Why this ride
240 km from Silloth to Silloth, about 4 h 02 of riding. On the way it passes Rise How tower 25a, The English Lake District, Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house and back through The English Lake District. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Silloth Golf Course tower 12a and Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 240 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 02
- 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
Hardknott and Wrynose Passes
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 34 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Rider note
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 35 km
- Named road
- Hardknott and Wrynose Passes
- Pass
- Hardknott Pass
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Silloth Golf Course tower 12a
Silloth is a Victorian seaside town that never quite got the crowds it was built for, and it is all the better for that. Laid out in the 1850s as a port and resort at the end of a railway from Carlisle, it has wide cobbled streets, terraces of sandstone houses and a huge open green between the town and the sea, where people stroll, play and watch the sunsets over the Solway. On the dunes south of the town, near the famous golf course, the Romans built a chain of towers along the coast, and tower 12a was one of them, part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site.
Read the complete Silloth Golf Course tower 12a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Silloth Golf Course tower 12a is where the day begins. Next is Rise How tower 25a.
2. Rise How tower 25a
Hadrian's Wall does not simply stop at the Solway. Beyond Bowness, the Romans extended their frontier down the Cumbrian coast with a chain of milefortlets and towers, watching the shore against raiders crossing from what is now south-west Scotland. Rise How tower 25a is one of them, on the low cliffs just south of Maryport near Flimby, part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. Little is visible above ground, but standing here and looking out over the water, you can see why they bothered.
Read the complete Rise How tower 25a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Rise How tower 25a comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is The English Lake District.
3. The English Lake District
Wordsworth wandered lonely as a cloud round here, and anybody who has ridden the Lake District on a wet bank holiday will understand the appeal of being lonely. The English Lake District, listed by UNESCO in 2017 as a cultural landscape, is a compact knot of mountains, lakes and valleys in Cumbria, shaped by glaciers and then by centuries of sheep farming, slate quarrying and, from the late eighteenth century, by poets, painters and tourists who came looking for the sublime.
Read the complete The English Lake District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 85 km into the recorded legs you reach The English Lake District. Next is Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house.
4. Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house
Walls Castle is the odd name for a Roman bath house, and the building still stands to a height of about four metres, one of the tallest Roman structures in northern England. It stood outside the fort of Glannoventa at Ravenglass, a harbour station at the meeting of three rivers, the Irt, the Mite and the Esk, and in the dry shelter of the dunes it has survived because its walls were thick and well built. You can walk around it on a short path from the village, and see niches and a doorway in the thick walls. The fort itself lies mostly under farmland and the railway.
Read the complete Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house, about halfway. Next is back through The English Lake District.
5. back through The English Lake District
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The English Lake District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The English Lake District sits at 146 km, about halfway. Next is back through Rise How tower 25a.
6. back through Rise How tower 25a
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rise How tower 25a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Rise How tower 25a comes up about 219 km into the recorded legs. Next is Silloth Golf Course tower 12a.
7. Silloth Golf Course tower 12a
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Silloth Golf Course tower 12a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Silloth Golf Course tower 12a closes the day.
Leg by leg
Silloth Golf Course tower 12a to Rise How tower 25a
Silloth Golf Course tower 12a → Rise How tower 25a is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rise How tower 25a to The English Lake District
Rise How tower 25a → The English Lake District is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The English Lake District to Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house
The English Lake District → Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house to back through The English Lake District
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house → back through The English Lake District is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The English Lake District to back through Rise How tower 25a
back through The English Lake District → back through Rise How tower 25a is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Rise How tower 25a to Silloth Golf Course tower 12a
back through Rise How tower 25a → Silloth Golf Course tower 12a is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.