Hadrian's Wall vallum between the watercou and Twice Brewed Roman temporary camp
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
124 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 02
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.
A 124 km round trip from Annan - roughly 2 h 02 in the saddle. The stops in between: The vallum between the field boundary sout, Twice Brewed Roman temporary camp and back through The vallum between the field boundary sout. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Hadrian's Wall vallum between the watercou
The vallum is the strangest part of Hadrian's Wall, and a good place to see it is on the flat ground near Bowness-on-Solway. It is a broad, deep ditch with a flat bottom, flanked by two mounds of earth set back from the edge, and it ran along the south side of the wall for its whole length. Nobody is certain what it was for, but the best theory is that it marked the rear boundary of a military zone, a line that civilians could cross only at controlled points, which fits with the idea of the wall as a border of customs and security as well as defence.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall vallum between the watercou 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 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Twice Brewed Roman temporary camp.
3. Twice Brewed Roman temporary camp
The Twice Brewed inn gives its name to a stretch of Northumberland where the Roman frontier is at its most dramatic. Here the Great Whin Sill, a hard sheet of dark volcanic rock, breaks in a long line of cliffs facing north, and the Wall runs along the very edge of it, rising and falling like a stone roller-coaster. Haltwhistle, five kilometres off, is the nearest town, and Hexham lies a good deal further east.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Hadrian's Wall vallum between the watercou. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Hadrian's Wall vallum between the watercou to The vallum between the field boundary sout
Hadrian's Wall vallum between the watercou → The vallum between the field boundary sout is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The vallum between the field boundary sout to Twice Brewed Roman temporary camp
The vallum between the field boundary sout → Twice Brewed Roman temporary camp is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Twice Brewed Roman temporary camp to back through The vallum between the field boundary sout
Twice Brewed Roman temporary camp → back through The vallum between the field boundary sout is 28 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 the watercou
back through The vallum between the field boundary sout → Hadrian's Wall vallum between the watercou is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.