CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
From Greenhead it runs 58 km to Greenhead; allow about 55 min of riding. The stops in between: The vallum and a British settlement betwee, Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp and back through The vallum and a British settlement betwee. The line favours views over speed.
If you only have time for one stretch of Hadrian's Wall, make it the central section between Haltwhistle and Housesteads. Here the Wall runs along the top of the Whin Sill, a long ridge of hard volcanic rock that forms a natural cliff facing north, and the stone curtain rides the crests like a rollercoaster, dipping into gaps and climbing again. Built from AD 122 on the orders of the Emperor Hadrian, it stretched about seventy-three miles from coast to coast, with milecastles, turrets and forts along its length. The UNESCO listing covers it as part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall is where the day begins. Next is The vallum and a British settlement betwee.
There is a stretch of Hadrian's Wall that everybody has seen in photographs: the Wall riding the crest of the Whin Sill like a stone ribbon, plunging into dips and climbing again, with a long, dark lake, Crag Lough, beneath the cliffs. This is it, near Steel Rigg and Once Brewed, and the site on the label, the vallum and the remains of a native British settlement, lies just to the south in the shadow of the crags. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site, and it is a reminder that people lived here long before the Romans and kept living here while the soldiers watched over them.
Read the complete The vallum and a British settlement betwee write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The vallum and a British settlement betwee comes up 17 km in. Next is Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp.
Roman armies on campaign dug in every night. Wherever they halted, soldiers threw up a rectangular earth rampart and ditch around their tents, and on Walwick Fell, a short way west of the North Tyne, the faint outline of one of those temporary camps survives in the rough pasture. You need a keen eye and low sunlight to make it out, but its presence is a reminder that the Wall was built, maintained and defended by thousands of men who lived and worked in these hills, sometimes under canvas, sometimes in stone forts.
Read the complete Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
33 km in you reach Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp. Next is back through The vallum and a British settlement betwee.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The vallum and a British settlement betwee write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through The vallum and a British settlement betwee, late in the day. Next is Hadrian's Wall.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Hadrian's Wall. That is the ride.
Hadrian's Wall → The vallum and a British settlement betwee is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The vallum and a British settlement betwee → Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp → back through The vallum and a British settlement betwee is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The vallum and a British settlement betwee → Hadrian's Wall is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.