Why this ride
A 120 km round trip from Hexham - roughly 1 h 57 in the saddle. It goes by way of Limestone Corner Roman temporary camp, Vindolanda, Crooks Roman temporary camp and Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Haltonchesters Roman fort and Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 120 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 57
- 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.
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Haltonchesters Roman fort
Where Dere Street, the great Roman road north from York, met Hadrian's Wall, the Romans built a gateway, and a mile or so west of it they placed the fort of Haltonchesters, known to them as Onnum. Today the site is a grassy field on the edge of the Military Road above the Tyne valley, with little to see beyond the faint outline of ramparts. But the setting is the thing: rolling Northumberland farmland, stone walls, the Tyne below, and on a clear day views far to the north and south.
Read the complete Haltonchesters Roman fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Haltonchesters Roman fort is where the day begins. Next is Limestone Corner Roman temporary camp.
2. Limestone Corner Roman temporary camp
Limestone Corner is the most northerly point on Hadrian's Wall, and it is famous for a job left unfinished. The Romans dug a defensive ditch in front of the Wall along most of its length, but here they hit a band of hard whinstone, and after cutting some of the huge blocks free and splitting others with wedges, they simply gave up. The blocks still lie where they were left, some with the holes for the wedges visible, nearly nineteen centuries later. Nearby, the earthworks of a Roman temporary camp, where troops on the move once pitched their tents behind a ditch and bank, are part of the same Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site.
Read the complete Limestone Corner Roman temporary camp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Limestone Corner Roman temporary camp comes up about 13 km into the recorded legs. Next is Vindolanda.
3. Vindolanda
Vindolanda is the place where the Romans on the northern frontier start to sound like people. The fort stood on the Stanegate road, just south of the wall, and for several centuries it was rebuilt again and again, each new fort laid on top of the last. The damp, airless soil preserved wood and leather, and in 1973 archaeologists found thin wooden writing tablets covered in ink, letters written by soldiers, officers and their families in about AD 100. They are the oldest handwritten documents found in Britain.
Read the complete Vindolanda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 29 km into the recorded legs you reach Vindolanda. Next is Crooks Roman temporary camp.
4. Crooks Roman temporary camp
The Roman army on the march built a camp every night: a rectangle of ditch and rampart, with tents inside, defended by sentries. These temporary camps, often used only once or for a short campaign, left faint traces in the landscape, and many have been found from the air in the north of England. Crooks, near Haltwhistle and Greenhead, in the area where Northumberland meets Cumbria, is one of several temporary camps along the line of Hadrian's Wall, probably used by the soldiers who built the Wall in the second century.
Read the complete Crooks Roman temporary camp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Crooks Roman temporary camp, about halfway. Next is Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp.
5. Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp
There is not much to see at Bean Burn, and that is rather the point. East of Haltwhistle, in the South Tyne valley a little below the line of Hadrian's Wall, archaeologists have traced the outline of a Roman temporary camp: a rectangle of low banks and ditches, often barely visible except from the air or in raking evening light. Camps like this were thrown up by soldiers on the march or during construction of the Wall, a night's or a season's shelter surrounded by a turf rampart and a ditch, with leather tents pitched inside in neat rows. Northumberland has an unusual concentration of them, and they tell a quieter story than the forts: of thousands of men moving across this landscape, digging in, moving on.
Read the complete Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp sits at 67 km, about halfway. Next is back through Crooks Roman temporary camp.
6. back through Crooks Roman temporary camp
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Crooks Roman temporary camp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Crooks Roman temporary camp comes up about 77 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Vindolanda.
7. back through Vindolanda
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vindolanda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 92 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Vindolanda. Next is back through Limestone Corner Roman temporary camp.
8. back through Limestone Corner Roman temporary camp
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Limestone Corner Roman temporary camp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Limestone Corner Roman temporary camp, late in the day. Next is Haltonchesters Roman fort.
9. Haltonchesters Roman fort
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Haltonchesters Roman fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 120 km.
Leg by leg
Haltonchesters Roman fort to Limestone Corner Roman temporary camp
Haltonchesters Roman fort → Limestone Corner Roman temporary camp is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Limestone Corner Roman temporary camp to Vindolanda
Limestone Corner Roman temporary camp → Vindolanda is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vindolanda to Crooks Roman temporary camp
Vindolanda → Crooks Roman temporary camp is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Crooks Roman temporary camp to Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp
Crooks Roman temporary camp → Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp to back through Crooks Roman temporary camp
Bean Burn 1 Roman temporary camp → back through Crooks Roman temporary camp is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Crooks Roman temporary camp to back through Vindolanda
back through Crooks Roman temporary camp → back through Vindolanda is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Vindolanda to back through Limestone Corner Roman temporary camp
back through Vindolanda → back through Limestone Corner Roman temporary camp is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Limestone Corner Roman temporary camp to Haltonchesters Roman fort
back through Limestone Corner Roman temporary camp → Haltonchesters Roman fort is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.