Why this ride
From Greenhead it runs 279 km to Greenhead; allow about 4 h 16 of riding. It goes by way of Cardurnock, The English Lake District and back through Cardurnock. It strings together lakeside roads.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Frontiers of the Roman Empire and The English Lake District
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 279 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 16
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Cardurnock → The English Lake District
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 69 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 82 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Frontiers of the Roman Empire
The Wall comes into its own here, at the Irthing gorge, where the line runs along a high shelf above the river and you can see why the Romans picked it. Birdoswald fort, known to them as Banna, sits right on that edge, with a long view down the valley and the ground falling away to the water.
Read the complete Frontiers of the Roman Empire write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Frontiers of the Roman Empire is where the day begins. Next is Cardurnock.
2. Cardurnock
From Cardurnock the whole Solway coast opens out, and on a clear day you can see Criffel and the Scottish shore, the Lake District fells to the south and the long line of the tide marking out the sand. The peninsula is a lonely place, flat and breezy, with a few farms, a lot of birds and the remains of an old railway viaduct at Bowness a few kilometres away. That structure, a long iron bridge across the firth, linked Cumberland with Dumfriesshire from 1869 until it closed in the 1920s and was taken down in the 1930s. It carried iron ore from Cumbria to the Scottish furnaces and, according to the stories, thirsty Scots across to Bowness on the days when their pubs were closed.
Read the complete Cardurnock write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cardurnock comes up about 57 km into the recorded legs. Next is The English Lake District.
3. The English Lake District
Wordsworth wandered lonely as a cloud round here, and anybody who has ridden the Lake District on a wet bank holiday will understand the appeal of being lonely. The English Lake District, listed by UNESCO in 2017 as a cultural landscape, is a compact knot of mountains, lakes and valleys in Cumbria, shaped by glaciers and then by centuries of sheep farming, slate quarrying and, from the late eighteenth century, by poets, painters and tourists who came looking for the sublime.
Read the complete The English Lake District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 139 km into the recorded legs you reach The English Lake District. Next is back through Cardurnock.
4. back through Cardurnock
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cardurnock write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cardurnock, late in the day. Next is Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
5. Frontiers of the Roman Empire
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Frontiers of the Roman Empire write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Frontiers of the Roman Empire. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Frontiers of the Roman Empire to Cardurnock
Frontiers of the Roman Empire → Cardurnock is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cardurnock to The English Lake District
Cardurnock → The English Lake District is 82 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
The English Lake District to back through Cardurnock
The English Lake District → back through Cardurnock is 83 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Cardurnock to Frontiers of the Roman Empire
back through Cardurnock → Frontiers of the Roman Empire is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.