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 257 km round trip from Hexham - roughly 5 h in the saddle. On the way it passes Hadrian's Wall, Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari, Skinburness and Burrow Walls Roman fort. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The North Tyne comes down from the Kielder hills and the empty moorland of the border, and at Chollerford it passes beneath an old stone bridge on its way to meet the South Tyne near Hexham. Just west of the bridge, the Wall strides away uphill from Chesters fort, and this stretch, with the Wall and the vallum running together across farmland and woods, is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Chesters write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Chesters is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall.
If you only have time for one stretch of Hadrian's Wall, make it the central section between Haltwhistle and Housesteads. Here the Wall runs along the top of the Whin Sill, a long ridge of hard volcanic rock that forms a natural cliff facing north, and the stone curtain rides the crests like a rollercoaster, dipping into gaps and climbing again. Built from AD 122 on the orders of the Emperor Hadrian, it stretched about seventy-three miles from coast to coast, with milecastles, turrets and forts along its length. The UNESCO listing covers it as part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari.
Carlisle has been a frontier city for nearly two thousand years, and the vallum that runs across its northern edge is part of the reason. North of the River Eden, in the suburb of Stanwix, stood the largest fort on the whole of Hadrian's Wall, home to a cavalry regiment a thousand strong. The fort lies under the streets and the churchyard now, but the line of the Wall and its rear earthwork, the vallum, can be traced across the fields and gardens to the west, and walkers on the national trail follow it out of the city towards the Solway.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 57 km into the recorded legs you reach Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari. Next is Skinburness.
Skinburness is a scatter of houses at the tip of a shingle spit on the Solway coast of Cumbria, just north of Silloth, looking across the wide, shimmering estuary to the hills of Scotland. When the tide goes out, the Solway empties into vast expanses of sand and mud, with channels winding through them, and the light changes constantly as clouds race overhead. On clear evenings, the sunsets over the Scottish hills, with the dark bulk of Criffel opposite, are spectacular.
Read the complete Skinburness write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Skinburness, about halfway. Next is Burrow Walls Roman fort.
On the northern edge of Workington, near the mouth of the river Derwent, a fragment of stone wall stands alone in a field, a jagged piece of masonry rising above the grass. It is part of Burrow Walls, a Roman fort that guarded the Cumbrian coast, one of the chain of defences that extended from the western end of Hadrian's Wall down the shore to watch for raiders crossing from Scotland and Ireland. Much of the fort's stone was reused in a medieval building on the site, and what survives today is modest, but it is part of the Hadrian's Wall World Heritage site and has a lonely charm, with views over the sea and the river.
Read the complete Burrow Walls Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Burrow Walls Roman fort sits at 145 km, about halfway. Next is back through Skinburness.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Skinburness write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Skinburness comes up about 160 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 198 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hadrian's Wall, late in the day. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Chesters.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Chesters write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 257 km.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Chesters → Hadrian's Wall is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall → Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari → Skinburness is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Skinburness → Burrow Walls Roman fort is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Burrow Walls Roman fort → back through Skinburness is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Skinburness → back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari → back through Hadrian's Wall is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Chesters is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.