Why this ride
289 km from Greenhead to Greenhead, about 4 h 23 of riding. On the way it passes Pasture House turret 3a, The English Lake District and back through Pasture House turret 3a. It strings together lakeside roads.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Throp Roman fortlet and The English Lake District
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 289 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 23
- 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
Pasture House turret 3a → The English Lake District
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 70 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 85 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Throp Roman fortlet
Throp is a farm name on the edge of Gilsland, in the narrow gap where the River Irthing slips between the northern Pennines and the moors that roll north towards the Scottish border. A small Roman fortlet stood here, close to the Stanegate, the road that ran along the valley before the Wall was built, and it is one of the many features that make up the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. Not much remains to see, but the setting is classic Wall country.
Read the complete Throp Roman fortlet write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Throp Roman fortlet is where the day begins. Next is Pasture House turret 3a.
2. Pasture House turret 3a
A turret on Hadrian's Wall was a small stone tower, about the size of a garden shed, built into the wall itself so that two soldiers could shelter and watch the country. Two turrets stood between each pair of milecastles, spaced about a third of a Roman mile apart, which means a signal could be passed along the wall in minutes by lamp, horn or flag. Turret 3a, near Pasture House on the Solway plain, is one of those tiny posts, and it is a good place to imagine the monotony of the job: a cold, damp night, a wide flat horizon, and the wind in the grass.
Read the complete Pasture House turret 3a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Pasture House turret 3a comes up about 60 km into the recorded legs. Next is The English Lake District.
3. 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
about 145 km into the recorded legs you reach The English Lake District. Next is back through Pasture House turret 3a.
4. back through Pasture House turret 3a
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pasture House turret 3a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Pasture House turret 3a, late in the day. Next is Throp Roman fortlet.
5. Throp Roman fortlet
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Throp Roman fortlet write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Throp Roman fortlet. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Throp Roman fortlet to Pasture House turret 3a
Throp Roman fortlet → Pasture House turret 3a is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pasture House turret 3a to The English Lake District
Pasture House turret 3a → The English Lake District is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
The English Lake District to back through Pasture House turret 3a
The English Lake District → back through Pasture House turret 3a is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Pasture House turret 3a to Throp Roman fortlet
back through Pasture House turret 3a → Throp Roman fortlet is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.