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.
163 km from Carlisle to Carlisle, about 2 h 48 of riding. It goes by way of Kirkbride Roman fort, Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b, Parton Roman fort and back through Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Where does the Wall go when it reaches a city? In Carlisle, it takes a quiet route under the pavement. The Roman fort of Luguvalium stood here, on the south bank of the River Eden, to guard a crossing, and the line of the frontier ran north of the town, through what is now the suburb of Stanwix. Along the road between Houghton Road and the river, you are following a stretch where the Wall once stood, though you would need a map and a good imagination to see it. A small plaque, a piece of ditch or a slightly raised bank is all that remains.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall between Houghton Road and T write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall between Houghton Road and T is where the day begins. Next is Kirkbride Roman fort.
The tide turns the Solway Firth into an enormous, shifting plain of sand and water, and the Roman fort at Kirkbride stood at the edge of it. Here, at the western limit of the frontier in the lower Eden valley, the Romans built a fort to guard the crossing of the estuary, and the earthworks show a rectangular platform in a field by the village. The fort belonged to the Wall system, which continued along the coast, and the first thing a visitor realises is how big the view is. On a clear day you can see the Scottish hills across the water, and the ridges of Criffel and Burnswark, and the line of the shore bending away to the west.
Read the complete Kirkbride Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kirkbride Roman fort comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b.
When people talk about Hadrian's Wall they usually mean the stone barrier across the neck of England, but the system continued down the Cumbrian coast for dozens of kilometres, as a chain of small forts, called milefortlets, and watchtowers facing the Irish Sea. Tower 16b, at Mawbray, was one of those lookouts, standing on the low, windswept coast between Silloth and Maryport. The Romans feared raids by sea, and a line of towers gave warning along the coast, with signals passing from one to the next.
Read the complete Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 50 km into the recorded legs you reach Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b. Next is Parton Roman fort.
Hadrian's Wall stopped at Bowness-on-Solway, but the Roman frontier did not. Down the Cumbrian coast, the army built a chain of forts, milefortlets and towers to watch the sea and stop raiders slipping round the end of the Wall, and Parton, just north of Whitehaven, was one of them. The fort is known from excavations and records rather than standing remains, and the coastal defences as a whole are included in the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire. Standing on the cliffs above the sea, you can see why the Romans worried: across the water lie the Isle of Man and, on clear days, the hills of Scotland.
Read the complete Parton Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Parton Roman fort, about halfway. Next is back through Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b sits at 115 km, about halfway. Next is back through Kirkbride Roman fort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kirkbride Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Kirkbride Roman fort comes up about 139 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall between Houghton Road and T.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall between Houghton Road and T write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall between Houghton Road and T closes the day.
Hadrian's Wall between Houghton Road and T → Kirkbride Roman fort is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kirkbride Roman fort → Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b → Parton Roman fort is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Parton Roman fort → back through Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b → back through Kirkbride Roman fort is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kirkbride Roman fort → Hadrian's Wall between Houghton Road and T is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.