Nether Denton Roman fort and The English Lake District
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
363 km
Riding-time estimate
5 h 23
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 363 km round trip from Brampton - roughly 5 h 23 in the saddle. The stops in between: Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630, The English Lake District and back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630. Lakes are the scenery here.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Nether Denton Roman fort
Before Hadrian built his wall, the Romans controlled northern Britain with a line of forts along a road called the Stanegate, which ran from Corbridge to Carlisle, and Nether Denton was one of them. The fort, on a hill above the River Irthing near Gilsland, is now marked only by faint earthworks around the small church of Nether Denton, which stands on the site. It is a quiet place, with only rooks and sheep for company.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nether Denton Roman fort is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630.
2. Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630
Out at the eastern end of the frontier, the Wall leaves the moors behind and runs through gentle farmland toward Newcastle, and most of what survives here is not stone but earth: the vallum, a broad ditch flanked by banks that the Romans dug just south of the Wall along almost its entire length. Between the Tyne and the Military Road, near Heddon-on-the-Wall and Rudchester, the vallum can be traced in the fields as a long hollow, and the Wall itself lies largely under the road or as low courses in the grass. Its purpose is still debated, but most scholars see it as a boundary marking the military zone, controlling who could approach the Wall.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 comes up about 52 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Nether Denton Roman fort. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Nether Denton Roman fort to Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630
Nether Denton Roman fort → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 to The English Lake District
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 → The English Lake District is 129 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
The English Lake District to back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630
The English Lake District → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 is 129 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 to Nether Denton Roman fort
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the B630 → Nether Denton Roman fort is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.