Why this ride
From Prudhoe it runs 124 km to Prudhoe; allow about 1 h 56 of riding. It goes by way of Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc, Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall &, Hadrian's Wall and Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Rudchester Roman fort and Frontiers of the Roman Empire
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 124 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 56
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc → Carrawburgh Roman fort &
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 18 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 15 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Rudchester Roman fort
Rudchester, known to the Romans as Vindobala, was the fourth fort along Hadrian's Wall counting from Wallsend at the eastern end. It sat astride the Wall on high ground west of Newcastle, with a garrison of around five hundred soldiers. Today, there is nothing to see above ground but fields and the bumps and hollows of buried walls, with a farm nearby. Excavations in the twentieth century found traces of a temple to Mithras just outside the fort, one of several on the Wall, where soldiers worshipped the god in a dark, cave-like building.
Read the complete Rudchester Roman fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Rudchester Roman fort is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc.
2. Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc
East of the crags the Wall country softens into the Tyne valley, a green landscape of meadows and woods, and near Corbridge you meet something the Wall itself never had: a town. Corbridge Roman Town, known to the Romans as Coria, grew up at the crossing of the River Tyne and the great north road, Dere Street, and served as a supply base for the army and a market for the civilians who followed it. The granaries and fountain survive, and a museum holds finds such as the famous Corbridge Lion, a sculpture of a lion devouring a stag. The label puts us on a stretch of Wall and vallum near Herd Hill, a few kilometres north-east.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc comes up about 19 km into the recorded legs. Next is Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall &.
3. Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall &
Of all the Roman sites along Hadrian's Wall, Carrawburgh may be the most mysterious. The fort itself, called Brocolitia, is largely unexcavated, a grassy platform beside the Military Road, but just below it, in a boggy hollow, stands the reconstructed outline of a small temple of Mithras, the soldiers' god, whose cult was popular among the Roman army. The temple was excavated in 1949, and its three altars, now replaced by replicas, the originals being in the Great North Museum in Newcastle, were dedicated by commanders of the garrison. Nearby, a spring dedicated to the water goddess Coventina yielded an astonishing hoard of coins, altars and offerings when it was excavated in the nineteenth century, around thirteen thousand coins in all.
Read the complete Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall & write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 34 km into the recorded legs you reach Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall &. Next is Hadrian's Wall.
4. Hadrian's Wall
North of Haltwhistle the land rises in a series of dark ridges, and along their crest runs the most dramatic surviving stretch of Hadrian's Wall. Built from AD 122 on the orders of the emperor Hadrian, the wall ran some seventy three miles from the Tyne to the Solway, with forts, milecastles and turrets along its length, and here, between Walltown Crags and Birdoswald, it climbs and drops along the edge of the Whin Sill, a band of hard volcanic rock that forms natural cliffs facing north. The wall is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall, about halfway. Next is Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
5. Frontiers of the Roman Empire
The Wall comes into its own here, at the Irthing gorge, where the line runs along a high shelf above the river and you can see why the Romans picked it. Birdoswald fort, known to them as Banna, sits right on that edge, with a long view down the valley and the ground falling away to the water.
Read the complete Frontiers of the Roman Empire write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Frontiers of the Roman Empire sits at 69 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall.
6. back through Hadrian's Wall
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Hadrian's Wall comes up about 77 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall &.
7. back through Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall &
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall & write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 90 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall &. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc.
8. back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc, late in the day. Next is Rudchester Roman fort.
9. Rudchester Roman fort
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rudchester Roman fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 124 km.
Leg by leg
Rudchester Roman fort to Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc
Rudchester Roman fort → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc to Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall &
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc → Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall & is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall & to Hadrian's Wall
Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall & → Hadrian's Wall is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall to Frontiers of the Roman Empire
Hadrian's Wall → Frontiers of the Roman Empire is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Frontiers of the Roman Empire to back through Hadrian's Wall
Frontiers of the Roman Empire → back through Hadrian's Wall is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall to back through Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall &
back through Hadrian's Wall → back through Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall & is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall & to back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc
back through Carrawburgh Roman fort & Hadrian's Wall & → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc to Rudchester Roman fort
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc → Rudchester Roman fort is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.