Beside the river Gelt, a small stream that runs through a wooded sandstone gorge east of Carlisle, a smooth face of rock bears an inscription cut by Roman soldiers some eighteen centuries ago. This is the Written Rock of Gelt. It marks the quarry where legionaries cut stone for the western part of Hadrian's Wall, and it records their work, with names and dates, in neat Latin letters that are still readable though weathered by the rain.
The quarrymen were from the legions, who did most of the heavy building of the Wall, and one inscription is dated to the early third century, when the emperor Septimius Severus was campaigning in Britain. They took the red sandstone from the gorge walls and carried it by cart to the nearby forts and the Wall itself. The quarry is hidden in the trees and not obvious from the road, so to see it you need to walk a short, sometimes muddy path, and take care near the water and the steep drop. The gorge is also an RSPB reserve with oak, ash and birch woods, and it is quiet and green, with dippers and wagtails on the stream and the sound of water in the rocks.
Brampton, three kilometres away, is the nearest town, a market town of four thousand people with a central octagonal moot hall and several cafes, and it has fuel. A little to the east, Lanercost Priory is a splendid ruined Augustinian house built partly with Roman stone from the Wall, where Edward I stayed for many months in 1306 and 1307, and its nave is still used as a parish church. Naworth Castle nearby is a fortified house with a great hall. The old border country gave rise to the reivers, families who raided across the line between England and Scotland until the early seventeenth century, and the castles and peel towers of this district remember them.
For riding, the lanes in this part of Cumbria are narrow and twisting, with high hedges, many blind bends and plenty of mud and gravel after rain, and the main A69 between Carlisle and Newcastle is a faster but duller option. The best days are in spring and autumn. In summer, farm traffic and tourists slow things down, and in winter ice lingers on the shaded corners. Carlisle, thirteen kilometres away, has all the services, and Brampton has a pleasant tea-room, so there is no pressure on time.