Hadrian's Wall between the M6 motorway and and Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
316 km
Riding-time estimate
4 h 53
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.
A 316 km round trip from Carlisle - roughly 4 h 53 in the saddle. The stops in between: Rise How tower 25a, Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal and back through Rise How tower 25a. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Hadrian's Wall between the M6 motorway and
The M6 motorway comes up the length of England and ends at Carlisle, only a few kilometres from the line of Hadrian's Wall, a fair joke for a road that also moves people from one side of a border to the other. The stretch of Wall between the motorway and the suburbs of Stanwix is a quiet one, where the line has to be guessed at from low earthworks and a few modern signs. Junction 43 sits just east of the city and serves the A69 towards Newcastle and the Roman Wall country, while the last junctions carry on to the north of the city and the road to Scotland.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall between the M6 motorway and is where the day begins. Next is Rise How tower 25a.
2. Rise How tower 25a
Hadrian's Wall does not simply stop at the Solway. Beyond Bowness, the Romans extended their frontier down the Cumbrian coast with a chain of milefortlets and towers, watching the shore against raiders crossing from what is now south-west Scotland. Rise How tower 25a is one of them, on the low cliffs just south of Maryport near Flimby, part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. Little is visible above ground, but standing here and looking out over the water, you can see why they bothered.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Rise How tower 25a comes up about 49 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal.
3. Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal
North of Hexham, where the land rises above the Tyne valley, the B6318, the military road built in the eighteenth century partly on top of Hadrian's Wall, runs straight across open country, and here, near the hamlet of St Oswald's, the remains of the wall and the vallum, the great earthwork that ran along its southern side, are clearly visible in the fields. The vallum was a broad ditch flanked by mounds, marking a military zone, and its scale still impresses. This stretch is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Hadrian's Wall between the M6 motorway and. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Hadrian's Wall between the M6 motorway and to Rise How tower 25a
Hadrian's Wall between the M6 motorway and → Rise How tower 25a is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rise How tower 25a to Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal
Rise How tower 25a → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal is 109 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal to back through Rise How tower 25a
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between St Oswal → back through Rise How tower 25a is 110 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Rise How tower 25a to Hadrian's Wall between the M6 motorway and
back through Rise How tower 25a → Hadrian's Wall between the M6 motorway and is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.