Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so and The English Lake District

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so

   Between Bowness-on-Solway and Drumburgh, the road follows the shore of the Solway Firth along a strip of land so flat and low that the highest tides cover it, and the line of Hadrian's Wall and its vallum runs just inland, through fields and past farms. This stretch, near Port Carlisle and Glasson, is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. Little is visible of the Wall itself, which was robbed for stone long ago, but the vallum and other earthworks can be traced in places by those with a keen eye.

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   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo.

2. 2. Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo

   The stretch of Wall near Cawfields is where the whole thing makes the most sense, because the Romans used the landscape. Here the Great Whin Sill, a hard ridge of dark dolerite, rises in a line of crags along the north, and the Wall runs along the top of it, looking down over a drop on one side and a long slope on the other. Close to Cockmount Hill, the Wall and its southern ditch, the vallum, are both visible, and the milefortlet at Cawfields is one of the best preserved on the line, a square enclosure with a gateway still standing. Nearby, an old quarry has filled with water to make a small, dark lake at the foot of the crags.

   Read the complete Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo comes up about 64 km into the recorded legs. Next is The English Lake District.

3. 3. The English Lake District

   Wordsworth wandered lonely as a cloud round here, and anybody who has ridden the Lake District on a wet bank holiday will understand the appeal of being lonely. The English Lake District, listed by UNESCO in 2017 as a cultural landscape, is a compact knot of mountains, lakes and valleys in Cumbria, shaped by glaciers and then by centuries of sheep farming, slate quarrying and, from the late eighteenth century, by poets, painters and tourists who came looking for the sublime.

   Read the complete The English Lake District write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 172 km into the recorded legs you reach The English Lake District. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo.

4. 4. back through Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Hadrian's Wall between the track to Cockmo, late in the day. Next is Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so.

5. 5. Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Hadrian's Wall vallum between the track so. That is the ride.