Why this ride
From Hexham it runs 225 km to Hexham; allow about 3 h 22 of riding. The stops in between: Boothby Roman fort, Blitterlees and back through Boothby Roman fort.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Haltonchesters Roman fort and Blitterlees
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 225 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 22
- 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 Boothby Roman fort.
2. Boothby Roman fort
Brampton is a small red-sandstone market town on the edge of the northern Pennines, and just outside it, on the line of the old Stanegate road, lay Boothby, one of the Roman forts that guarded the frontier before Hadrian's Wall was built. There is nothing much to see on the ground now, only a field and a slight rise, but the location is a good jumping-off point for some of the best riding and the best Wall sites in Cumbria.
Read the complete Boothby Roman fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Boothby Roman fort comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. Next is Blitterlees.
3. Blitterlees
Silloth sits on a flat spit of land on the Solway Firth, and from the shore you look across the water to the hills of Dumfriesshire, blue in clear weather and smudged away in rain. This was once a Roman frontier too. The line of Hadrian's Wall did not stop at the western end of the stone wall but continued down the Cumbrian coast as a chain of milefortlets and towers, small posts built to watch for raiders crossing by sea or by the tidal flats, and some of their sites lie on this shore. Blitterlees is a marsh and farm on the coast close to Silloth, and traces of those posts are found in the area, mostly as faint bumps and records rather than visible walls.
Read the complete Blitterlees write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 112 km into the recorded legs you reach Blitterlees. Next is back through Boothby Roman fort.
4. back through Boothby Roman fort
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Boothby Roman fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Boothby Roman fort, late in the day. Next is Haltonchesters Roman fort.
5. 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
Back at Haltonchesters Roman fort. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Haltonchesters Roman fort to Boothby Roman fort
Haltonchesters Roman fort → Boothby Roman fort is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Boothby Roman fort to Blitterlees
Boothby Roman fort → Blitterlees is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Blitterlees to back through Boothby Roman fort
Blitterlees → back through Boothby Roman fort is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Boothby Roman fort to Haltonchesters Roman fort
back through Boothby Roman fort → Haltonchesters Roman fort is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.