Why this ride
A 245 km round trip from Seascale - roughly 4 h 00 in the saddle. It goes by way of The English Lake District, Burrow Walls Roman fort, Bank Mill tower 15a and back through Burrow Walls Roman fort. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house and Bank Mill tower 15a
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 245 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 00
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Hardknott and Wrynose Passes
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 34 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Rider note
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 35 km
- Named road
- Hardknott and Wrynose Passes
- Pass
- Hardknott Pass
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house
Walls Castle is the odd name for a Roman bath house, and the building still stands to a height of about four metres, one of the tallest Roman structures in northern England. It stood outside the fort of Glannoventa at Ravenglass, a harbour station at the meeting of three rivers, the Irt, the Mite and the Esk, and in the dry shelter of the dunes it has survived because its walls were thick and well built. You can walk around it on a short path from the village, and see niches and a doorway in the thick walls. The fort itself lies mostly under farmland and the railway.
Read the complete Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house is where the day begins. Next is The English Lake District.
2. 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.
Read the complete The English Lake District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The English Lake District comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. Next is Burrow Walls Roman fort.
3. Burrow Walls Roman fort
On the northern edge of Workington, near the mouth of the river Derwent, a fragment of stone wall stands alone in a field, a jagged piece of masonry rising above the grass. It is part of Burrow Walls, a Roman fort that guarded the Cumbrian coast, one of the chain of defences that extended from the western end of Hadrian's Wall down the shore to watch for raiders crossing from Scotland and Ireland. Much of the fort's stone was reused in a medieval building on the site, and what survives today is modest, but it is part of the Hadrian's Wall World Heritage site and has a lonely charm, with views over the sea and the river.
Read the complete Burrow Walls Roman fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 101 km into the recorded legs you reach Burrow Walls Roman fort. Next is Bank Mill tower 15a.
4. Bank Mill tower 15a
Hadrian's Wall did not stop at the sea. West of Bowness, the Romans continued their frontier along the Cumbrian coast with a chain of milefortlets and watchtowers, guarding against raiders who might sail across the Solway Firth. Bank Mill tower 15a is one of those coastal towers, set on the low ground near Silloth, and its remains are slight, though the logic is clear: from here, a sentry could see the whole estuary, and a signal could pass quickly along the line. The coast defences belong to the same UNESCO frontier listing as the wall itself.
Read the complete Bank Mill tower 15a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bank Mill tower 15a, about halfway. Next is back through Burrow Walls Roman fort.
5. back through Burrow Walls Roman fort
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Burrow Walls Roman fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Burrow Walls Roman fort sits at 145 km, about halfway. Next is back through The English Lake District.
6. back through The English Lake District
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The English Lake District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The English Lake District comes up about 210 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house.
7. Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house closes the day.
Leg by leg
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house to The English Lake District
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house → The English Lake District is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The English Lake District to Burrow Walls Roman fort
The English Lake District → Burrow Walls Roman fort is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Burrow Walls Roman fort to Bank Mill tower 15a
Burrow Walls Roman fort → Bank Mill tower 15a is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bank Mill tower 15a to back through Burrow Walls Roman fort
Bank Mill tower 15a → back through Burrow Walls Roman fort is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Burrow Walls Roman fort to back through The English Lake District
back through Burrow Walls Roman fort → back through The English Lake District is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The English Lake District to Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house
back through The English Lake District → Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.