Silloth is a small Victorian town on the Solway coast of Cumbria, built in the nineteenth century as a port and a seaside resort, with wide cobbled streets, a green along the seafront and views across the Solway Firth to the hills of Scotland. Just south of the town, at Wolsty, the Romans built a tower as part of the defences that extended Hadrian's Wall down the Cumbrian coast. Tower 13a was one of a chain of small towers and milefortlets, spaced along the shore to watch for raiders crossing the firth from the north.
The Cumbrian coast defences continued for about forty kilometres south from the end of the Wall at Bowness-on-Solway, and they were not a wall but a series of watchposts, with ditches and palisades in places. Most have left little trace above ground, and the site at Wolsty is a field near the coast. The Solway Firth is a wide estuary with huge tides and dangerous quicksands, and its marshes and mudflats are home to large numbers of wading birds and geese in winter. The Solway Coast is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The riding along the Solway coast is quiet and scenic. The coast road from Silloth south to Maryport runs along the shore, with views across the firth to Criffel, the rounded hill on the Scottish side, and inland lanes wind between farms and villages. The roads are flat and generally narrow, and the wind can be strong off the sea. The Lake District fells rise to the south-east, and within half an hour you can be riding into the mountains. The light over the Solway in the evening, with the sun setting behind the Scottish hills, is spectacular.
Silloth, three kilometres away, has fuel, shops and cafés, and its seafront green is a pleasant place for a break. Aspatria and Maryport are other nearby towns. The local food includes fish and chips, Cumberland sausage and sticky toffee pudding. Grune Point, a shingle spit north of Silloth, is good for birdwatching. On a clear evening, standing on the shore near Wolsty and looking across the firth, it is easy to imagine Roman soldiers keeping watch on these same waters.