Why this ride
318 km from Annan to Annan, about 4 h 40 of riding. It goes by way of Willowford Roman temporary camp, The English Lake District and back through Willowford Roman temporary camp. It strings together lakeside roads.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Herd Hill and The English Lake District
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 318 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 40
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Willowford Roman temporary camp → The English Lake District
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 88 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 99 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Herd Hill
Herd Hill is a modest rise in the flat country near Annan, the sort of landmark that appears on a map without much fanfare. What matters is where it lies: on the Scottish shore of the Solway, in Annandale, a broad farming valley that runs up to the Southern Uplands. Annan sits on its river, once a port with tobacco and timber trade, and has a long history as a border town where English and Scottish armies fought over a place that changed hands many times.
Read the complete Herd Hill write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Herd Hill is where the day begins. Next is Willowford Roman temporary camp.
2. Willowford Roman temporary camp
Rivers move, and the Irthing at Willowford proves it. When the Romans built the Wall here, they carried it across the river on a bridge, and the massive stone abutment of that bridge survives on the east bank, now well away from the water, because the river has shifted west over the centuries. Nearby, the earthwork outline of a Roman temporary camp, one of many marching camps built by units on campaign or on construction duty, lies in the fields. Temporary camps were ramparts of turf and ditches thrown up for a few nights or weeks, and their faint shapes are often best seen from the air or in low winter light.
Read the complete Willowford Roman temporary camp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Willowford Roman temporary camp comes up about 60 km into the recorded legs. Next is The English Lake District.
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 159 km into the recorded legs you reach The English Lake District. Next is back through Willowford Roman temporary camp.
4. back through Willowford Roman temporary camp
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Willowford 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 Willowford Roman temporary camp, late in the day. Next is Herd Hill.
5. Herd Hill
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Herd Hill write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Herd Hill. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Herd Hill to Willowford Roman temporary camp
Herd Hill → Willowford Roman temporary camp is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Willowford Roman temporary camp to The English Lake District
Willowford Roman temporary camp → The English Lake District is 99 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
The English Lake District to back through Willowford Roman temporary camp
The English Lake District → back through Willowford Roman temporary camp is 99 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Willowford Roman temporary camp to Herd Hill
back through Willowford Roman temporary camp → Herd Hill is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.