Hadrian's Wall between the M6 motorway and and Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
180 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 57
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 180 km round trip from Carlisle - roughly 2 h 57 in the saddle. The stops in between: Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so, Wolsty South tower 13b, Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B and back through Wolsty South tower 13b.
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 Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so.
2. Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so
Between Bowness-on-Solway and Drumburgh, the road follows the shore of the Solway Firth along a strip of land so flat and low that the highest tides cover it, and the line of Hadrian's Wall and its vallum runs just inland, through fields and past farms. This stretch, near Port Carlisle and Glasson, is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. Little is visible of the Wall itself, which was robbed for stone long ago, but the vallum and other earthworks can be traced in places by those with a keen eye.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Wolsty South tower 13b.
3. Wolsty South tower 13b
Hadrian's Wall gets the fame, but the Roman frontier did not simply stop at Bowness-on-Solway. Beyond the end of the wall, a chain of milefortlets and towers continued down the Cumbrian coast, watching the Solway Firth for raiders from the north. Wolsty South, tower 13b, was one of them, a small stone watchtower near Silloth on the low, windy coast. There is little to see today, often just a mark in the ground, but the site is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire listed by UNESCO, and its position tells a story: from here, Roman soldiers looked across the water to the hills of Scotland.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 59 km into the recorded legs you reach Wolsty South tower 13b. Next is Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B.
4. Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B
The western end of Hadrian's Wall is not where most people expect. Instead of a grand terminus, the frontier fades out among the tidal mud and salt marsh of the Solway Firth, near the village of Bowness-on-Solway, where the last fort once stood. Between Port Carlisle and Bowness the wall is almost entirely gone, its stones carried away for later buildings, and what survives is a line across the fields, a slight rise and a path along the shore. In this section the wall was originally built of turf rather than stone, a cheaper material for the flatter, softer ground.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so comes up about 150 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall between the M6 motorway and.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall between the M6 motorway and closes the day.
Leg by leg
Hadrian's Wall between the M6 motorway and to Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so
Hadrian's Wall between the M6 motorway and → Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so to Wolsty South tower 13b
Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so → Wolsty South tower 13b is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wolsty South tower 13b to Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B
Wolsty South tower 13b → Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B to back through Wolsty South tower 13b
Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B → back through Wolsty South tower 13b is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Wolsty South tower 13b to back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so
back through Wolsty South tower 13b → back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so to Hadrian's Wall between the M6 motorway and
back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so → Hadrian's Wall between the M6 motorway and is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.