CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
142 km from Greenhead to Greenhead, about 2 h 16 of riding. It goes by way of Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags, Corbridge, Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 9 and back through Corbridge. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Birdoswald stands on a bluff above the River Irthing in Cumbria, almost at the point where Hadrian's Wall leaves the flatter country near Carlisle and begins to climb into the harder, wilder ground of Northumberland. The Roman fort here was called Banna, and it was one of the larger forts along the wall, home to a cohort of auxiliary soldiers. What makes it special is that you can walk along a stretch of the wall that stands tall, with the original facing stones and the line of the turrets still visible, and look out over a steep wooded gorge where the Irthing cuts through red sandstone.
Read the complete Birdoswald Roman fort and the section of H write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Birdoswald Roman fort and the section of H is where the day begins. Next is Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags.
The Wall needed millions of dressed stones, and the Romans quarried them close to where they were needed. On Queen's Crags, a ridge of sandstone north of the Wall near Housesteads, they left a calling card: an inscription cut into the rock face, one of several known Roman quarry inscriptions along the frontier, recording a soldier or unit at work. It is a small, weathered thing, hard to find without directions, but it is a direct link to the men who cut the stone for the Wall.
Read the complete Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Corbridge.
Two thousand years ago, Dere Street, the Roman road heading north into Scotland, crossed the Tyne here, and a town grew up around a supply base just behind Hadrian's Wall. Coria, now called Corbridge Roman Town, was a bustling place with granaries, temples, workshops and a main street, and its remains, managed by English Heritage, are among the most important Roman sites in Britain. The museum displays finds including the Corbridge Hoard, a chest of armour and equipment, and the Corbridge Lion, a sculpture of a lion attacking a stag.
Read the complete Corbridge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 48 km into the recorded legs you reach Corbridge. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 9.
Nine Roman miles west of the wall's starting point at Wallsend, the frontier is already climbing out of the Tyne valley, and here on the edge of Newburn and Heddon-on-the-Wall you can still find it in the fields. Emperor Hadrian ordered the wall in AD 122, a stone barrier across the narrowest part of northern Britain from the Tyne to the Solway, and behind it the army dug the Vallum, a broad ditch flanked by earth mounds that marked the military zone from the civilian south. On this stretch the Vallum is often easier to read than the wall itself, a long shallow trough running through the grass, especially when the evening light comes in low and picks out every bump.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 9 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 9, about halfway. Next is back through Corbridge.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Corbridge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Corbridge sits at 101 km, about halfway. Next is back through Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags comes up about 118 km into the recorded legs. Next is Birdoswald Roman fort and the section of H.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Birdoswald Roman fort and the section of H write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Birdoswald Roman fort and the section of H closes the day.
Birdoswald Roman fort and the section of H → Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags → Corbridge is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Corbridge → Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 9 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 9 → back through Corbridge is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Corbridge → back through Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags → Birdoswald Roman fort and the section of H is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.