Why this ride
287 km from Greenhead to Greenhead, about 4 h 55 of riding. It goes by way of Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor, Skinburness, Burrow Walls Roman fort and Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel and Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 287 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 55
- 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 vallum between the fiel
Around Haltwhistle the wall country becomes the landscape everyone imagines: the Whin Sill, a long ridge of hard volcanic dolerite, rears up in a series of cliffs facing north, and the Romans used it as a ready-made rampart, running their stone wall along the very top. Between the crags and the road the vallum ditch runs across the fields as a broad, clear trench, and from any high point you can see the whole military system laid out: crag, wall, road and ditch side by side.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel 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 the fiel is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor.
2. Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor
On the eastern edge of Carlisle, where the M6 motorway sweeps north towards Scotland, the line of Hadrian's Wall crosses the fields and housing estates in a way that is barely visible. Yet the vallum, the great ditch the Romans dug south of the Wall, can still be traced here as a slight dip in the ground, and this stretch between the motorway and the outskirts of the city is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. It takes some imagination, but standing here you are on the line that marked the edge of the empire for nearly three hundred years.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Skinburness.
3. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 67 km into the recorded legs you reach Skinburness. Next is Burrow Walls Roman fort.
4. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Burrow Walls Roman fort, about halfway. Next is Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house.
5. Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house
Walls Castle is the odd name for a Roman bath house, and the building still stands to a height of about four metres, one of the tallest Roman structures in northern England. It stood outside the fort of Glannoventa at Ravenglass, a harbour station at the meeting of three rivers, the Irt, the Mite and the Esk, and in the dry shelter of the dunes it has survived because its walls were thick and well built. You can walk around it on a short path from the village, and see niches and a doorway in the thick walls. The fort itself lies mostly under farmland and the railway.
Read the complete Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house sits at 160 km, about halfway. Next is back through Burrow Walls Roman fort.
6. back through Burrow Walls Roman fort
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Burrow Walls Roman fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Burrow Walls Roman fort comes up about 186 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Skinburness.
7. back through Skinburness
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Skinburness write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 219 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Skinburness. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor.
8. back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor 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 vallum between the M6 motor, late in the day. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel.
9. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 287 km.
Leg by leg
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel to Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel → Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor to Skinburness
Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor → Skinburness is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Skinburness to Burrow Walls Roman fort
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 to Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house
Burrow Walls Roman fort → Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house to back through Burrow Walls Roman fort
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house → back through Burrow Walls Roman fort is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Burrow Walls Roman fort to back through Skinburness
back through 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 to back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor
back through Skinburness → back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor to Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel
back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.