Brown Dikes Roman temporary camp and Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
56 km
Riding-time estimate
53 min
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
From Haydon Bridge it runs 56 km to Haydon Bridge; allow about 53 min of riding. On the way it passes Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s, Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel and back through Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Brown Dikes Roman temporary camp
Look for a faint rectangle in the rough grass north of the Military Road, a few kilometres west of Chollerford, and you will have found Brown Dikes, one of a cluster of Roman temporary camps on the high ground above the North Tyne. Nothing stands here, no walls or gates, only low earthworks that the grazing sheep have softened over nearly two thousand years. But these camps are among the most evocative traces of the Roman army in Britain, because they mark where soldiers actually slept and worked while the frontier was being built and garrisoned.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Brown Dikes Roman temporary camp is where the day begins. Next is Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s.
2. Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s
Long before the wall existed, the Romans ran a road across the narrow neck of northern England, the Stanegate, linking the forts of Corbridge on the Tyne and Carlisle on the Eden. It was built around AD 80, in the time of the general Agricola, and it served as the frontier line for a generation before Hadrian ordered the wall to be built a little to the north. Forts and fortlets sat along it, among them Vindolanda and the small post at Haltwhistle Burn, and temporary camps like the one at Milestone House show where troops stopped on the move.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s comes up about 13 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel.
3. Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel
West of Birdoswald the Wall changes character. The central crags fall behind, the River Irthing loops through its gorge below, and the frontier runs across gentler farmland towards Banks and Hare Hill, where one of the tallest surviving fragments of the Wall still stands, patched by later hands. Here too the vallum, the great earthwork south of the Wall, can be traced across the fields, and the remains of turrets at Banks East and Pike Hill sit right beside the road. It is a quieter stretch than the famous sections further east, and all the better for it.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 28 km into the recorded legs you reach Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel. Next is back through Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s.
4. back through Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Brown Dikes Roman temporary camp. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Brown Dikes Roman temporary camp to Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s
Brown Dikes Roman temporary camp → Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s to Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel
Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel to back through Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel → back through Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s to Brown Dikes Roman temporary camp
back through Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s → Brown Dikes Roman temporary camp is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.