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.
168 km from Maryport to Maryport, about 3 h 01 of riding. The stops in between: Silloth Golf Course tower 12b, Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End, The vallum between the field boundary sout and back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rise How tower 25a is where the day begins. Next is Silloth Golf Course tower 12b.
Most people think Hadrian's Wall ends at Bowness-on-Solway, where the stone curtain reached the sea. It did, but the frontier did not. From there, the Romans continued their defences down the Cumbrian coast for many miles, with a chain of milefortlets and towers watching the Solway Firth for raiders crossing from what is now Scotland. Tower 12b stood near Silloth, on ground now occupied by the town's golf course. Nothing much is visible, but the location makes sense as soon as you stand on the shore: the firth is wide and shallow, and across the water rises the hill of Criffel in Galloway.
Read the complete Silloth Golf Course tower 12b write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Silloth Golf Course tower 12b comes up about 21 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 56 km into the recorded legs you reach Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End. Next is The vallum between the field boundary sout.
Not every stretch of Hadrian's Wall is the dramatic crag-top masonry of the postcards, and this is one of the quieter parts: a section of the vallum, the great ditch-and-mound earthwork the Romans dug behind the wall, running across farmland near Brampton in Cumbria. The stone wall here was largely robbed out long ago for farms and churches, so what survives is often a long, soft hollow in the grass, a line you only notice once someone points it out, and then can't stop seeing.
Read the complete The vallum between the field boundary sout write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The vallum between the field boundary sout, about halfway. 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.
back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End sits at 108 km, about halfway. Next is back through Silloth Golf Course tower 12b.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Silloth Golf Course tower 12b write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Silloth Golf Course tower 12b comes up about 146 km into the recorded legs. Next is Rise How tower 25a.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rise How tower 25a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rise How tower 25a closes the day.
Rise How tower 25a → Silloth Golf Course tower 12b is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Silloth Golf Course tower 12b → Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End → The vallum between the field boundary sout is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The vallum between the field boundary sout → back through Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End is 28 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 Silloth Golf Course tower 12b is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Silloth Golf Course tower 12b → Rise How tower 25a is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.