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.
From Greenhead it runs 283 km to Greenhead; allow about 4 h 40 of riding. It goes by way of Hadrian's Wall between the east end of Dav, Palisade ditches, Burrow Walls Roman fort and Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house. The line favours views over speed.
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 Hadrian's Wall between the east end of Dav.
Carlisle was the western hub of Hadrian's Wall, and on its northern edge, at Stanwix, stood the largest fort on the whole frontier. Known to the Romans as Uxelodunum, it held a cavalry regiment about a thousand strong, and its commander was one of the most important officers on the wall. Little of it is visible now, since the fort lies under the streets and gardens of a suburb, but the line of the wall can be traced through the town, in parts of the pavement and the shape of the streets, and a short surviving section lies in a quiet corner near the river Eden.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall between the east end of Dav write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall between the east end of Dav comes up 38 km in. Next is Palisade ditches.
Hadrian's Wall did not simply stop at the edge of the Solway. Beyond its western end at Bowness, the Romans continued the frontier down the Cumbrian coast with a chain of milefortlets and towers, and in places with ditches and palisades, to watch over the shoreline and guard against raids across the firth from what is now south west Scotland. The palisade ditches near Silloth are part of that coastal system, faint traces in the flat land behind the dunes, and they are a reminder that the Roman frontier was a complex network that stretched far beyond the famous stone wall.
Read the complete Palisade ditches write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
77 km in you reach Palisade ditches. Next is Burrow Walls Roman fort.
On the northern edge of Workington, near the mouth of the river Derwent, a fragment of stone wall stands alone in a field, a jagged piece of masonry rising above the grass. It is part of Burrow Walls, a Roman fort that guarded the Cumbrian coast, one of the chain of defences that extended from the western end of Hadrian's Wall down the shore to watch for raiders crossing from Scotland and Ireland. Much of the fort's stone was reused in a medieval building on the site, and what survives today is modest, but it is part of the Hadrian's Wall World Heritage site and has a lonely charm, with views over the sea and the river.
Read the complete Burrow Walls Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Burrow Walls Roman fort, about halfway. Next is Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house.
Walls Castle is the odd name for a Roman bath house, and the building still stands to a height of about four metres, one of the tallest Roman structures in northern England. It stood outside the fort of Glannoventa at Ravenglass, a harbour station at the meeting of three rivers, the Irt, the Mite and the Esk, and in the dry shelter of the dunes it has survived because its walls were thick and well built. You can walk around it on a short path from the village, and see niches and a doorway in the thick walls. The fort itself lies mostly under farmland and the railway.
Read the complete Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house sits at 153 km, about halfway. Next is back through Burrow Walls Roman fort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Burrow Walls Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Burrow Walls Roman fort comes up 191 km in. Next is back through Palisade ditches.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Palisade ditches write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
230 km in you reach back through Palisade ditches. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall between the east end of Dav.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall between the east end of Dav write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hadrian's Wall between the east end of Dav, late in the day. 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.
The route ends here after 283 km.
Birdoswald Roman fort and the section of H → Hadrian's Wall between the east end of Dav is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall between the east end of Dav → Palisade ditches is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Palisade ditches → Burrow Walls Roman fort is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Burrow Walls Roman fort → Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house → back through Burrow Walls Roman fort is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Burrow Walls Roman fort → back through Palisade ditches is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Palisade ditches → back through Hadrian's Wall between the east end of Dav is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall between the east end of Dav → Birdoswald Roman fort and the section of H is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.