CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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116 km from Hexham to Hexham, about 2 h 24 of riding. The stops in between: Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet, Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo, The vallum and early Roman road between th and Fell End Roman temporary camp and section.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet comes up 16 km in. Next is Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo.
The stretch of Wall near Cawfields is where the whole thing makes the most sense, because the Romans used the landscape. Here the Great Whin Sill, a hard ridge of dark dolerite, rises in a line of crags along the north, and the Wall runs along the top of it, looking down over a drop on one side and a long slope on the other. Close to Cockmount Hill, the Wall and its southern ditch, the vallum, are both visible, and the milefortlet at Cawfields is one of the best preserved on the line, a square enclosure with a gateway still standing. Nearby, an old quarry has filled with water to make a small, dark lake at the foot of the crags.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
33 km in you reach Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo. Next is The vallum and early Roman road between th.
From the Military Road near Sewingshields, look south and you will see a long, straight scar running across the moorland: two mounds and a ditch, keeping pace with the Wall a short way behind it. That is the vallum, the great earthwork the Romans dug along the south side of the frontier to mark a military zone, and running alongside it here are traces of an early Roman road. This stretch near Housesteads is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site, and it is one of the places where the full layout of the frontier, wall, ditch, vallum and road, is easiest to read in the landscape.
Read the complete The vallum and early Roman road between th write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The vallum and early Roman road between th, about halfway. Next is Fell End Roman temporary camp and section.
Haltwhistle likes to call itself the centre of Britain, a claim based on measurements that no one outside the town quite trusts, but which has produced a very good tourist sign. The town sits in the South Tyne valley, a few kilometres south of Hadrian's Wall, and the wall and vallum between Fell End and the neighbouring crags form one of the most atmospheric sections of the whole frontier. The label here mentions a Roman temporary camp, and the district is full of such earthworks, built by marching legions as they moved through the area.
Read the complete Fell End Roman temporary camp and section write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fell End Roman temporary camp and section sits at 66 km, about halfway. Next is back through The vallum and early Roman road between th.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The vallum and early Roman road between th write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through The vallum and early Roman road between th comes up 82 km in. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
98 km in you reach back through Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo. Next is back through 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet, late in the day. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 116 km.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal → Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet → Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo → The vallum and early Roman road between th is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The vallum and early Roman road between th → Fell End Roman temporary camp and section is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fell End Roman temporary camp and section → back through The vallum and early Roman road between th is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The vallum and early Roman road between th → back through Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo → back through Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and associated features bet → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.