Why this ride
222 km from Maryport to Maryport, about 3 h 32 of riding. On the way it passes Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields, Cardurnock milefortlet, Beckfoot Roman fort and Cardurnock.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Maryport and Cardurnock
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 222 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 32
- 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
Maryport → Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 16 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 15 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Maryport
Maryport is a harbour town on the Cumbrian coast, a place of Georgian terraces, fishing boats and a long quay, with the Solway Firth and the hills of Galloway across the water. The town was laid out in the 1750s by Humphrey Senhouse, who named it for his wife Mary, and it grew on coal, shipbuilding and trade. Thomas Ismay, the founder of the White Star Line that later built the Titanic, was born here in 1837, and Fletcher Christian of the Bounty came from nearby Cockermouth. The harbour has been restored, with a maritime museum, a row of old boats, and a pleasant waterfront to walk.
Read the complete Maryport write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Maryport is where the day begins. Next is Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields.
2. Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields
The Roman frontier did not stop where Hadrian's Wall ended. At Bowness, on the Solway shore, the stone and turf barrier gave out, but a chain of small forts, fortlets and watchtowers continued south along the Cumbrian coast, past Silloth and Maryport to near St Bees, to guard against raiders coming across the water from Scotland and the Irish Sea. Archaeologists still argue about how it worked. Often only a faint platform in a field remains.
Read the complete Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields comes up about 15 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cardurnock milefortlet.
3. Cardurnock milefortlet
The Cardurnock peninsula pokes out into the upper Solway Firth like a thumb, a flat, wind-scoured finger of farmland and salt marsh west of Bowness-on-Solway, with the tide sweeping in and out over the sands on three sides. Beyond the end of Hadrian's Wall, the Romans continued their defences down the coast with a chain of small forts and towers, and Cardurnock milefortlet was one of them, a small walled post with a handful of men keeping an eye on the fords and the open water. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site, though nothing much is visible now beyond the lie of the land.
Read the complete Cardurnock milefortlet write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 46 km into the recorded legs you reach Cardurnock milefortlet. Next is Beckfoot Roman fort.
4. Beckfoot Roman fort
Most people think Hadrian's Wall ended at Bowness-on-Solway, and in stone it did. But the Romans did not trust the shallow Solway Firth to keep raiders out, so they carried their defences on down the Cumbrian coast for many miles: a chain of small milefortlets and watchtowers, with proper forts at intervals, all the way to Maryport and beyond. Beckfoot is one of those forts, on a low bluff a few kilometres south of Silloth, looking straight across the water to Scotland. Above ground there is almost nothing, just a field with faint outlines, but aerial photos and excavations have shown the fort, its civilian settlement and its cemetery, and coastal erosion keeps nibbling at the remains.
Read the complete Beckfoot Roman fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Beckfoot Roman fort, about halfway. Next is Cardurnock.
5. Cardurnock
From Cardurnock the whole Solway coast opens out, and on a clear day you can see Criffel and the Scottish shore, the Lake District fells to the south and the long line of the tide marking out the sand. The peninsula is a lonely place, flat and breezy, with a few farms, a lot of birds and the remains of an old railway viaduct at Bowness a few kilometres away. That structure, a long iron bridge across the firth, linked Cumberland with Dumfriesshire from 1869 until it closed in the 1920s and was taken down in the 1930s. It carried iron ore from Cumbria to the Scottish furnaces and, according to the stories, thirsty Scots across to Bowness on the days when their pubs were closed.
Read the complete Cardurnock write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cardurnock sits at 68 km, about halfway. Next is back through Beckfoot Roman fort.
6. back through Beckfoot Roman fort
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beckfoot 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 Beckfoot Roman fort comes up about 143 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Cardurnock milefortlet.
7. back through Cardurnock milefortlet
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cardurnock milefortlet write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 176 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Cardurnock milefortlet. Next is back through Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields.
8. back through Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields, late in the day. Next is Maryport.
9. Maryport
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Maryport 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 222 km.
Leg by leg
Maryport to Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields
Maryport → Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields to Cardurnock milefortlet
Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields → Cardurnock milefortlet is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cardurnock milefortlet to Beckfoot Roman fort
Cardurnock milefortlet → Beckfoot Roman fort is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beckfoot Roman fort to Cardurnock
Beckfoot Roman fort → Cardurnock is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cardurnock to back through Beckfoot Roman fort
Cardurnock → back through Beckfoot Roman fort is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beckfoot Roman fort to back through Cardurnock milefortlet
back through Beckfoot Roman fort → back through Cardurnock milefortlet is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cardurnock milefortlet to back through Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields
back through Cardurnock milefortlet → back through Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields to Maryport
back through Roman fortlet 40m SSW of Castle Fields → Maryport is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.