Why this ride
94 km from Maryport to Maryport, about 1 h 31 of riding. The stops in between: Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b, Cardurnock milefortlet and back through Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Rise How tower 25a and Cardurnock milefortlet
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 94 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 31
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Rise How tower 25a
Hadrian's Wall does not simply stop at the Solway. Beyond Bowness, the Romans extended their frontier down the Cumbrian coast with a chain of milefortlets and towers, watching the shore against raiders crossing from what is now south-west Scotland. Rise How tower 25a is one of them, on the low cliffs just south of Maryport near Flimby, part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. Little is visible above ground, but standing here and looking out over the water, you can see why they bothered.
Read the complete Rise How tower 25a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Rise How tower 25a is where the day begins. Next is Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b.
2. Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b
When people talk about Hadrian's Wall they usually mean the stone barrier across the neck of England, but the system continued down the Cumbrian coast for dozens of kilometres, as a chain of small forts, called milefortlets, and watchtowers facing the Irish Sea. Tower 16b, at Mawbray, was one of those lookouts, standing on the low, windswept coast between Silloth and Maryport. The Romans feared raids by sea, and a line of towers gave warning along the coast, with signals passing from one to the next.
Read the complete Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b comes up about 13 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cardurnock milefortlet.
3. Cardurnock milefortlet
The Cardurnock peninsula pokes out into the upper Solway Firth like a thumb, a flat, wind-scoured finger of farmland and salt marsh west of Bowness-on-Solway, with the tide sweeping in and out over the sands on three sides. Beyond the end of Hadrian's Wall, the Romans continued their defences down the coast with a chain of small forts and towers, and Cardurnock milefortlet was one of them, a small walled post with a handful of men keeping an eye on the fords and the open water. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site, though nothing much is visible now beyond the lie of the land.
Read the complete Cardurnock milefortlet write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 47 km into the recorded legs you reach Cardurnock milefortlet. Next is back through Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b.
4. back through Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b, late in the day. Next is Rise How tower 25a.
5. Rise How tower 25a
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rise How tower 25a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Rise How tower 25a. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Rise How tower 25a to Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b
Rise How tower 25a → Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b to Cardurnock milefortlet
Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b → Cardurnock milefortlet is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cardurnock milefortlet to back through Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b
Cardurnock milefortlet → back through Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b to Rise How tower 25a
back through Mawbray Sandpit tower 16b → Rise How tower 25a is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.