Why this ride
A 174 km round trip from Maryport - roughly 2 h 47 in the saddle. On the way it passes Campfield, Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps, Boothby Roman fort and back through Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b and Boothby Roman fort
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 174 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 47
- 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. Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b
When people talk about Hadrian's Wall they usually mean the stone barrier across the neck of England, but the system continued down the Cumbrian coast for dozens of kilometres, as a chain of small forts, called milefortlets, and watchtowers facing the Irish Sea. Tower 16b, at Mawbray, was one of those lookouts, standing on the low, windswept coast between Silloth and Maryport. The Romans feared raids by sea, and a line of towers gave warning along the coast, with signals passing from one to the next.
Read the complete Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b is where the day begins. Next is Campfield.
2. Campfield
Out on the Solway coast west of Carlisle, the land flattens into salt marsh, peat bog and wide tidal sands, and the sky takes over. Campfield Marsh, near Bowness-on-Solway, is a nature reserve run by the RSPB, a mix of salt marsh, wet grassland and raised bog, and in winter it fills with tens of thousands of geese, barnacle and pink-footed, arriving from the Arctic, along with waders that feed on the mud at low tide. Across the firth, the town of Annan and the Scottish hills are visible on a clear day.
Read the complete Campfield write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Campfield comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps.
3. Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps
Carlisle is where the Roman frontier met the border of two kingdoms, and the city holds all of that history in a compact space. The Romans built a fort here called Luguvalium, beside the River Eden, and it was an important base for the western end of the Wall. In the Middle Ages the red sandstone castle was the stronghold of the English border, and Mary, Queen of Scots, was held there for two months in 1568 after fleeing across the Solway. The cathedral, one of the smallest in England, has a huge east window and a painted ceiling of gold stars on blue. Tullie House Museum tells the story from the Romans to the border reivers, the raiding families of the borderland.
Read the complete Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 62 km into the recorded legs you reach Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps. Next is Boothby Roman fort.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is back through Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps.
5. back through Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps sits at 99 km, about halfway. Next is back through Campfield.
6. back through Campfield
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Campfield write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Campfield comes up about 136 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b.
7. Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b closes the day.
Leg by leg
Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b to Campfield
Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b → Campfield is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Campfield to Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps
Campfield → Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps to Boothby Roman fort
Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps → Boothby Roman fort is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Boothby Roman fort to back through Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps
Boothby Roman fort → back through Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps to back through Campfield
back through Boomby Lane 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps → back through Campfield is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Campfield to Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b
back through Campfield → Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.