Nowtler Hill 1 Roman temporary camp and Skinburness

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Nowtler Hill 1 Roman temporary camp

   Carlisle is a border city, and it has been fought over for two thousand years. The Romans founded Luguvalium here to serve the Wall and the road north, and a settlement has stood beside the Eden ever since. The red sandstone cathedral dates from the twelfth century, and the castle beside it held Mary Queen of Scots for two months in 1568, after she fled across the Solway. In 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's Highland army took the city on its march into England and lost it on the way back, and the Jacobite prisoners were held in the castle. The names of the old border families, the Armstrongs, Grahams and Nixons, still fill the telephone book.

   Read the complete Nowtler Hill 1 Roman temporary camp write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Nowtler Hill 1 Roman temporary camp is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall between Apple Garth.

2. 2. Hadrian's Wall between Apple Garth

   The Solway Firth is a strange piece of sea. It is wide and shallow and has some of the biggest tidal ranges in Britain, and at low water it empties into a landscape of sand, mud and channels where the tide can return faster than a walker can run. On its northern shore, the Scottish side, the land around Eastriggs and Annan is flat salt marsh and farmland, backed by low green hills, and across the water you can see the Cumbrian fells rising bluish and far off. The Roman frontier ended on the other side, at Bowness, but the Romans watched this shore too, and the wall's western run along the English edge is the reason the area is on the heritage map.

   Read the complete Hadrian's Wall between Apple Garth write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Hadrian's Wall between Apple Garth comes up about 15 km into the recorded legs. Next is Skinburness.

3. 3. Skinburness

   Skinburness is a scatter of houses at the tip of a shingle spit on the Solway coast of Cumbria, just north of Silloth, looking across the wide, shimmering estuary to the hills of Scotland. When the tide goes out, the Solway empties into vast expanses of sand and mud, with channels winding through them, and the light changes constantly as clouds race overhead. On clear evenings, the sunsets over the Scottish hills, with the dark bulk of Criffel opposite, are spectacular.

   Read the complete Skinburness write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 44 km into the recorded legs you reach Skinburness. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall between Apple Garth.

4. 4. back through Hadrian's Wall between Apple Garth

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hadrian's Wall between Apple Garth write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Hadrian's Wall between Apple Garth, late in the day. Next is Nowtler Hill 1 Roman temporary camp.

5. 5. Nowtler Hill 1 Roman temporary camp

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Nowtler Hill 1 Roman temporary camp write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Nowtler Hill 1 Roman temporary camp. That is the ride.