Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 6 and Sunny Rigg 3 Roman temporary camp
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
226 km
Riding-time estimate
3 h 02
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 226 km round trip from Benwell - roughly 3 h 02 in the saddle. The stops in between: Hadrian's Wall & vallum between field boun, Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp, The Stangate at Crosby Lodge and Sunny Rigg 3 Roman temporary camp. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 6
Wall mile 6 is not a place name but a measurement, since the Romans divided Hadrian's Wall into numbered miles counting from the east, and the sixth mile falls at Benwell, now a western suburb of Newcastle. Here, between terraces of Victorian houses, the remains of the Roman fort of Condercum once looked out over the Tyne valley, and you can still see a stretch of the Wall's foundation, the base of a turret and the remains of a small temple dedicated to a local god, Antenociticus, one of the few such temples to survive along the frontier. The fort stood on a ridge above the river, a good place to watch for trouble and a good place to be seen.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 6 is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall & vallum between field boun.
2. Hadrian's Wall & vallum between field boun
Hadrian's Wall runs for about seventy-three miles across the north of England, from the Solway Firth in the west to the Tyne in the east, built on the orders of the Emperor Hadrian after his visit to Britain in 122 AD.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall & vallum between field boun comes up 35 km in. Next is Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp.
3. Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp
Haltwhistle likes to call itself the centre of Britain, and whether or not you believe the measurements, it sits at the very heart of Hadrian's Wall country. Just outside the town, on a gentle slope called Sunny Rigg, the outlines of two Roman temporary camps have been traced, rectangular enclosures with rounded corners where units on the march, or building the wall, pitched their leather tents behind a bank and a ditch for a night or a season. They are part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site, though on the ground you will see only faint lines in the grass, best appreciated from the air or in low evening light.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
69 km in you reach Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp. Next is The Stangate at Crosby Lodge.
4. The Stangate at Crosby Lodge
Before there was a Wall, there was a road. The Stanegate, a Roman route running east to west between the Tyne at Corbridge and the Eden at Carlisle, was the first frontier line in northern Britain, guarded by a string of forts decades before Hadrian ordered his great barrier built a little to the north. Near Crosby-on-Eden, a few miles east of Carlisle, the line of the old road passes through gentle farmland on the north bank of the Eden, and while there is little to see of the road itself, the landscape tells the story of how the Romans picked their way across this narrow neck of the country.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Stangate at Crosby Lodge, about halfway. Next is Sunny Rigg 3 Roman temporary camp.
5. Sunny Rigg 3 Roman temporary camp
Sunny Rigg is a name that sounds like a farm, and that is more or less what it is, a stretch of rough pasture on the high ground just north of Haltwhistle, in Northumberland, where archaeologists have found the faint outline of a Roman temporary camp. These camps were built by marching armies at the end of each day's journey, with a ditch and a rampart thrown up around the tents to protect them overnight, and they were abandoned the next morning. Most survive only as shallow earthworks or crop marks seen from the air, which is why the places are so evocative: they record a single night of an army's life on the march, two thousand years ago.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 226 km.
Leg by leg
Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 6 to Hadrian's Wall & vallum between field boun
Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 6 → Hadrian's Wall & vallum between field boun is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall & vallum between field boun to Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp
Hadrian's Wall & vallum between field boun → Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp to The Stangate at Crosby Lodge
Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp → The Stangate at Crosby Lodge is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Stangate at Crosby Lodge to Sunny Rigg 3 Roman temporary camp
The Stangate at Crosby Lodge → Sunny Rigg 3 Roman temporary camp is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sunny Rigg 3 Roman temporary camp to back through The Stangate at Crosby Lodge
Sunny Rigg 3 Roman temporary camp → back through The Stangate at Crosby Lodge is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Stangate at Crosby Lodge to back through Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp
back through The Stangate at Crosby Lodge → back through Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp to back through Hadrian's Wall & vallum between field boun
back through Sunny Rigg 2 Roman temporary camp → back through Hadrian's Wall & vallum between field boun is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall & vallum between field boun to Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 6
back through Hadrian's Wall & vallum between field boun → Hadrian's Wall in wall mile 6 is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.