Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 5 and Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
109 km
Riding-time estimate
1 h 29
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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 109 km round trip from Benwell - roughly 1 h 29 in the saddle. On the way it passes Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc, Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac, Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel and Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 5
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 5 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.
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 14 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac.
3. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 26 km into the recorded legs you reach Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel.
4. Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel
Just west of Chollerford the road climbs onto higher ground and the Wall begins to show itself, first as a hump in the fields, then as a ditch and earthwork running alongside the tarmac. This is the central sector of Hadrian's Wall, built from the 120s on the orders of the emperor Hadrian to mark the northern edge of Roman Britain, and the stretch around Carrawburgh is one of the most atmospheric. The vallum, a broad ditch flanked by mounds on the southern side of the Wall, is especially clear here, and it shows the Roman frontier was not just a wall but a whole military zone, with forts, milecastles, turrets, roads and earthworks.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel, about halfway. Next is Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s.
5. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel comes up about 69 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac.
7. back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 83 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc.
8. back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 109 km.
Leg by leg
Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 5 to Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc
Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 5 → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc to Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac is 12 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac to Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel to Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel → Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s to back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel
Milestone House Roman temporary camp and s → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel to back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac to back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc is 12 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 5
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Marc → Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 5 is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.