Why this ride
126 km from Gateshead to Gateshead, about 1 h 51 of riding. It goes by way of Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc, The Roman fort, Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s and back through The Roman fort.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 2 and Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 126 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 51
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 2
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.
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 2 is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc.
2. Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc
Most people meet Hadrian's Wall in the wild middle section around Housesteads, where it rides the crags of the Whin Sill. Out here at the eastern end, a few miles from Newcastle, it is a quieter, more domestic affair, and that is part of its charm. Heddon on the Wall, four kilometres away, keeps one of the longest surviving stretches of the wall's full broad foundation on this side of the country, a solid run of masonry beside the road, and the ground around it preserves the vallum, the great flat-bottomed ditch with banks on either side that the Romans dug just south of the wall to mark the military zone. Begun under the emperor Hadrian in AD 122, the whole frontier ran from the Tyne to the Solway, and it is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc 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 between the Marc comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Roman fort.
3. The Roman fort
Down by the North Tyne, where the river runs fast over stones under a canopy of trees, a Roman cavalry regiment once kept its horses and its very comfortable bath house. Chesters, the fort the Romans called Cilurnum, sat astride Hadrian's Wall near the village of Walwick, guarding the bridge that carried the wall across the river. It is one of the best preserved forts along the wall, with the headquarters building, the commander's house and the bath house still standing to knee or shoulder height, and the remains of the bridge abutment visible on the far bank.
Read the complete The Roman fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 41 km into the recorded legs you reach The Roman fort. Next is Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s.
4. Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s
Long before the wall existed, the Romans ran a road across the narrow neck of northern England, the Stanegate, linking the forts of Corbridge on the Tyne and Carlisle on the Eden. It was built around AD 80, in the time of the general Agricola, and it served as the frontier line for a generation before Hadrian ordered the wall to be built a little to the north. Forts and fortlets sat along it, among them Vindolanda and the small post at Haltwhistle Burn, and temporary camps like the one at Milestone House show where troops stopped on the move.
Read the complete Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s, about halfway. Next is back through The Roman fort.
5. back through The Roman fort
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Roman fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The Roman fort sits at 101 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc.
6. back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc 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 between the Marc comes up about 104 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 2.
7. 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.
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 2 closes the day.
Leg by leg
Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 2 to Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc
Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 2 → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc to The Roman fort
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc → The Roman fort is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Roman fort to Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s
The Roman fort → Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s to back through The Roman fort
Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s → back through The Roman fort is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Roman fort to back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc
back through The Roman fort → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc to Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 2
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc → Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 2 is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.