Why this ride
57 km from Greenhead to Greenhead, about 51 min of riding. The stops in between: Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp, Red House Roman camp and back through Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Crooks Roman temporary camp and Red House Roman camp
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 57 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 51 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Crooks Roman temporary camp
The Roman army on the march built a camp every night: a rectangle of ditch and rampart, with tents inside, defended by sentries. These temporary camps, often used only once or for a short campaign, left faint traces in the landscape, and many have been found from the air in the north of England. Crooks, near Haltwhistle and Greenhead, in the area where Northumberland meets Cumbria, is one of several temporary camps along the line of Hadrian's Wall, probably used by the soldiers who built the Wall in the second century.
Read the complete Crooks Roman temporary camp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Crooks Roman temporary camp is where the day begins. Next is Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp.
2. Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp
There is not much to see at Bean Burn, and that is rather the point. East of Haltwhistle, in the South Tyne valley a little below the line of Hadrian's Wall, archaeologists have traced the outline of a Roman temporary camp: a rectangle of low banks and ditches, often barely visible except from the air or in raking evening light. Camps like this were thrown up by soldiers on the march or during construction of the Wall, a night's or a season's shelter surrounded by a turf rampart and a ditch, with leather tents pitched inside in neat rows. Northumberland has an unusual concentration of them, and they tell a quieter story than the forts: of thousands of men moving across this landscape, digging in, moving on.
Read the complete Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp comes up about 13 km into the recorded legs. Next is Red House Roman camp.
3. Red House Roman camp
A few kilometres west of Hexham the South and North Tyne have long since joined, and the valley widens into a level green floor of fields, hedges and small woods, with the Wall's ridge just visible to the north. The Red House Roman camp lies in this farmland, about five kilometres from Haydon Bridge, Acomb and Hexham, on the Roman road known as the Stanegate, which ran across the neck of Britain from Carlisle to Corbridge.
Read the complete Red House Roman camp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 28 km into the recorded legs you reach Red House Roman camp. Next is back through Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp.
4. back through Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp, late in the day. Next is Crooks Roman temporary camp.
5. Crooks Roman temporary camp
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Crooks Roman temporary camp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Crooks Roman temporary camp. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Crooks Roman temporary camp to Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp
Crooks Roman temporary camp → Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp to Red House Roman camp
Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp → Red House Roman camp is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Red House Roman camp to back through Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp
Red House Roman camp → back through Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp to Crooks Roman temporary camp
back through Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp → Crooks Roman temporary camp is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.