CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 423 km round trip from Edinburgh - roughly 6 h 50 in the saddle. It goes by way of Bewcastle Roman fort, Maiden Way Roman road from B6318 to 450m S, Knockcross Roman temporary camp at Grey Ha and The Roman fort and associated civil settle. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 8 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Edinburgh climbs a volcanic spine from the Firth of Forth, with the Castle on its crag at one end and Holyrood Palace at the other, and the Royal Mile running between them down the ridge the glaciers left behind. It is a city that makes you look up: tall tenements, black stone, turrets, spires and, on a clear day, the green hump of Arthur's Seat rising out of the middle of the town like something the builders forgot to level. The old town and new town together form a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the Georgian grid of the New Town contrasting sharply with the medieval jumble of the Old.
Read the complete Edinburgh write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Edinburgh is where the day begins. Next is Bewcastle Roman fort.
Bewcastle is one of the loneliest places in Cumbria, and it has been for a very long time. Roman soldiers built an outpost fort here, about ten kilometres north of Hadrian's Wall, on a plateau whose shape the walls followed, giving it an unusual six-sided plan. It was a forward base for scouts watching the tribes beyond the frontier, and it was linked to the Wall at Birdoswald by a road. Later, a medieval castle was built into one corner of the old Roman defences, and its broken walls still stand above the beck.
Read the complete Bewcastle Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bewcastle Roman fort comes up 50 km in. Next is Maiden Way Roman road from B6318 to 450m S.
Where Cumbria meets Northumberland in the valley of the river Irthing, the Wall climbs out of a wooded gorge on to open ground, and a Roman road called the Maiden Way ran north from the Wall towards Bewcastle and south towards Kirkby Thore, linking the frontier to the supply routes of the interior.
Read the complete Maiden Way Roman road from B6318 to 450m S write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least 109 km in you reach Maiden Way Roman road from B6318 to 450m S. Next is Knockcross Roman temporary camp at Grey Ha.
The Solway Firth is shallow and wide on its Scottish side, and between Annan and Gretna the land is flat and green, with sheep and cattle, field boundaries lined with hawthorn, and long views across the water to the Lake District hills.
Read the complete Knockcross Roman temporary camp at Grey Ha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Knockcross Roman temporary camp at Grey Ha, about halfway. Next is The Roman fort and associated civil settle.
Bowness-on-Solway is where Hadrian's Wall ends, or begins, depending on which way you are walking. This quiet village on the southern shore of the Solway Firth sits on top of the Roman fort of Maia, the second largest on the Wall, and its civilian settlement, which together make up the site on the label, part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. Almost nothing of the fort survives above ground, as much of the stone went into the houses, church and farm buildings of the village, but you can find Roman stones reused in walls if you look closely.
Read the complete The Roman fort and associated civil settle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Roman fort and associated civil settle sits at 198 km, about halfway. Next is back through Knockcross Roman temporary camp at Grey Ha.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Knockcross Roman temporary camp at Grey Ha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Knockcross Roman temporary camp at Grey Ha comes up 248 km in. Next is back through Maiden Way Roman road from B6318 to 450m S.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Maiden Way Roman road from B6318 to 450m S write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
297 km in you reach back through Maiden Way Roman road from B6318 to 450m S. Next is back through Bewcastle Roman fort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bewcastle Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Bewcastle Roman fort, late in the day. Next is Edinburgh.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Edinburgh write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 423 km.
Edinburgh → Bewcastle Roman fort is 140 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Bewcastle Roman fort → Maiden Way Roman road from B6318 to 450m S is 8 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Maiden Way Roman road from B6318 to 450m S → Knockcross Roman temporary camp at Grey Ha is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Knockcross Roman temporary camp at Grey Ha → back through Maiden Way Roman road from B6318 to 450m S is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Maiden Way Roman road from B6318 to 450m S → back through Bewcastle Roman fort is 8 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bewcastle Roman fort → Edinburgh is 140 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.