Why this ride
From Carlisle it runs 92 km to Carlisle; allow about 1 h 27 of riding. It goes by way of Biglands House, Palisade ditches and back through Biglands House.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Roman fort and watch tower and Palisade ditches
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 92 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 27
- 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. Roman fort and watch tower
The Solway Firth is the border's wet edge, a wide estuary with some of the biggest tides in Britain, and the Romans built the western end of Hadrian's Wall right on its southern shore. Here, a few kilometres west of Carlisle, a fort and a watchtower stood in a low, open country of marsh and meadow, watching the crossing points across the water. The route passes Biglands House and the Stangate at Crosby Lodge, local names that mark an old road, and the landscape has the long, flat, windswept character that makes this corner of Cumbria feel remote even close to a city.
Read the complete Roman fort and watch tower write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Roman fort and watch tower is where the day begins. Next is Biglands House.
2. Biglands House
Out on the Cumbrian shore of the Solway Firth, at the far western end of Hadrian's frontier, Biglands is a farmhouse name attached to the site of a small Roman milefortlet, one of the posts that carried the Wall's chain of defences down the coast once the stone curtain itself had stopped at Bowness. There is very little to see above ground; the fortlet was excavated and then returned to the grass. What you come for is the setting and the sense of standing at the edge of an empire, looking across a few kilometres of mud and water at Scotland.
Read the complete Biglands House write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Biglands House comes up about 19 km into the recorded legs. Next is Palisade ditches.
3. Palisade ditches
Hadrian's Wall did not simply stop at the edge of the Solway. Beyond its western end at Bowness, the Romans continued the frontier down the Cumbrian coast with a chain of milefortlets and towers, and in places with ditches and palisades, to watch over the shoreline and guard against raids across the firth from what is now south west Scotland. The palisade ditches near Silloth are part of that coastal system, faint traces in the flat land behind the dunes, and they are a reminder that the Roman frontier was a complex network that stretched far beyond the famous stone wall.
Read the complete Palisade ditches write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 46 km into the recorded legs you reach Palisade ditches. Next is back through Biglands House.
4. back through Biglands House
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Biglands House write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Biglands House, late in the day. Next is Roman fort and watch tower.
5. Roman fort and watch tower
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Roman fort and watch tower write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Roman fort and watch tower. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Roman fort and watch tower to Biglands House
Roman fort and watch tower → Biglands House is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Biglands House to Palisade ditches
Biglands House → Palisade ditches is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Palisade ditches to back through Biglands House
Palisade ditches → back through Biglands House is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Biglands House to Roman fort and watch tower
back through Biglands House → Roman fort and watch tower is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.