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.
From Birtley it runs 146 km to Birtley; allow about 2 h 06 of riding. The stops in between: Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630, Roman fort, Durham Castle and Cathedral and back through Roman fort. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 29 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Between Hexham and Haydon Bridge, the river Tyne runs through a wide green valley, and on the ridge to the north the line of Hadrian's Wall can be traced across fields and woods in a series of ditches, banks and stretches of masonry.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Roman fort.
Newcastle got its name from a castle built in 1080 by Robert Curthose, eldest son of William the Conqueror, but the hilltop he chose above the Tyne had already been used for centuries. Beneath the Castle Keep and the Black Gate lie the remains of Pons Aelius, a small Roman fort that guarded a bridge across the river near the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. The name honoured Hadrian himself, whose family name was Aelius. Outlines of the fort are marked in the paving around the keep, and the Swing Bridge below crosses the river close to where the Roman bridge stood.
Read the complete Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 44 km into the recorded legs you reach Roman fort. 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 Roman fort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Roman fort sits at 108 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 comes up about 127 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road closes the day.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 → Roman fort is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Roman fort → Durham Castle and Cathedral is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Durham Castle and Cathedral → back through Roman fort is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Roman fort → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.