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.
A 79 km round trip from Silloth - roughly 1 h 28 in the saddle. On the way it passes Swarthy Hill milefortlet 21, Parton Roman fort and back through Swarthy Hill milefortlet 21. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Most people think Hadrian's Wall ends at Bowness-on-Solway, where the stone curtain reached the sea. It did, but the frontier did not. From there, the Romans continued their defences down the Cumbrian coast for many miles, with a chain of milefortlets and towers watching the Solway Firth for raiders crossing from what is now Scotland. Tower 12b stood near Silloth, on ground now occupied by the town's golf course. Nothing much is visible, but the location makes sense as soon as you stand on the shore: the firth is wide and shallow, and across the water rises the hill of Criffel in Galloway.
Read the complete Silloth Golf Course tower 12b write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Silloth Golf Course tower 12b is where the day begins. Next is Swarthy Hill milefortlet 21.
Milefortlets are the small, easily overlooked members of the Roman frontier family. On Hadrian's Wall itself they stood every Roman mile, with a gate through the wall and a tiny garrison, and when the Romans extended the system along the Cumbrian coast, to guard against landings from across the Solway, they built milefortlets and watchtowers all the way down the shore. Number 21 stood at Swarthy Hill, on a low rise by the sea north of Maryport, and excavations here showed a small rectangular fortlet with timber buildings inside and a ditch around.
Read the complete Swarthy Hill milefortlet 21 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Swarthy Hill milefortlet 21 comes up about 14 km into the recorded legs. Next is Parton Roman fort.
Hadrian's Wall stopped at Bowness-on-Solway, but the Roman frontier did not. Down the Cumbrian coast, the army built a chain of forts, milefortlets and towers to watch the sea and stop raiders slipping round the end of the Wall, and Parton, just north of Whitehaven, was one of them. The fort is known from excavations and records rather than standing remains, and the coastal defences as a whole are included in the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire. Standing on the cliffs above the sea, you can see why the Romans worried: across the water lie the Isle of Man and, on clear days, the hills of Scotland.
Read the complete Parton Roman fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 39 km into the recorded legs you reach Parton Roman fort. Next is back through Swarthy Hill milefortlet 21.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Swarthy Hill milefortlet 21 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Swarthy Hill milefortlet 21, late in the day. Next is Silloth Golf Course tower 12b.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Silloth Golf Course tower 12b write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Silloth Golf Course tower 12b. That is the ride.
Silloth Golf Course tower 12b → Swarthy Hill milefortlet 21 is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Swarthy Hill milefortlet 21 → Parton Roman fort is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Parton Roman fort → back through Swarthy Hill milefortlet 21 is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Swarthy Hill milefortlet 21 → Silloth Golf Course tower 12b is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.