Hadrian's Wall vallum between east side of and Red House Roman camp
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
149 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 44
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.
149 km from Carlisle to Carlisle, about 2 h 44 of riding. On the way it passes The vallum between the field boundary sout, The vallum between Cockmount Hill and Wall, Red House Roman camp and back through The vallum between Cockmount Hill and Wall. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Hadrian's Wall vallum between east side of
The Solway Firth, west of Carlisle, is a wide, shallow estuary where the Cumbrian plain opens out to the sea, and the marshes and farmland on its southern shore are the western end of Hadrian's Wall, with the Scottish hills visible on the far side. The land is low, wet and windy, with cattle in the fields and tall skies full of birds, and a visitor will find little that looks like Roman engineering until they look closely at the ground.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall vallum between east side of is where the day begins. Next is The vallum between the field boundary sout.
2. The vallum between the field boundary sout
Not every stretch of Hadrian's Wall is the dramatic crag-top masonry of the postcards, and this is one of the quieter parts: a section of the vallum, the great ditch-and-mound earthwork the Romans dug behind the wall, running across farmland near Brampton in Cumbria. The stone wall here was largely robbed out long ago for farms and churches, so what survives is often a long, soft hollow in the grass, a line you only notice once someone points it out, and then can't stop seeing.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The vallum between the field boundary sout comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is The vallum between Cockmount Hill and Wall.
3. The vallum between Cockmount Hill and Wall
The vallum is the strangest part of Hadrian's Wall, and the one that nobody fully understands. It is a great flat-bottomed ditch, with a mound on each side, running along the south of the Wall for its whole length, and it was dug soon after the Wall was begun. The usual explanation is that it marked the back edge of the military zone, a boundary that civilians were not meant to cross except at controlled crossings, but nobody knows quite what it was for. Between Cockmount Hill and the village of Walltown, the vallum is clear and well preserved, a green trench in the field that you can follow with the eye for a long way.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 52 km into the recorded legs you reach The vallum between Cockmount Hill and Wall. Next is Red House Roman camp.
4. Red House Roman camp
A few kilometres west of Hexham the South and North Tyne have long since joined, and the valley widens into a level green floor of fields, hedges and small woods, with the Wall's ridge just visible to the north. The Red House Roman camp lies in this farmland, about five kilometres from Haydon Bridge, Acomb and Hexham, on the Roman road known as the Stanegate, which ran across the neck of Britain from Carlisle to Corbridge.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The vallum between Cockmount Hill and Wall sits at 101 km, about halfway. Next is back through The vallum between the field boundary sout.
6. back through The vallum between the field boundary sout
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The vallum between the field boundary sout comes up about 122 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall vallum between east side of.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall vallum between east side of closes the day.
Leg by leg
Hadrian's Wall vallum between east side of to The vallum between the field boundary sout
Hadrian's Wall vallum between east side of → The vallum between the field boundary sout is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The vallum between the field boundary sout to The vallum between Cockmount Hill and Wall
The vallum between the field boundary sout → The vallum between Cockmount Hill and Wall is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The vallum between Cockmount Hill and Wall to Red House Roman camp
The vallum between Cockmount Hill and Wall → Red House Roman camp is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Red House Roman camp to back through The vallum between Cockmount Hill and Wall
Red House Roman camp → back through The vallum between Cockmount Hill and Wall is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The vallum between Cockmount Hill and Wall to back through The vallum between the field boundary sout
back through The vallum between Cockmount Hill and Wall → back through The vallum between the field boundary sout is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The vallum between the field boundary sout to Hadrian's Wall vallum between east side of
back through The vallum between the field boundary sout → Hadrian's Wall vallum between east side of is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.