Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 9 and Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
170 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 36
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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 170 km round trip from Newburn - roughly 2 h 36 in the saddle. It goes by way of The Roman fort, Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel, Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor and back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 9
Nine Roman miles west of the wall's starting point at Wallsend, the frontier is already climbing out of the Tyne valley, and here on the edge of Newburn and Heddon-on-the-Wall you can still find it in the fields. Emperor Hadrian ordered the wall in AD 122, a stone barrier across the narrowest part of northern Britain from the Tyne to the Solway, and behind it the army dug the Vallum, a broad ditch flanked by earth mounds that marked the military zone from the civilian south. On this stretch the Vallum is often easier to read than the wall itself, a long shallow trough running through the grass, especially when the evening light comes in low and picks out every bump.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 9 is where the day begins. Next is The Roman fort.
2. The Roman fort
Down by the North Tyne, where the river runs fast over stones under a canopy of trees, a Roman cavalry regiment once kept its horses and its very comfortable bath house. Chesters, the fort the Romans called Cilurnum, sat astride Hadrian's Wall near the village of Walwick, guarding the bridge that carried the wall across the river. It is one of the best preserved forts along the wall, with the headquarters building, the commander's house and the bath house still standing to knee or shoulder height, and the remains of the bridge abutment visible on the far bank.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Roman fort comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel.
3. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 57 km into the recorded legs you reach Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel. Next is Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor.
4. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 9 closes the day.
Leg by leg
Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 9 to The Roman fort
Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 9 → The Roman fort is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Roman fort to Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel
The Roman fort → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
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 back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel
Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel to back through The Roman fort
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel → back through The Roman fort is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Roman fort to Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 9
back through The Roman fort → Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 9 is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.