Why this ride
A 54 km round trip from Bardon Mill - roughly 50 min in the saddle. It goes by way of Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal, Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 and back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet and Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 54 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 50 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. Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet
This is the stretch of Hadrian's Wall that everyone pictures: the stone curtain running along the crest of the Whin Sill, a hard dolerite ridge that ends in sheer north-facing crags, with lakes like Crag Lough and Greenlee Lough glinting below. Housesteads fort is close by, clinging to the hillside with its barracks, granaries and famous communal latrines, and the Wall dips and climbs over each crag in a way that seems almost reckless as engineering. The Sycamore Gap tree, which stood in a dip in the ridge for generations, was felled in an act of vandalism in 2023, and the loss is still felt locally.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal.
2. Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal
North of Hexham, where the land rises above the Tyne valley, the B6318, the military road built in the eighteenth century partly on top of Hadrian's Wall, runs straight across open country, and here, near the hamlet of St Oswald's, the remains of the wall and the vallum, the great earthwork that ran along its southern side, are clearly visible in the fields. The vallum was a broad ditch flanked by mounds, marking a military zone, and its scale still impresses. This stretch is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal comes up about 14 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630.
3. Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630
Out at the eastern end of the frontier, the Wall leaves the moors behind and runs through gentle farmland toward Newcastle, and most of what survives here is not stone but earth: the vallum, a broad ditch flanked by banks that the Romans dug just south of the Wall along almost its entire length. Between the Tyne and the Military Road, near Heddon-on-the-Wall and Rudchester, the vallum can be traced in the fields as a long hollow, and the Wall itself lies largely under the road or as low courses in the grass. Its purpose is still debated, but most scholars see it as a boundary marking the military zone, controlling who could approach the Wall.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 27 km into the recorded legs you reach Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal.
4. back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal, late in the day. Next is Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet.
5. Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet to Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal
Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal to Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 to back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal to Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal → Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.