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.
A 128 km round trip from Carlisle - roughly 2 h 00 in the saddle. The stops in between: Eight Roman inscriptions in the Roman quar, Stone circle, Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac and back through Stone circle. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
On the eastern edge of Carlisle, where the M6 motorway sweeps north towards Scotland, the line of Hadrian's Wall crosses the fields and housing estates in a way that is barely visible. Yet the vallum, the great ditch the Romans dug south of the Wall, can still be traced here as a slight dip in the ground, and this stretch between the motorway and the outskirts of the city is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. It takes some imagination, but standing here you are on the line that marked the edge of the empire for nearly three hundred years.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor is where the day begins. Next is Eight Roman inscriptions in the Roman quar.
Building Hadrian's Wall took an enormous amount of stone, and the Romans quarried it wherever they could find good sandstone near the line. In the woods and crags around Banks and Lanercost, east of Brampton, several of these quarries survive, and on the rock faces the soldiers who worked them left their marks: names, unit symbols and short inscriptions carved into the stone nearly two thousand years ago. Coombe Crag, near the Wall here, is one of the best known, with names scratched by men who were probably bored, tired and far from home. Finding them takes a bit of searching and some imagination, as the letters are worn and lichen-covered, but there is something deeply human about them.
Read the complete Eight Roman inscriptions in the Roman quar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Eight Roman inscriptions in the Roman quar comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Stone circle.
Long before the Romans built their wall across northern England, people were raising stones on these moors. Close to the line of Hadrian's Wall, in the hills north of Haydon Bridge and Haltwhistle, a small prehistoric stone circle stands in the rough grass, a few weathered boulders arranged in a ring, probably dating from the Bronze Age. Its exact purpose is unknown, but circles like this were often used for ceremonies or burials, and many have legends attached to them.
Read the complete Stone circle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 41 km into the recorded legs you reach Stone circle. 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, about halfway. Next is back through Stone circle.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stone circle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Stone circle sits at 102 km, about halfway. Next is back through Eight Roman inscriptions in the Roman quar.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Eight Roman inscriptions in the Roman quar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Eight Roman inscriptions in the Roman quar comes up about 107 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor closes the day.
Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor → Eight Roman inscriptions in the Roman quar is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Eight Roman inscriptions in the Roman quar → Stone circle is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stone circle → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac → back through Stone circle is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stone circle → back through Eight Roman inscriptions in the Roman quar is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Eight Roman inscriptions in the Roman quar → Hadrian's Wall vallum between the M6 motor is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.