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.
From Newcastle upon Tyne it runs 207 km to Newcastle upon Tyne; allow about 3 h 05 of riding. On the way it passes Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags, Nowtler Hill 1 Roman temporary camp and back through Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags.
Newcastle got its name from a castle built in 1080 by Robert Curthose, eldest son of William the Conqueror, but the hilltop he chose above the Tyne had already been used for centuries. Beneath the Castle Keep and the Black Gate lie the remains of Pons Aelius, a small Roman fort that guarded a bridge across the river near the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. The name honoured Hadrian himself, whose family name was Aelius. Outlines of the fort are marked in the paving around the keep, and the Swing Bridge below crosses the river close to where the Roman bridge stood.
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 Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags.
The Wall needed millions of dressed stones, and the Romans quarried them close to where they were needed. On Queen's Crags, a ridge of sandstone north of the Wall near Housesteads, they left a calling card: an inscription cut into the rock face, one of several known Roman quarry inscriptions along the frontier, recording a soldier or unit at work. It is a small, weathered thing, hard to find without directions, but it is a direct link to the men who cut the stone for the Wall.
Read the complete Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. Next is Nowtler Hill 1 Roman temporary camp.
Carlisle is a border city, and it has been fought over for two thousand years. The Romans founded Luguvalium here to serve the Wall and the road north, and a settlement has stood beside the Eden ever since. The red sandstone cathedral dates from the twelfth century, and the castle beside it held Mary Queen of Scots for two months in 1568, after she fled across the Solway. In 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's Highland army took the city on its march into England and lost it on the way back, and the Jacobite prisoners were held in the castle. The names of the old border families, the Armstrongs, Grahams and Nixons, still fill the telephone book.
Read the complete Nowtler Hill 1 Roman temporary camp write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 104 km into the recorded legs you reach Nowtler Hill 1 Roman temporary camp. Next is back through Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags, late in the day. 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.
Back at Roman fort. That is the ride.
Roman fort → Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags → Nowtler Hill 1 Roman temporary camp is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nowtler Hill 1 Roman temporary camp → back through Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Roman quarry inscription on Queen's Crags → Roman fort is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.