Housesteads fort and Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
324 km
Riding-time estimate
5 h 30
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.
A 324 km round trip from Bardon Mill - roughly 5 h 30 in the saddle. It goes by way of Hadrian's Wall between the road to Garthsi, Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be, Low Mire and Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house. The line favours views over speed.
Scenic road chapters
Hadrian's Wall between the road to Garthsi → Drumburgh Roman fort and
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 37 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
Length
36 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Housesteads fort
Of all the forts on Hadrian's Wall, Housesteads is the one that most people picture. It stands on the edge of the Whin Sill, high above the moors, with long grey walls running along the ridge on either side and an enormous view in every direction. The Romans called it Vercovicium, and from the road it takes about ten minutes to walk up the hill from the car park and museum to the gate, with the wind in your face.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Housesteads fort is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall between the road to Garthsi.
2. Hadrian's Wall between the road to Garthsi
The Emperor Hadrian visited Britain in AD 122 and ordered a wall built from coast to coast, and the soldiers who did the work left their marks in stone that still stands across the north of England. The section near Brampton, in Cumbria, lies toward the western end of the Wall, where it crossed gentler country toward Carlisle and the Solway Firth. Here the Wall was first built partly in turf and later rebuilt in stone, and the remains of turrets, milecastles and the ditch can still be traced in the fields. Hadrian's Wall is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall between the road to Garthsi comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be.
3. Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be
The small Roman fort at Drumburgh sat on a low rise above the Solway marshes, guarding a stretch of Hadrian's Wall where the frontier ran along the edge of the firth towards its western end at Bowness. Nothing much survives of the fort itself, but its stones did not go far. Drumburgh Castle, a fortified farmhouse built in the sixteenth century by the Dacre family, is clearly made from reused Roman masonry, and you can still pick out dressed blocks and even the odd carved fragment set into its walls.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 68 km into the recorded legs you reach Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be. Next is Low Mire.
4. Low Mire
Low Mire lies in the quiet farmland behind the Cumbrian coast, near Dearham and Maryport, where the land slopes gently down to the Solway Firth and the hills of southern Scotland rise across the water. It is an area of small fields, hedges and scattered farms, with the Lake District fells visible to the south-east on clear days.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Low Mire, about halfway. Next is Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house.
5. Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house
Walls Castle is the odd name for a Roman bath house, and the building still stands to a height of about four metres, one of the tallest Roman structures in northern England. It stood outside the fort of Glannoventa at Ravenglass, a harbour station at the meeting of three rivers, the Irt, the Mite and the Esk, and in the dry shelter of the dunes it has survived because its walls were thick and well built. You can walk around it on a short path from the village, and see niches and a doorway in the thick walls. The fort itself lies mostly under farmland and the railway.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 256 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall between the road to Garthsi.
8. back through Hadrian's Wall between the road to Garthsi
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 324 km.
Leg by leg
Housesteads fort to Hadrian's Wall between the road to Garthsi
Housesteads fort → Hadrian's Wall between the road to Garthsi is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall between the road to Garthsi to Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be
Hadrian's Wall between the road to Garthsi → Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be to Low Mire
Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be → Low Mire is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Low Mire to Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house
Low Mire → Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house to back through Low Mire
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house → back through Low Mire is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Low Mire to back through Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be
back through Low Mire → back through Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be to back through Hadrian's Wall between the road to Garthsi
back through Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be → back through Hadrian's Wall between the road to Garthsi is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall between the road to Garthsi to Housesteads fort
back through Hadrian's Wall between the road to Garthsi → Housesteads fort is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.