Grindon School Roman temporary camp and Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Banks Gr
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
64 km
Riding-time estimate
53 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.
From Haydon Bridge it runs 64 km to Haydon Bridge; allow about 53 min of riding. It goes by way of Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp, Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Banks Gr and back through Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Grindon School Roman temporary camp
Marching soldiers did not sleep in the open. Every night on campaign, a Roman army dug a ditch and threw up a rampart around its tents, and the faint outlines of these temporary camps are scattered across Northumberland, some dating from the conquest of the north, others from the building of the Wall. The camp near the old Grindon school, close to the Stanegate a little north of Haydon Bridge, is one of these. You will need a good map and a low sun to make out its banks.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Grindon School Roman temporary camp is where the day begins. Next is Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp.
2. Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp
Haltwhistle likes to call itself the centre of Britain, and whether or not you believe the measurements, it sits at the very heart of Hadrian's Wall country. Just outside the town, on a gentle slope called Sunny Rigg, the outlines of two Roman temporary camps have been traced, rectangular enclosures with rounded corners where units on the march, or building the wall, pitched their leather tents behind a bank and a ditch for a night or a season. They are part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site, though on the ground you will see only faint lines in the grass, best appreciated from the air or in low evening light.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp comes up about 14 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Banks Gr.
3. Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Banks Gr
North-east of Brampton, the Wall climbs out of the Irthing valley and runs along a ridge past the hamlet of Banks, and here you can see something many visitors miss: not only the Wall itself, but the vallum, the great earthwork ditch with banks on either side that the Romans dug just south of it. The vallum marked a military zone, a controlled strip where civilians could not wander freely, and seeing its long straight line beside the stone curtain makes the frontier feel less like a wall and more like a whole system of control.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Grindon School Roman temporary camp. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Grindon School Roman temporary camp to Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp
Grindon School Roman temporary camp → Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp to Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Banks Gr
Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Banks Gr is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Banks Gr to back through Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Banks Gr → back through Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp to Grindon School Roman temporary camp
back through Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp → Grindon School Roman temporary camp is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.