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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
225 km from Benwell to Benwell, about 3 h 09 of riding. It goes by way of Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac, Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road, Watchclose Roman temporary camp and Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Wall mile 5 is in Newcastle, which means that the Roman frontier is under a bus route. The Wall began at Wallsend and ran west, and the antiquarians who surveyed it numbered every Roman mile from there, so mile five falls in Benwell, a hillside district of terraces above the Tyne. Here the old line is now more or less the West Road, a main road into the city, and a short way off the road you can find real Roman stone. A tiny temple dedicated to a local British god called Antenociticus stands in a small garden between modern houses, with its three altars copied in place, and the remains of the Vallum, the broad ditch south of the Wall, crosses a causeway nearby. The fort of Condercum stood on the hill above, with a fine view east down the river.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 5 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 5 is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac.
Just north of Hexham, the A road climbs out of the Tyne valley and meets the Roman frontier on a high, windy shoulder of Northumberland. Here, near Acomb, Wall and the crossing of the North Tyne at Chollerford, the line of Hadrian's Wall and its vallum runs across open farmland, sometimes visible as a low bank, sometimes followed by the road itself. Like every stretch of the frontier, it belongs to the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire, and this middle section is where the wall starts to feel serious, heading west into the wild central crags.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road.
Around Haltwhistle the wall climbs on to the Whin Sill, a hard ridge of dark volcanic rock that runs across northern England like a spine, and the effect is among the most dramatic on the whole frontier. The wall rides the crest of crags, rising and falling over the rock, with a steep drop to the north and long views over moorland, and the Roman engineers made full use of the natural defence. The vallum, a broad flat-bottomed ditch with mounds on either side, runs in the valley to the south, and it marks the boundary of the military zone behind the wall.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 55 km into the recorded legs you reach Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road. Next is Watchclose Roman temporary camp.
East of Carlisle, between the villages of Brampton and Wetheral, the countryside rolls gently towards the Pennines, with green fields, hedges and patches of woodland. Somewhere in these fields lie the faint traces of Watchclose, a Roman temporary camp, one of many marching camps built by soldiers on campaign or during the construction of Hadrian's Wall. These camps were enclosed by a ditch and bank and used for a night or a season, and today they are often visible only from the air or as slight undulations in the grass. Watchclose is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site.
Read the complete Watchclose Roman temporary camp write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchclose Roman temporary camp, about halfway. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s sits at 136 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchclose Roman temporary camp.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchclose Roman temporary camp write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchclose Roman temporary camp comes up about 141 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 168 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac, late in the day. Next is Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 5.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 5 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 225 km.
Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 5 → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road → Watchclose Roman temporary camp is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchclose Roman temporary camp → Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s → back through Watchclose Roman temporary camp is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchclose Roman temporary camp → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road 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 road → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac → Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 5 is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.