The vallum and a British settlement betwee and Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
320 km
Riding-time estimate
5 h 33
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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 320 km round trip from Bardon Mill - roughly 5 h 33 in the saddle. On the way it passes Hadrian's Wall between Eden Vale house and, Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be, Low Mire and Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house. The line favours views over speed.
Scenic road chapters
Hadrian's Wall between Eden Vale house and → Drumburgh Roman fort and
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 35 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
Length
37 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The vallum and a British settlement betwee
There is a stretch of Hadrian's Wall that everybody has seen in photographs: the Wall riding the crest of the Whin Sill like a stone ribbon, plunging into dips and climbing again, with a long, dark lake, Crag Lough, beneath the cliffs. This is it, near Steel Rigg and Once Brewed, and the site on the label, the vallum and the remains of a native British settlement, lies just to the south in the shadow of the crags. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site, and it is a reminder that people lived here long before the Romans and kept living here while the soldiers watched over them.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The vallum and a British settlement betwee is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall between Eden Vale house and.
2. Hadrian's Wall between Eden Vale house and
Brampton is a small market town at the foot of the North Pennines, and just north of it, the line of Hadrian's Wall crosses the low country between the Irthing and the Eden. On this stretch, the stone wall itself has mostly vanished, robbed for building material over the centuries, but the line can still be traced in places through fields and hedgerows, along with the vallum, the great earthwork ditch the Romans dug just south of the wall. Parts of the wall in this sector were first built of turf, and only later rebuilt in stone, which is one reason why so little survives here.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hadrian's Wall between Eden Vale house and comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be.
3. Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be
The small Roman fort at Drumburgh sat on a low rise above the Solway marshes, guarding a stretch of Hadrian's Wall where the frontier ran along the edge of the firth towards its western end at Bowness. Nothing much survives of the fort itself, but its stones did not go far. Drumburgh Castle, a fortified farmhouse built in the sixteenth century by the Dacre family, is clearly made from reused Roman masonry, and you can still pick out dressed blocks and even the odd carved fragment set into its walls.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 66 km into the recorded legs you reach Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be. Next is Low Mire.
4. Low Mire
Low Mire lies in the quiet farmland behind the Cumbrian coast, near Dearham and Maryport, where the land slopes gently down to the Solway Firth and the hills of southern Scotland rise across the water. It is an area of small fields, hedges and scattered farms, with the Lake District fells visible to the south-east on clear days.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Low Mire, about halfway. Next is Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house.
5. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 254 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall between Eden Vale house and.
8. back through Hadrian's Wall between Eden Vale house and
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 320 km.
Leg by leg
The vallum and a British settlement betwee to Hadrian's Wall between Eden Vale house and
The vallum and a British settlement betwee → Hadrian's Wall between Eden Vale house and is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall between Eden Vale house and to Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be
Hadrian's Wall between Eden Vale house and → Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be to Low Mire
Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be → Low Mire is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Low Mire to Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house
Low Mire → Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house to back through Low Mire
Ravenglass Roman fort bath-house → back through Low Mire is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Low Mire to back through Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be
back through Low Mire → back through Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be to back through Hadrian's Wall between Eden Vale house and
back through Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall be → back through Hadrian's Wall between Eden Vale house and is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall between Eden Vale house and to The vallum and a British settlement betwee
back through Hadrian's Wall between Eden Vale house and → The vallum and a British settlement betwee is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.