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.
A 404 km round trip from Greenhead - roughly 5 h 47 in the saddle. It goes by way of Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp, Hadrian's Wall and vallum from Throckley t, Durham Castle and Cathedral and Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 37 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Crooks Roman temporary camp is where the day begins. Next is Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp.
Roman armies on campaign dug in every night. Wherever they halted, soldiers threw up a rectangular earth rampart and ditch around their tents, and on Walwick Fell, a short way west of the North Tyne, the faint outline of one of those temporary camps survives in the rough pasture. You need a keen eye and low sunlight to make it out, but its presence is a reminder that the Wall was built, maintained and defended by thousands of men who lived and worked in these hills, sometimes under canvas, sometimes in stone forts.
Read the complete Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum from Throckley t.
Heddon-on-the-Wall is the place where the Wall comes up out of the suburbs and stands in the open. Here, west of Newcastle, a stretch of the Wall's foundation and lower courses survives beside the village, one of the few places in the east where it rises above knee height, and it is of the so-called Broad Wall type, wider than the narrower version built later in the sequence. The Romans changed their plan during construction, and here you can read the evidence in stone. Beside it, the vallum shows as a shallow ditch, and a short walk takes you along the line toward Throckley.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum from Throckley t write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 59 km into the recorded legs you reach Hadrian's Wall and vallum from Throckley t. Next is Durham Castle and Cathedral.
The river Wear loops around a rocky peninsula in a tight horseshoe, and on top of it, rising above the trees, stand Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle, one of the most impressive views in Britain. The Normans built both in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, soon after the Conquest, as a statement of power in the turbulent north. The cathedral is a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture, with massive columns carved with zigzags and spirals, and its stone rib vaults are among the earliest of their kind in Europe, pointing the way to Gothic architecture. Together, castle and cathedral were listed by UNESCO in 1986.
Read the complete Durham Castle and Cathedral write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Durham Castle and Cathedral, about halfway. Next is Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of.
Fountains Abbey is the largest monastic ruin in Britain, and it stands in a valley so green and quiet that it hardly seems real. In 1132, a group of Benedictine monks, dissatisfied with the lax life at York, left their abbey and sought a stricter rule, and with the help of the archbishop, they settled in this remote valley beside the river Skell. They became Cistercians, and over the next four centuries the abbey grew rich on sheep and wool, building a huge church, a vaulted cellarium, and a tower that still rises above the ruins. Henry VIII dissolved the abbey in 1539, and the roofs were stripped for lead.
Read the complete Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of sits at 206 km, about halfway. Next is back through Durham Castle and Cathedral.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Durham Castle and Cathedral write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Durham Castle and Cathedral comes up about 294 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum from Throckley t.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum from Throckley t write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 343 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum from Throckley t. Next is back through Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp, late in the day. Next is Crooks Roman temporary camp.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Crooks Roman temporary camp write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 404 km.
Crooks Roman temporary camp → Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp → Hadrian's Wall and vallum from Throckley t is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum from Throckley t → Durham Castle and Cathedral is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Durham Castle and Cathedral → Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of is 93 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of → back through Durham Castle and Cathedral is 93 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Durham Castle and Cathedral → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum from Throckley t is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum from Throckley t → back through Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp → Crooks Roman temporary camp is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.