Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall & and Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
148 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 20
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 Birtley it runs 148 km to Birtley; allow about 2 h 20 of riding. The stops in between: The section of Stanegate Roman road from F, Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The, Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be and back through Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The. The line favours views over speed.
Scenic road chapters
Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall & → The section of Stanegate
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 26 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
Length
19 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall &
Of all the Roman sites along Hadrian's Wall, Carrawburgh may be the most mysterious. The fort itself, called Brocolitia, is largely unexcavated, a grassy platform beside the Military Road, but just below it, in a boggy hollow, stands the reconstructed outline of a small temple of Mithras, the soldiers' god, whose cult was popular among the Roman army. The temple was excavated in 1949, and its three altars, now replaced by replicas, the originals being in the Great North Museum in Newcastle, were dedicated by commanders of the garrison. Nearby, a spring dedicated to the water goddess Coventina yielded an astonishing hoard of coins, altars and offerings when it was excavated in the nineteenth century, around thirteen thousand coins in all.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall & is where the day begins. Next is The section of Stanegate Roman road from F.
2. The section of Stanegate Roman road from F
Haltwhistle likes to call itself the centre of Britain, and on the road through the South Tyne valley it is easy to believe that this is where England quietly runs out of people. Just north of the town, the line of the Stanegate, the Roman road that linked Carlisle with Corbridge, crosses farmland on the flank of the valley. Little of it shows as more than a faint agger, a raised bank under the grass, but it is older than Hadrian's Wall, which runs along the crags a few kilometres to the north.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The section of Stanegate Roman road from F comes up about 19 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The.
3. Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The
Do not expect a great stone wall here. Near Brampton, on the stretch running out toward the A6071, Hadrian's Wall is mostly a matter of earthworks and imagination: a line in a field, a softened ditch, the long parallel banks of the vallum to the south. In this western sector the wall was originally built of turf and timber before being rebuilt in stone, and centuries of farmers and builders carried off the dressed stones for barns and churches. What survives is listed as part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire, and once your eye tunes in, you start seeing the line everywhere.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 43 km into the recorded legs you reach Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The. Next is Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be.
4. Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be
The small Roman fort at Drumburgh sat on a low rise above the Solway marshes, guarding a stretch of Hadrian's Wall where the frontier ran along the edge of the firth towards its western end at Bowness. Nothing much survives of the fort itself, but its stones did not go far. Drumburgh Castle, a fortified farmhouse built in the sixteenth century by the Dacre family, is clearly made from reused Roman masonry, and you can still pick out dressed blocks and even the odd carved fragment set into its walls.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The section of Stanegate Roman road from F comes up about 129 km into the recorded legs. Next is Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall &.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall & closes the day.
Leg by leg
Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall & to The section of Stanegate Roman road from F
Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall & → The section of Stanegate Roman road from F is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The section of Stanegate Roman road from F to Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The
The section of Stanegate Roman road from F → Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The to Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be
Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The → Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be to back through Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The
Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be → back through Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The to back through The section of Stanegate Roman road from F
back through Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The → back through The section of Stanegate Roman road from F is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The section of Stanegate Roman road from F to Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall &
back through The section of Stanegate Roman road from F → Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall & is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.