Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 0 and Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 0

   Wall mile zero is where Hadrian's Wall began, or ended, depending on which way you are riding, and it is in the most unlikely setting you could imagine: Wallsend, on the north bank of the Tyne, among terraced streets and the cranes of what was once one of the great shipbuilding rivers of the world. The town's name says it all. Here stood Segedunum, the easternmost fort of the wall, and its foundations have been laid bare beside the road, with a viewing tower that lets you see the whole plan at once, barracks, headquarters and gates, like a diagram on the ground.

   Read the complete Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 0 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 0 is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f.

2. 2. Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f

   Here, at the western edge of Newcastle, the Roman frontier starts to escape the city. Wall mile 8 lies around Newburn and Throckley, with Blaydon across the Tyne and the suburbs thinning into fields as you head west. The masonry itself has mostly vanished under roads, houses and farmland, but the line of the Wall and the great earthwork of the Vallum to its south can still be followed in hummocks, ditches and the occasional consolidated stretch of stone, most famously a little further west at Heddon-on-the-Wall, where a long run survives at nearly its full original width.

   Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630.

3. 3. Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630

   Out at the eastern end of the frontier, the Wall leaves the moors behind and runs through gentle farmland toward Newcastle, and most of what survives here is not stone but earth: the vallum, a broad ditch flanked by banks that the Romans dug just south of the Wall along almost its entire length. Between the Tyne and the Military Road, near Heddon-on-the-Wall and Rudchester, the vallum can be traced in the fields as a long hollow, and the Wall itself lies largely under the road or as low courses in the grass. Its purpose is still debated, but most scholars see it as a boundary marking the military zone, controlling who could approach the Wall.

   Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 34 km into the recorded legs you reach Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f.

4. 4. back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f, late in the day. Next is Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 0.

5. 5. Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 0

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 0 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 0. That is the ride.