Why this ride
139 km from Brampton to Brampton, about 2 h 16 of riding. The stops in between: Chesters Pike Roman temporary camp, Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp, Burnhead Roman temporary camp and back through Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The vallum between the road to Garthside a and Burnhead Roman temporary camp
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 139 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 16
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The vallum between the road to Garthside a is where the day begins. Next is Chesters Pike Roman temporary camp.
2. Chesters Pike Roman temporary camp
The country around Haltwhistle is where Hadrian's Wall is at its most dramatic. The Romans built it along the Whin Sill, a ridge of hard volcanic rock that rises in a long wall of crags above the farmland, and the ruins of milecastles, turrets and forts run along the top, making a line that climbs and dips like a stitched seam. Haltwhistle claims to be the centre of Britain, which no one can prove, and the town has a quiet, grey-stone high street. A Roman temporary camp, like the one at Chesters Pike, was a marching camp, where an army dug a ditch and raised a bank around a night's lodging, and left almost nothing behind. Often the only trace is a faint rectangle in the grass.
Read the complete Chesters Pike Roman temporary camp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chesters Pike Roman temporary camp comes up 25 km in. Next is Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp.
3. Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp
Roman armies on campaign dug in every night. Wherever they halted, soldiers threw up a rectangular earth rampart and ditch around their tents, and on Walwick Fell, a short way west of the North Tyne, the faint outline of one of those temporary camps survives in the rough pasture. You need a keen eye and low sunlight to make it out, but its presence is a reminder that the Wall was built, maintained and defended by thousands of men who lived and worked in these hills, sometimes under canvas, sometimes in stone forts.
Read the complete Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
49 km in you reach Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp. Next is Burnhead Roman temporary camp.
4. Burnhead Roman temporary camp
The Stanegate is the Roman road that came before the Wall, and Burnhead lies close to its line. Before Hadrian's engineers began their great work in AD 122, the frontier of Roman Britain ran along this road from Corbridge in the east to Carlisle in the west, guarded by forts at intervals of about a day's march, and the Wall was built a little to the north, along the crags. The camp at Burnhead, which belongs to the temporary camps that armies built on the march, is one of the faint earthworks in this country, a low square of bank and ditch in a field above the Haltwhistle Burn.
Read the complete Burnhead Roman temporary camp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Burnhead Roman temporary camp, about halfway. Next is back through Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp.
5. back through Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp sits at 98 km, about halfway. Next is back through Chesters Pike Roman temporary camp.
6. back through Chesters Pike Roman temporary camp
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chesters Pike Roman temporary camp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Chesters Pike Roman temporary camp comes up 123 km in. Next is The vallum between the road to Garthside a.
7. The vallum between the road to Garthside a
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The vallum between the road to Garthside a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The vallum between the road to Garthside a closes the day.
Leg by leg
The vallum between the road to Garthside a to Chesters Pike Roman temporary camp
The vallum between the road to Garthside a → Chesters Pike Roman temporary camp is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chesters Pike Roman temporary camp to Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp
Chesters Pike Roman temporary camp → Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp to Burnhead Roman temporary camp
Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp → Burnhead Roman temporary camp is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Burnhead Roman temporary camp to back through Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp
Burnhead Roman temporary camp → back through Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp to back through Chesters Pike Roman temporary camp
back through Walwick Fell Roman temporary camp → back through Chesters Pike Roman temporary camp is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chesters Pike Roman temporary camp to The vallum between the road to Garthside a
back through Chesters Pike Roman temporary camp → The vallum between the road to Garthside a is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.