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.
246 km from Newcastle upon Tyne to Newcastle upon Tyne, about 3 h 45 of riding. On the way it passes Haltonchesters Roman fort, Seatsides 1 Roman temporary camp and secti, Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The and The vallum between the road to Steel Rigg. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
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 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.
Haltonchesters Roman fort comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Seatsides 1 Roman temporary camp and secti.
Haltwhistle likes to call itself the centre of Britain, a claim based on being halfway between the north and south coasts of the island, and while other towns dispute it, nobody disputes that it is the best base for exploring the central section of Hadrian's Wall. Just north of the town, on the rough ground below the crags, Seatsides 1 Roman temporary camp is one of several marching camps where Roman troops on the move dug defences for a night or longer, and the label includes a section of the vallum nearby. It is all part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site.
Read the complete Seatsides 1 Roman temporary camp and secti write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 62 km into the recorded legs you reach Seatsides 1 Roman temporary camp and secti. Next is Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The.
Do not expect a great stone wall here. Near Brampton, on the stretch running out toward the A6071, Hadrian's Wall is mostly a matter of earthworks and imagination: a line in a field, a softened ditch, the long parallel banks of the vallum to the south. In this western sector the wall was originally built of turf and timber before being rebuilt in stone, and centuries of farmers and builders carried off the dressed stones for barns and churches. What survives is listed as part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire, and once your eye tunes in, you start seeing the line everywhere.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The, about halfway. Next is The vallum between the road to Steel Rigg.
Steel Rigg is the place everyone photographs. The crag rises steeply from the road, with the Wall running along its top and dipping into a gap known as Sycamore Gap, where a single tree stood for generations in a perfect V of the hills, until it was felled one night in September 2023. The loss caused shock across the country, and the stump now sprouts new shoots. The vallum, the great ditch and mounds south of the Wall, runs beside the road at the foot of the crags, and here it is clearly visible, a long straight hollow in the field, with the mounds standing on either side.
Read the complete The vallum between the road to Steel Rigg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The vallum between the road to Steel Rigg sits at 138 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The comes up about 154 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Seatsides 1 Roman temporary camp and secti.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Seatsides 1 Roman temporary camp and secti write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 184 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Seatsides 1 Roman temporary camp and secti. 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, 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.
The route ends here after 246 km.
Roman fort → Haltonchesters Roman fort is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Haltonchesters Roman fort → Seatsides 1 Roman temporary camp and secti is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Seatsides 1 Roman temporary camp and secti → Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The → The vallum between the road to Steel Rigg is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The vallum between the road to Steel Rigg → back through Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall & vallum from A6071 to The → back through Seatsides 1 Roman temporary camp and secti is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Seatsides 1 Roman temporary camp and secti → back through Haltonchesters Roman fort is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Haltonchesters Roman fort → Roman fort is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.