Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 and Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Dubmill Point milefortlet 17

   Dubmill Point is where the Solway coast road comes closest to the sea, and on stormy days with a high tide, waves break right over the B5300 and the road can be closed. The point is a low spit of shingle and grass between Allonby and Silloth, and here the Romans built milefortlet 17, part of the coastal defences that extended the frontier of Hadrian's Wall down the Cumbrian shore. A small garrison watched the firth for boats crossing from the north, and signals passed from post to post along the coast. Little remains today, but the site is exposed and evocative, with the sea on one side and the flat fields of the coastal plain on the other.

   Read the complete Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 is where the day begins. Next is Cardurnock milefortlet.

2. 2. Cardurnock milefortlet

   The Cardurnock peninsula pokes out into the upper Solway Firth like a thumb, a flat, wind-scoured finger of farmland and salt marsh west of Bowness-on-Solway, with the tide sweeping in and out over the sands on three sides. Beyond the end of Hadrian's Wall, the Romans continued their defences down the coast with a chain of small forts and towers, and Cardurnock milefortlet was one of them, a small walled post with a handful of men keeping an eye on the fords and the open water. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site, though nothing much is visible now beyond the lie of the land.

   Read the complete Cardurnock milefortlet write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Cardurnock milefortlet comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End.

3. 3. Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End

   Out on the Solway plain the land flattens, the sky gets enormous, and the sea is never far off even when you cannot see it. The stretch of the vallum near West End lies between Carlisle and the village of Burgh by Sands, on the last run of Hadrian's Wall towards its western end at Bowness-on-Solway. Here the Roman frontier ran along the edge of the marshes and the estuary, where the tide sweeps in across vast sands and salt marsh. Nothing of the Wall stands above ground in this section, but the line is clear on the map, and the country around has a strange, quiet beauty.

   Read the complete Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 56 km into the recorded legs you reach Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End. Next is back through Cardurnock milefortlet.

4. 4. back through Cardurnock milefortlet

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Cardurnock milefortlet write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Cardurnock milefortlet, late in the day. Next is Dubmill Point milefortlet 17.

5. 5. Dubmill Point milefortlet 17

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Dubmill Point milefortlet 17. That is the ride.