its length. This eastern section has lost most of its stonework to later builders, but the earthworks remain clear: the deep ditch to the north, the vallum to the south, and the long ridge of the road between them. Heddon itself preserves one of the longest surviving stretches of the Wall at its full width in the eastern sector, which is worth a short walk.
As riding goes, the Military Road is one of England's classic routes. Heading west it starts gently, through farmland with long straights and short, steep dips that can catch you out if you crest too fast. The surface is generally good, but the roller-coaster profile means blind summits and limited overtaking, and the speed limits along the route are taken seriously. Further west the landscape opens dramatically onto moorland and crags. Watch for sheep, slow-moving tourist cars and cyclists, especially in summer. Wind off the North Sea can make the higher stretches cold even in June.
For fuel and food, Prudhoe, just south across the Tyne, is the nearest town of size, and Newcastle's western suburbs are close behind. Heddon has a pub and a few local amenities, and there are cafés and farm shops scattered along the road west. Stop at Oatens Bank to look at the ditch and the earthworks with the traffic hissing past, then carry on west, where the Wall becomes the stone ribbon of the postcards. It is a good beginning, an honest first chapter.