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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Whitehaven it runs 274 km to Whitehaven; allow about 4 h 31 of riding. It goes by way of Dubmill Point milefortlet 17, Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End, Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel and back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Hadrian's Wall stopped at Bowness-on-Solway, but the Roman frontier did not. Down the Cumbrian coast, the army built a chain of forts, milefortlets and towers to watch the sea and stop raiders slipping round the end of the Wall, and Parton, just north of Whitehaven, was one of them. The fort is known from excavations and records rather than standing remains, and the coastal defences as a whole are included in the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire. Standing on the cliffs above the sea, you can see why the Romans worried: across the water lie the Isle of Man and, on clear days, the hills of Scotland.
Read the complete Parton Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Parton Roman fort is where the day begins. Next is Dubmill Point milefortlet 17.
Dubmill Point is where the Solway coast road comes closest to the sea, and on stormy days with a high tide, waves break right over the B5300 and the road can be closed. The point is a low spit of shingle and grass between Allonby and Silloth, and here the Romans built milefortlet 17, part of the coastal defences that extended the frontier of Hadrian's Wall down the Cumbrian shore. A small garrison watched the firth for boats crossing from the north, and signals passed from post to post along the coast. Little remains today, but the site is exposed and evocative, with the sea on one side and the flat fields of the coastal plain on the other.
Read the complete Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End.
Out on the Solway plain the land flattens, the sky gets enormous, and the sea is never far off even when you cannot see it. The stretch of the vallum near West End lies between Carlisle and the village of Burgh by Sands, on the last run of Hadrian's Wall towards its western end at Bowness-on-Solway. Here the Roman frontier ran along the edge of the marshes and the estuary, where the tide sweeps in across vast sands and salt marsh. Nothing of the Wall stands above ground in this section, but the line is clear on the map, and the country around has a strange, quiet beauty.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 72 km into the recorded legs you reach Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel.
East of Carlisle, near the market town of Brampton, Hadrian's Wall crosses a landscape of rolling farmland, hedges and woods along the valley of the River Irthing. Here the wall and its vallum, the great earthwork ditch that ran behind it on the southern side, cross fields where the stone has mostly been robbed for farm buildings, but the earthworks remain clearly visible as long ridges and hollows in the grass.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel, about halfway. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel.
Here the Wall is at its most dramatic. In the central sector of Hadrian's Wall, north of Haydon Bridge and Hexham in Northumberland, the Roman frontier runs along the top of the Whin Sill, a long ridge of hard volcanic rock that breaks the moorland into a series of north-facing cliffs. The Romans built their wall right along the crest, using the natural defences, and the result is a line of stone that rises and falls with the crags like the spine of a great animal. Behind it, to the south, runs the vallum, a broad earthwork ditch with mounds on either side that marked the military zone, still clearly visible across the fields.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel sits at 143 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel comes up about 167 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 201 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End. Next is back through Dubmill Point milefortlet 17.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Dubmill Point milefortlet 17, late in the day. Next is Parton Roman fort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Parton Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 274 km.
Parton Roman fort → Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 → Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the fiel → back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End → back through Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 → Parton Roman fort is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.