Why this ride
277 km from Ambleside to Ambleside, about 4 h 40 of riding. It goes by way of Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house, Parton Roman fort, Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 and Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End. Lakes are the scenery here.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The English Lake District and Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 277 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 40
- 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
Water arrives beside the road and stays for 34 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go — slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did.
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
Hardknott and Wrynose Passes
For about 31 km this is Hardknott and Wrynose Passes, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it. Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 31 km
- Named road
- Hardknott and Wrynose Passes
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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
The English Lake District is where the day begins. Next is Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house.
2. 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 comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. Next is Parton Roman fort.
3. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 66 km into the recorded legs you reach Parton Roman fort. Next is Dubmill Point milefortlet 17.
4. Dubmill Point milefortlet 17
Dubmill Point is where the Solway coast road comes closest to the sea, and on stormy days with a high tide, waves break right over the B5300 and the road can be closed. The point is a low spit of shingle and grass between Allonby and Silloth, and here the Romans built milefortlet 17, part of the coastal defences that extended the frontier of Hadrian's Wall down the Cumbrian shore. A small garrison watched the firth for boats crossing from the north, and signals passed from post to post along the coast. Little remains today, but the site is exposed and evocative, with the sea on one side and the flat fields of the coastal plain on the other.
Read the complete Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Dubmill Point milefortlet 17, about halfway. Next is Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End.
5. Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End
Out on the Solway plain the land flattens, the sky gets enormous, and the sea is never far off even when you cannot see it. The stretch of the vallum near West End lies between Carlisle and the village of Burgh by Sands, on the last run of Hadrian's Wall towards its western end at Bowness-on-Solway. Here the Roman frontier ran along the edge of the marshes and the estuary, where the tide sweeps in across vast sands and salt marsh. Nothing of the Wall stands above ground in this section, but the line is clear on the map, and the country around has a strange, quiet beauty.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End sits at 143 km, about halfway. Next is back through Dubmill Point milefortlet 17.
6. back through Dubmill Point milefortlet 17
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 comes up about 179 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Parton Roman fort.
7. back through Parton Roman fort
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Parton Roman fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 210 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Parton Roman fort. Next is back through Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house.
8. back through Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house, late in the day. Next is The English Lake District.
9. 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
The route ends here after 277 km.
Leg by leg
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 Parton Roman fort
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house → Parton Roman fort is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Parton Roman fort to Dubmill Point milefortlet 17
Parton Roman fort → Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 to Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End
Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 → Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End to back through Dubmill Point milefortlet 17
Hadrian's Wall vallum between West End → back through Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 to back through Parton Roman fort
back through Dubmill Point milefortlet 17 → back through Parton Roman fort is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Parton Roman fort to back through Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house
back through Parton Roman fort → back through Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house to The English Lake District
back through Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house → The English Lake District is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.