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.
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.
164 km from Carlisle to Carlisle, about 2 h 45 of riding. It goes by way of Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B, Wolsty South tower 13b, Burrow Walls Roman fort and back through Wolsty South tower 13b. The line favours views over speed.
Carlisle has been a frontier city for nearly two thousand years, and the vallum that runs across its northern edge is part of the reason. North of the River Eden, in the suburb of Stanwix, stood the largest fort on the whole of Hadrian's Wall, home to a cavalry regiment a thousand strong. The fort lies under the streets and the churchyard now, but the line of the Wall and its rear earthwork, the vallum, can be traced across the fields and gardens to the west, and walkers on the national trail follow it out of the city towards the Solway.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B.
The western end of Hadrian's Wall is not where most people expect. Instead of a grand terminus, the frontier fades out among the tidal mud and salt marsh of the Solway Firth, near the village of Bowness-on-Solway, where the last fort once stood. Between Port Carlisle and Bowness the wall is almost entirely gone, its stones carried away for later buildings, and what survives is a line across the fields, a slight rise and a path along the shore. In this section the wall was originally built of turf rather than stone, a cheaper material for the flatter, softer ground.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Wolsty South tower 13b.
Hadrian's Wall gets the fame, but the Roman frontier did not simply stop at Bowness-on-Solway. Beyond the end of the wall, a chain of milefortlets and towers continued down the Cumbrian coast, watching the Solway Firth for raiders from the north. Wolsty South, tower 13b, was one of them, a small stone watchtower near Silloth on the low, windy coast. There is little to see today, often just a mark in the ground, but the site is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire listed by UNESCO, and its position tells a story: from here, Roman soldiers looked across the water to the hills of Scotland.
Read the complete Wolsty South tower 13b write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 58 km into the recorded legs you reach Wolsty South tower 13b. Next is Burrow Walls Roman fort.
On the northern edge of Workington, near the mouth of the river Derwent, a fragment of stone wall stands alone in a field, a jagged piece of masonry rising above the grass. It is part of Burrow Walls, a Roman fort that guarded the Cumbrian coast, one of the chain of defences that extended from the western end of Hadrian's Wall down the shore to watch for raiders crossing from Scotland and Ireland. Much of the fort's stone was reused in a medieval building on the site, and what survives today is modest, but it is part of the Hadrian's Wall World Heritage site and has a lonely charm, with views over the sea and the river.
Read the complete Burrow Walls Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Burrow Walls Roman fort, about halfway. Next is back through Wolsty South tower 13b.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wolsty South tower 13b write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Wolsty South tower 13b sits at 105 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B comes up about 135 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari closes the day.
Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari → Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B → Wolsty South tower 13b is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wolsty South tower 13b → Burrow Walls Roman fort is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Burrow Walls Roman fort → back through Wolsty South tower 13b is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Wolsty South tower 13b → back through Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall between Port Carlisle and B → Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundari is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.