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.
403 km from Lanark to Lanark, about 6 h 36 of riding. On the way it passes Old and New Towns of Edinburgh, Bewcastle Roman fort and back through Old and New Towns of Edinburgh. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 64 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Coming down the steep, wooded road from Lanark into the gorge of the Clyde, you see New Lanark all at once: a cluster of tall, plain sandstone mill buildings and tenements packed onto the riverbank at the bottom of the valley, with the water rushing past. It is one of the most remarkable industrial villages in Europe, founded in 1786 by David Dale and the inventor Richard Arkwright to harness the river for cotton spinning, and later turned into a social experiment by Dale's son-in-law, Robert Owen. It is a World Heritage site.
Read the complete New Lanark write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
New Lanark is where the day begins. Next is Old and New Towns of Edinburgh.
Edinburgh is built on the remains of a volcano. The Castle sits on a plug of hard rock, and the ridge that slopes eastwards from it, the Royal Mile, carries the medieval Old Town on its back, a tall, dense, soot-dark jumble of closes and tenements that went up because the city was shut inside walls and could only grow upwards. In 1767 the council ran a competition for a plan to build a New Town on the open ground to the north, and the winning design by a young architect named James Craig gave the city a grid of Georgian terraces, squares and gardens. The contrast between the two halves, medieval and classical, is the reason UNESCO listed the combined area in 1995.
Read the complete Old and New Towns of Edinburgh write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh comes up about 57 km into the recorded legs. Next is Bewcastle Roman fort.
Bewcastle is one of the loneliest places in Cumbria, and it has been for a very long time. Roman soldiers built an outpost fort here, about ten kilometres north of Hadrian's Wall, on a plateau whose shape the walls followed, giving it an unusual six-sided plan. It was a forward base for scouts watching the tribes beyond the frontier, and it was linked to the Wall at Birdoswald by a road. Later, a medieval castle was built into one corner of the old Roman defences, and its broken walls still stand above the beck.
Read the complete Bewcastle Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 202 km into the recorded legs you reach Bewcastle Roman fort. Next is back through Old and New Towns of Edinburgh.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Old and New Towns of Edinburgh write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Old and New Towns of Edinburgh, late in the day. Next is New Lanark.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete New Lanark write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at New Lanark. That is the ride.
New Lanark → Old and New Towns of Edinburgh is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh → Bewcastle Roman fort is 145 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Bewcastle Roman fort → back through Old and New Towns of Edinburgh is 145 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Old and New Towns of Edinburgh → New Lanark is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.