CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
140 km from South Shields to South Shields, about 2 h 10 of riding. The stops in between: Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f, Haltonchesters Roman fort, Grindon School Roman temporary camp and back through Haltonchesters Roman fort.
At the mouth of the Tyne, on a rise above the river, stands a reconstructed Roman gateway that looks surprisingly new. It belongs to Arbeia, the Roman fort at South Shields, which supplied the soldiers along Hadrian's Wall and was built, strategically, to guard the entrance to the river. Ships unloaded grain and other goods here, and the stores were carried along the Wall's line, so this was the logistical heart of the frontier. Reconstructed buildings, including the gatehouse, a barrack and a commander's house, show how it looked, and the museum holds finds from the site.
Read the complete Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Roman fort is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f.
Here, at the western edge of Newcastle, the Roman frontier starts to escape the city. Wall mile 8 lies around Newburn and Throckley, with Blaydon across the Tyne and the suburbs thinning into fields as you head west. The masonry itself has mostly vanished under roads, houses and farmland, but the line of the Wall and the great earthwork of the Vallum to its south can still be followed in hummocks, ditches and the occasional consolidated stretch of stone, most famously a little further west at Heddon-on-the-Wall, where a long run survives at nearly its full original width.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f comes up 25 km in. Next is Haltonchesters Roman fort.
Where Dere Street, the great Roman road north from York, met Hadrian's Wall, the Romans built a gateway, and a mile or so west of it they placed the fort of Haltonchesters, known to them as Onnum. Today the site is a grassy field on the edge of the Military Road above the Tyne valley, with little to see beyond the faint outline of ramparts. But the setting is the thing: rolling Northumberland farmland, stone walls, the Tyne below, and on a clear day views far to the north and south.
Read the complete Haltonchesters Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
50 km in you reach Haltonchesters Roman fort. Next is Grindon School Roman temporary camp.
Marching soldiers did not sleep in the open. Every night on campaign, a Roman army dug a ditch and threw up a rampart around its tents, and the faint outlines of these temporary camps are scattered across Northumberland, some dating from the conquest of the north, others from the building of the Wall. The camp near the old Grindon school, close to the Stanegate a little north of Haydon Bridge, is one of these. You will need a good map and a low sun to make out its banks.
Read the complete Grindon School Roman temporary camp write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Grindon School Roman temporary camp, about halfway. Next is back through Haltonchesters Roman fort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Haltonchesters Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Haltonchesters Roman fort sits at 99 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f comes up 124 km in. Next is Roman fort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Roman fort closes the day.
Roman fort → Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f → Haltonchesters Roman fort is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Haltonchesters Roman fort → Grindon School Roman temporary camp is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Grindon School Roman temporary camp → back through Haltonchesters Roman fort is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Haltonchesters Roman fort → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 8 f → Roman fort is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.