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.
147 km from Haydon Bridge to Haydon Bridge, about 1 h 57 of riding. It goes by way of Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Sunnybra, Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 7, Durham Castle and Cathedral and back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 7. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 33 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Here the Wall is at its most dramatic. In the central sector of Hadrian's Wall, north of Haydon Bridge and Hexham in Northumberland, the Roman frontier runs along the top of the Whin Sill, a long ridge of hard volcanic rock that breaks the moorland into a series of north-facing cliffs. The Romans built their wall right along the crest, using the natural defences, and the result is a line of stone that rises and falls with the crags like the spine of a great animal. Behind it, to the south, runs the vallum, a broad earthwork ditch with mounds on either side that marked the military zone, still clearly visible across the fields.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Sunnybra.
Just east of the point where the A68 crosses the line of Hadrian's Wall, at Portgate, the Romans had a gateway through the frontier for Dere Street, the great road running north from York into Scotland. Today the A68 follows much the same course, and the wall and its vallum run east and west across the fields here, sometimes visible as a bank or a ditch, sometimes buried under the Military Road. A little to the east, the fort of Halton Chesters, known to the Romans as Onnum, lies under the fields, and like the rest of the frontier, this stretch is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Sunnybra write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Sunnybra comes up about 19 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 7.
It takes a little imagination to find the Roman frontier in Benwell, a suburb on the western hill of Newcastle, but it is there, tucked between semi-detached houses and bus stops. Wall mile 7 counts the distance from the Wall's eastern end at Wallsend, and in this part of the city the Romans built a fort called Condercum on the high ground above the Tyne, with fine views up and down the river. Most of it now lies under roads and housing, yet two small survivals make the detour worthwhile.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 7 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 40 km into the recorded legs you reach Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 7. Next is Durham Castle and Cathedral.
The river Wear loops around a rocky peninsula in a tight horseshoe, and on top of it, rising above the trees, stand Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle, one of the most impressive views in Britain. The Normans built both in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, soon after the Conquest, as a statement of power in the turbulent north. The cathedral is a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture, with massive columns carved with zigzags and spirals, and its stone rib vaults are among the earliest of their kind in Europe, pointing the way to Gothic architecture. Together, castle and cathedral were listed by UNESCO in 1986.
Read the complete Durham Castle and Cathedral write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Durham Castle and Cathedral, about halfway. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 7.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 7 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 7 sits at 111 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Sunnybra.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Sunnybra write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Sunnybra comes up about 128 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel closes the day.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Sunnybra is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Sunnybra → Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 7 is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 7 → Durham Castle and Cathedral is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Durham Castle and Cathedral → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 7 is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 7 → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Sunnybra is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between Sunnybra → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.