Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet and Twice Brewed Roman temporary camp

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet

   Camboglanna is the Roman name of the fort at Castlesteads, and the sound of it has a ring that the present quiet farmland does not. The fort sat on a ridge above the River Irthing, not far from Brampton, and it was one of the garrison posts on the western part of the wall. Little survives above ground, because the site was built over by a country house and gardens in the eighteenth century, but the line of the wall and the vallum, the great ditch behind it, can be traced across the fields nearby.

   Read the complete Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet is where the day begins. Next is Throp Roman fortlet.

2. 2. Throp Roman fortlet

   Throp is a farm name on the edge of Gilsland, in the narrow gap where the River Irthing slips between the northern Pennines and the moors that roll north towards the Scottish border. A small Roman fortlet stood here, close to the Stanegate, the road that ran along the valley before the Wall was built, and it is one of the many features that make up the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. Not much remains to see, but the setting is classic Wall country.

   Read the complete Throp Roman fortlet write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Throp Roman fortlet comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp.

3. 3. Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp

   Seatsides is a name on a map of fields, a spot where a Roman temporary camp is visible only as a faint square in the grass when the light is low. These camps were put up by marching armies, each night, with a ditch and a bank thrown around a regular rectangle, and some of them in the north of England survive as earthworks nearly two thousand years later. This one lies near Haltwhistle, in the Tyne Gap, the low pass that cuts between the Pennines and the Cheviot hills and has been the natural route from east to west across northern England since before the Romans.

   Read the complete Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 31 km into the recorded legs you reach Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum and their associ.

4. 4. Hadrian's Wall and vallum and their associ

   Gilsland is a village with a split personality. The boundary between Northumberland and Cumbria runs right through it, along the Poltross Burn, so the houses on one side are in one county and those on the other in another. Hadrian's Wall runs through it too, and the stretch of Wall, vallum and associated features around the village is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. The Wall here crosses the narrow gorge of the burn and the railway line, with a milecastle right next to the old station.

   Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum and their associ write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Hadrian's Wall and vallum and their associ, about halfway. Next is Twice Brewed Roman temporary camp.

5. 5. Twice Brewed Roman temporary camp

   The Twice Brewed inn gives its name to a stretch of Northumberland where the Roman frontier is at its most dramatic. Here the Great Whin Sill, a hard sheet of dark volcanic rock, breaks in a long line of cliffs facing north, and the Wall runs along the very edge of it, rising and falling like a stone roller-coaster. Haltwhistle, five kilometres off, is the nearest town, and Hexham lies a good deal further east.

   Read the complete Twice Brewed Roman temporary camp write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Twice Brewed Roman temporary camp sits at 66 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum and their associ.

6. 6. back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum and their associ

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum and their associ write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum and their associ comes up about 77 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp.

7. 7. back through Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 91 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp. Next is back through Throp Roman fortlet.

8. 8. back through Throp Roman fortlet

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Throp Roman fortlet write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Throp Roman fortlet, late in the day. Next is Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet.

9. 9. Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 129 km.