CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
From Bardon Mill it runs 141 km to Bardon Mill; allow about 2 h 18 of riding. It goes by way of Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac, Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 10, Roman fort and back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 10. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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.
Read the complete Housesteads fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Housesteads fort is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac.
Just north of Hexham, the A road climbs out of the Tyne valley and meets the Roman frontier on a high, windy shoulder of Northumberland. Here, near Acomb, Wall and the crossing of the North Tyne at Chollerford, the line of Hadrian's Wall and its vallum runs across open farmland, sometimes visible as a low bank, sometimes followed by the road itself. Like every stretch of the frontier, it belongs to the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire, and this middle section is where the wall starts to feel serious, heading west into the wild central crags.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 10.
Heddon-on-the-Wall is aptly named. Just west of Newcastle, on a ridge above the Tyne, the village sits right on the line of Hadrian's Wall, and at its eastern edge is the longest surviving stretch of the broad wall still visible in the east, a section of thick, solid masonry about a hundred metres long, complete with the foundations of a medieval kiln built into it. Wall mile 10 is the stretch around here, counting westward from Wallsend, and it is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. South of the wall, the vallum, a huge ditch flanked by earth mounds, can still be traced across the fields.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 10 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 39 km into the recorded legs you reach Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 10. Next is Roman fort.
At the mouth of the Tyne, on a rise above the river, stands a reconstructed Roman gateway that looks surprisingly new. It belongs to Arbeia, the Roman fort at South Shields, which supplied the soldiers along Hadrian's Wall and was built, strategically, to guard the entrance to the river. Ships unloaded grain and other goods here, and the stores were carried along the Wall's line, so this was the logistical heart of the frontier. Reconstructed buildings, including the gatehouse, a barrack and a commander's house, show how it looked, and the museum holds finds from the site.
Read the complete Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Roman fort, about halfway. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 10.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 10 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 10 sits at 104 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac comes up about 121 km into the recorded legs. Next is Housesteads fort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Housesteads fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Housesteads fort closes the day.
Housesteads fort → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac → Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 10 is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 10 → Roman fort is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Roman fort → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 10 is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 10 → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the trac → Housesteads fort is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.