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.
From Wallsend it runs 243 km to Wallsend; allow about 3 h 30 of riding. The stops in between: Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B632, Stone circle, The vallum between the road to Garthside a and Defended settlement and Roman signal stati. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Most people picture Hadrian's Wall striding across lonely Northumberland crags. Wall mile 2 is the other end of the story: an urban stretch in the east of Newcastle upon Tyne, where the wall ran from the fort at Wallsend, Segedunum, westwards along the north bank of the Tyne towards the bridge and fort at Pons Aelius, beneath today's city centre. Very little of the wall itself is visible here; terraced houses, roads and shipyards have long since swallowed it. But you are standing on the first miles of a frontier that once ran coast to coast for about eighty Roman miles.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 2 is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B632.
East of Hexham, the Roman frontier crosses gentler country, a rolling landscape of fields, hedges and small woods north of the Tyne valley. Here the Wall itself has mostly disappeared, its stones long since recycled into farmhouses, field walls and the eighteenth-century Military Road that runs along its line. But the vallum, the broad ditch with mounds on either side that marked the southern edge of the military zone, survives in places as a clear earthwork across the fields, and walkers on the Hadrian's Wall Path follow it for miles. This section is part of the same World Heritage site as the dramatic crags further west.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B632 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B632 comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Stone circle.
Long before the Romans built their wall across northern England, people were raising stones on these moors. Close to the line of Hadrian's Wall, in the hills north of Haydon Bridge and Haltwhistle, a small prehistoric stone circle stands in the rough grass, a few weathered boulders arranged in a ring, probably dating from the Bronze Age. Its exact purpose is unknown, but circles like this were often used for ceremonies or burials, and many have legends attached to them.
Read the complete Stone circle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 56 km into the recorded legs you reach Stone circle. Next is The vallum between the road to Garthside a.
Brampton is a small red sandstone market town at the edge of the Pennines, and just north of it, where the land rises toward the Irthing valley, a stretch of the vallum runs across the fields near Garthside. The vallum, the great ditch and banks that ran south of Hadrian's Wall, is often clearer than the wall itself in this area, because the stone of the wall was carried off long ago to build farmhouses, churches and even a priory. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site, and it is best seen in low light, when the earthworks cast long shadows.
Read the complete The vallum between the road to Garthside a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The vallum between the road to Garthside a, about halfway. Next is Defended settlement and Roman signal stati.
The South Tyne valley below Haydon Bridge is one of the best places in England to understand why the Romans chose this line. To the north rises the long whinstone crag, the Whin Sill, a hard dark rock that stands up in a series of cliffs facing north, and along its crest Hadrian's Wall once ran. South of it lies the valley, with the river, the old road called the Stanegate and a string of forts. A defended settlement and signal station here would have been part of this web, sitting on high ground where a fire or flag could pass news along the line in minutes.
Read the complete Defended settlement and Roman signal stati write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Defended settlement and Roman signal stati sits at 137 km, about halfway. Next is back through The vallum between the road to Garthside a.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The vallum between the road to Garthside a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through The vallum between the road to Garthside a comes up about 156 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Stone circle.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stone circle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 186 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Stone circle. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B632.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B632 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B632, late in the day. Next is Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 2.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 243 km.
Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 2 → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B632 is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B632 → Stone circle is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stone circle → The vallum between the road to Garthside a is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The vallum between the road to Garthside a → Defended settlement and Roman signal stati is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Defended settlement and Roman signal stati → back through The vallum between the road to Garthside a is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The vallum between the road to Garthside a → back through Stone circle is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stone circle → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B632 is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B632 → Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 2 is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.