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 336 km round trip from Carlisle - roughly 5 h 00 in the saddle. The stops in between: Swarthy Hill North tower 20b, Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc and back through Swarthy Hill North tower 20b. The line favours views over speed.
East of Carlisle, between the villages of Brampton and Wetheral, the countryside rolls gently towards the Pennines, with green fields, hedges and patches of woodland. Somewhere in these fields lie the faint traces of Watchclose, a Roman temporary camp, one of many marching camps built by soldiers on campaign or during the construction of Hadrian's Wall. These camps were enclosed by a ditch and bank and used for a night or a season, and today they are often visible only from the air or as slight undulations in the grass. Watchclose is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site.
Read the complete Watchclose Roman temporary camp write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchclose Roman temporary camp is where the day begins. Next is Swarthy Hill North tower 20b.
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 comes up about 55 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc.
East of the crags the Wall country softens into the Tyne valley, a green landscape of meadows and woods, and near Corbridge you meet something the Wall itself never had: a town. Corbridge Roman Town, known to the Romans as Coria, grew up at the crossing of the River Tyne and the great north road, Dere Street, and served as a supply base for the army and a market for the civilians who followed it. The granaries and fountain survive, and a museum holds finds such as the famous Corbridge Lion, a sculpture of a lion devouring a stag. The label puts us on a stretch of Wall and vallum near Herd Hill, a few kilometres north-east.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 170 km into the recorded legs you reach Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc. Next is back through 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.
back through Swarthy Hill North tower 20b, late in the day. Next is Watchclose Roman temporary camp.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchclose Roman temporary camp write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Watchclose Roman temporary camp. That is the ride.
Watchclose Roman temporary camp → Swarthy Hill North tower 20b is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Swarthy Hill North tower 20b → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc is 115 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the Fenc → back through Swarthy Hill North tower 20b is 112 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Swarthy Hill North tower 20b → Watchclose Roman temporary camp is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.