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.
From Carlisle it runs 327 km to Carlisle; allow about 4 h 39 of riding. The stops in between: Defended settlement and Roman signal stati, Parton Roman fort and back through Defended settlement and Roman signal stati. The line favours views over speed.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 61 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
When King Edward I died in 1307, he was camped on the Solway marshes, on his way north to deal with Robert the Bruce once more, and the spot is marked by a monument beside the road near Burgh by Sands. Long before him the Romans had built a fort here, called Aballava, on a low ridge above the tidal flats, with a garrison of troops from the Moorish provinces of North Africa. Today the little village is spread along a single road, and its church, St Michael's, is built partly of Roman stone and has a defensive tower, a reminder of the centuries of Border raiding that followed.
Read the complete Burgh by Sands Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Burgh by Sands Roman fort is where the day begins. Next is Defended settlement and Roman signal stati.
The South Tyne valley below Haydon Bridge is one of the best places in England to understand why the Romans chose this line. To the north rises the long whinstone crag, the Whin Sill, a hard dark rock that stands up in a series of cliffs facing north, and along its crest Hadrian's Wall once ran. South of it lies the valley, with the river, the old road called the Stanegate and a string of forts. A defended settlement and signal station here would have been part of this web, sitting on high ground where a fire or flag could pass news along the line in minutes.
Read the complete Defended settlement and Roman signal stati write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Defended settlement and Roman signal stati comes up about 54 km into the recorded legs. Next is Parton Roman fort.
Hadrian's Wall stopped at Bowness-on-Solway, but the Roman frontier did not. Down the Cumbrian coast, the army built a chain of forts, milefortlets and towers to watch the sea and stop raiders slipping round the end of the Wall, and Parton, just north of Whitehaven, was one of them. The fort is known from excavations and records rather than standing remains, and the coastal defences as a whole are included in the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire. Standing on the cliffs above the sea, you can see why the Romans worried: across the water lie the Isle of Man and, on clear days, the hills of Scotland.
Read the complete Parton Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 164 km into the recorded legs you reach Parton Roman fort. Next is back through Defended settlement and Roman signal stati.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Defended settlement and Roman signal stati write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Defended settlement and Roman signal stati, late in the day. Next is Burgh by Sands Roman fort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Burgh by Sands Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Burgh by Sands Roman fort. That is the ride.
Burgh by Sands Roman fort → Defended settlement and Roman signal stati is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Defended settlement and Roman signal stati → Parton Roman fort is 110 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Parton Roman fort → back through Defended settlement and Roman signal stati is 108 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Defended settlement and Roman signal stati → Burgh by Sands Roman fort is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.