Haltwhistle likes to call itself the centre of Britain, a claim measured, by one method or another, from the farthest tips of the island, and it does sit in the narrow waist of the country, between the North Sea and the Irish Sea. The town, with about four thousand people, lies in the South Tyne valley, just south of Hadrian's Wall, and it is a good base for exploring the central section of the frontier.
Temporary camps are among the stranger Roman remains, because they were built to be abandoned. A legion on campaign would dig a ditch and a rampart each evening, pitch tents inside and move on the next morning, so these camps were used for a night or a few weeks. Surviving earthworks, often low and grassy, show up best in low sun. The camp here belongs to the broader frontier landscape that UNESCO listed in 1987.
Walltown Crags and Cawfields, a few kilometres to the north, are the real attractions: dramatic sections of wall on the edge of the Whin Sill, a hard, dark ridge of dolerite, with steep drops and wide views. The Roman Army Museum at Greenhead, close by, tells the story of the soldiers' lives. Haltwhistle itself has fuel, shops and pubs, and Hexham, farther east, is a larger market town.
Riding here is great. The B6318, the Military Road, runs along the line of the wall, built by General Wade in the 1750s after the Jacobite rising of 1745, partly using stones from the wall itself, and it has long, straight sections and sharp dips, with views over moorland and crags. Sheep wander onto the road, and weekends bring cyclists and walkers. Spring and early summer are lovely, and in winter the road can be icy and exposed. The weather changes fast on the high ground, so bring waterproofs.