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 176 km round trip from Maryport - roughly 2 h 51 in the saddle. On the way it passes Cardurnock milefortlet, Hadrian's Wall between the field boundary, The vallum between the road to Garthside a and back through Hadrian's Wall between the field boundary.
Along the Cumbrian coast between Silloth and Maryport, the Roman frontier did not end when Hadrian's stone Wall reached Bowness. A chain of milefortlets and towers continued down the shore, watching the Solway for raiders arriving by boat, and Tower 20b near Swarthy Hill is one of them. It was a small stone watchtower, probably manned by a handful of soldiers, and what remains is a low outline in the turf above the beach. You come for the context and the view across the water rather than for the masonry.
Read the complete Swarthy Hill North tower 20b write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Swarthy Hill North tower 20b is where the day begins. Next is Cardurnock milefortlet.
The Cardurnock peninsula pokes out into the upper Solway Firth like a thumb, a flat, wind-scoured finger of farmland and salt marsh west of Bowness-on-Solway, with the tide sweeping in and out over the sands on three sides. Beyond the end of Hadrian's Wall, the Romans continued their defences down the coast with a chain of small forts and towers, and Cardurnock milefortlet was one of them, a small walled post with a handful of men keeping an eye on the fords and the open water. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site, though nothing much is visible now beyond the lie of the land.
Read the complete Cardurnock milefortlet write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cardurnock milefortlet comes up about 40 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall between the field boundary.
Just outside Carlisle, among hedges and grazing fields, a short protected length of ground marks where Hadrian's Wall once ran between two farm boundaries. That is all the official name means, and the honest truth is that there is very little to see: a gentle bank, perhaps a slight ditch, the alignment of a hedge that follows the Roman line because nobody ever bothered to move it. What makes it worth a pause is the bigger picture. The wall here was heading for the crossing of the River Eden, where it met the fort of Stanwix on the north bank, the biggest fort on the entire frontier, home to an elite cavalry regiment a thousand strong.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall between the field boundary write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 62 km into the recorded legs you reach Hadrian's Wall between the field boundary. Next is The vallum between the road to Garthside a.
Brampton is a small red sandstone market town at the edge of the Pennines, and just north of it, where the land rises toward the Irthing valley, a stretch of the vallum runs across the fields near Garthside. The vallum, the great ditch and banks that ran south of Hadrian's Wall, is often clearer than the wall itself in this area, because the stone of the wall was carried off long ago to build farmhouses, churches and even a priory. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site, and it is best seen in low light, when the earthworks cast long shadows.
Read the complete The vallum between the road to Garthside a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The vallum between the road to Garthside a, about halfway. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall between the field boundary.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall between the field boundary write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hadrian's Wall between the field boundary sits at 103 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cardurnock milefortlet.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cardurnock milefortlet write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cardurnock milefortlet comes up about 136 km into the recorded legs. Next is Swarthy Hill North tower 20b.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Swarthy Hill North tower 20b write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Swarthy Hill North tower 20b closes the day.
Swarthy Hill North tower 20b → Cardurnock milefortlet is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cardurnock milefortlet → Hadrian's Wall between the field boundary is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall between the field boundary → The vallum between the road to Garthside a is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The vallum between the road to Garthside a → back through Hadrian's Wall between the field boundary is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall between the field boundary → back through Cardurnock milefortlet is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cardurnock milefortlet → Swarthy Hill North tower 20b is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.