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.
A 235 km round trip from Greenhead - roughly 3 h 27 in the saddle. The stops in between: The Roman fort and associated civil settle, Parton Roman fort and back through The Roman fort and associated civil settle. The line favours views over speed.
Of all the places where Hadrian's Wall still behaves like a wall, Walltown is one of the most dramatic. The masonry rides the crest of the Great Whin Sill, a sheet of hard dark dolerite that pushed up through the surrounding rock about three hundred million years ago and then weathered into a line of cliffs facing north. The Roman engineers simply put their wall on top of the cliff, so the stones rise and fall with the crags, dipping into gaps the locals call nicks and climbing out again. Stand up there on a windy day and look north towards the empty country of Northumberland and you understand exactly why they chose the line.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall between Walltown Quarry Eas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall between Walltown Quarry Eas is where the day begins. Next is The Roman fort and associated civil settle.
Bowness-on-Solway is where Hadrian's Wall ends, or begins, depending on which way you are walking. This quiet village on the southern shore of the Solway Firth sits on top of the Roman fort of Maia, the second largest on the Wall, and its civilian settlement, which together make up the site on the label, part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. Almost nothing of the fort survives above ground, as much of the stone went into the houses, church and farm buildings of the village, but you can find Roman stones reused in walls if you look closely.
Read the complete The Roman fort and associated civil settle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Roman fort and associated civil settle comes up about 57 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 118 km into the recorded legs you reach Parton Roman fort. Next is back through The Roman fort and associated civil settle.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Roman fort and associated civil settle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through The Roman fort and associated civil settle, late in the day. Next is Hadrian's Wall between Walltown Quarry Eas.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall between Walltown Quarry Eas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Hadrian's Wall between Walltown Quarry Eas. That is the ride.
Hadrian's Wall between Walltown Quarry Eas → The Roman fort and associated civil settle is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Roman fort and associated civil settle → Parton Roman fort is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Parton Roman fort → back through The Roman fort and associated civil settle is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Roman fort and associated civil settle → Hadrian's Wall between Walltown Quarry Eas is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.