Why this ride
From Bardon Mill it runs 126 km to Bardon Mill; allow about 2 h 05 of riding. On the way it passes Throp Roman fortlet, Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet, Bewcastle Roman fort and The Roman bath house to the north east of.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp and The Roman bath house to the north east of
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 126 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 05
- 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
Throp Roman fortlet → Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 16 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 17 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp
Seatsides is a name on a map of fields, a spot where a Roman temporary camp is visible only as a faint square in the grass when the light is low. These camps were put up by marching armies, each night, with a ditch and a bank thrown around a regular rectangle, and some of them in the north of England survive as earthworks nearly two thousand years later. This one lies near Haltwhistle, in the Tyne Gap, the low pass that cuts between the Pennines and the Cheviot hills and has been the natural route from east to west across northern England since before the Romans.
Read the complete Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp is where the day begins. Next is Throp Roman fortlet.
2. Throp Roman fortlet
Throp is a farm name on the edge of Gilsland, in the narrow gap where the River Irthing slips between the northern Pennines and the moors that roll north towards the Scottish border. A small Roman fortlet stood here, close to the Stanegate, the road that ran along the valley before the Wall was built, and it is one of the many features that make up the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. Not much remains to see, but the setting is classic Wall country.
Read the complete Throp Roman fortlet write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Throp Roman fortlet comes up about 14 km into the recorded legs. Next is Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet.
3. Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet
Camboglanna is the Roman name of the fort at Castlesteads, and the sound of it has a ring that the present quiet farmland does not. The fort sat on a ridge above the River Irthing, not far from Brampton, and it was one of the garrison posts on the western part of the wall. Little survives above ground, because the site was built over by a country house and gardens in the eighteenth century, but the line of the wall and the vallum, the great ditch behind it, can be traced across the fields nearby.
Read the complete Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 31 km into the recorded legs you reach Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet. Next is Bewcastle Roman fort.
4. Bewcastle Roman fort
Bewcastle is one of the loneliest places in Cumbria, and it has been for a very long time. Roman soldiers built an outpost fort here, about ten kilometres north of Hadrian's Wall, on a plateau whose shape the walls followed, giving it an unusual six-sided plan. It was a forward base for scouts watching the tribes beyond the frontier, and it was linked to the Wall at Birdoswald by a road. Later, a medieval castle was built into one corner of the old Roman defences, and its broken walls still stand above the beck.
Read the complete Bewcastle Roman fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bewcastle Roman fort, about halfway. Next is The Roman bath house to the north east of.
5. The Roman bath house to the north east of
Brampton is the kind of small Cumbrian market town that riders pass on the A69 without a second look, which is a pity, because the country just north and east of it is some of the richest Roman and medieval ground on the whole Wall. The site of the Roman bath house lies close to the town, near the remains of an early fort on the Stanegate, and like most bath houses it sat outside the fort walls, where its furnaces and the risk of fire could do less harm. Little or nothing stands above ground, so come for the setting rather than the stones.
Read the complete The Roman bath house to the north east of write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Roman bath house to the north east of sits at 66 km, about halfway. Next is back through Bewcastle Roman fort.
6. back through Bewcastle Roman fort
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bewcastle Roman fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Bewcastle Roman fort comes up about 79 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet.
7. back through Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 95 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet. Next is back through Throp Roman fortlet.
8. back through Throp Roman fortlet
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Throp Roman fortlet write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Throp Roman fortlet, late in the day. Next is Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp.
9. Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp 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 126 km.
Leg by leg
Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp to Throp Roman fortlet
Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp → Throp Roman fortlet is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Throp Roman fortlet to Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet
Throp Roman fortlet → Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet to Bewcastle Roman fort
Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet → Bewcastle Roman fort is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bewcastle Roman fort to The Roman bath house to the north east of
Bewcastle Roman fort → The Roman bath house to the north east of is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Roman bath house to the north east of to back through Bewcastle Roman fort
The Roman bath house to the north east of → back through Bewcastle Roman fort is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bewcastle Roman fort to back through Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet
back through Bewcastle Roman fort → back through Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet to back through Throp Roman fortlet
back through Castlesteads Roman fort and the vallum bet → back through Throp Roman fortlet is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Throp Roman fortlet to Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp
back through Throp Roman fortlet → Seatsides 2 Roman temporary camp is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.