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.
374 km from Greenhead to Greenhead, about 4 h 59 of riding. It goes by way of Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road, Hadrian's Wall and vallum from East Town H, Durham Castle and Cathedral and Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of. The line favours views over speed.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 39 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Rivers move, and the Irthing at Willowford proves it. When the Romans built the Wall here, they carried it across the river on a bridge, and the massive stone abutment of that bridge survives on the east bank, now well away from the water, because the river has shifted west over the centuries. Nearby, the earthwork outline of a Roman temporary camp, one of many marching camps built by units on campaign or on construction duty, lies in the fields. Temporary camps were ramparts of turf and ditches thrown up for a few nights or weeks, and their faint shapes are often best seen from the air or in low winter light.
Read the complete Willowford Roman temporary camp write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Willowford Roman temporary camp is where the day begins. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road.
Between Hexham and Haydon Bridge, the river Tyne runs through a wide green valley, and on the ridge to the north the line of Hadrian's Wall can be traced across fields and woods in a series of ditches, banks and stretches of masonry.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hadrian's Wall and vallum from East Town H.
Heddon-on-the-Wall announces its pedigree in its name, and just east of the village, on the slope down towards Newcastle, you find the longest surviving stretch of the Wall in the eastern sector. It is a section of broad wall, built to the original specification of about ten Roman feet thick, before the builders further west were told to save time and stone by making it narrower. Standing beside it, with fields falling away towards the Tyne, you get a strong sense of the scale of the project: this curtain once ran unbroken for eighty Roman miles.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum from East Town H write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 53 km into the recorded legs you reach Hadrian's Wall and vallum from East Town H. Next is Durham Castle and Cathedral.
The river Wear loops around a rocky peninsula in a tight horseshoe, and on top of it, rising above the trees, stand Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle, one of the most impressive views in Britain. The Normans built both in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, soon after the Conquest, as a statement of power in the turbulent north. The cathedral is a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture, with massive columns carved with zigzags and spirals, and its stone rib vaults are among the earliest of their kind in Europe, pointing the way to Gothic architecture. Together, castle and cathedral were listed by UNESCO in 1986.
Read the complete Durham Castle and Cathedral write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Durham Castle and Cathedral, about halfway. Next is Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of.
Fountains Abbey is the largest monastic ruin in Britain, and it stands in a valley so green and quiet that it hardly seems real. In 1132, a group of Benedictine monks, dissatisfied with the lax life at York, left their abbey and sought a stricter rule, and with the help of the archbishop, they settled in this remote valley beside the river Skell. They became Cistercians, and over the next four centuries the abbey grew rich on sheep and wool, building a huge church, a vaulted cellarium, and a tower that still rises above the ruins. Henry VIII dissolved the abbey in 1539, and the roofs were stripped for lead.
Read the complete Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of sits at 207 km, about halfway. Next is back through Durham Castle and Cathedral.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Durham Castle and Cathedral write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Durham Castle and Cathedral comes up about 280 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum from East Town H.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum from East Town H write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 320 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum from East Town H. Next is back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road, late in the day. Next is Willowford Roman temporary camp.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Willowford Roman temporary camp write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 374 km.
Willowford Roman temporary camp → Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road → Hadrian's Wall and vallum from East Town H is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hadrian's Wall and vallum from East Town H → Durham Castle and Cathedral is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Durham Castle and Cathedral → Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of is 93 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of → back through Durham Castle and Cathedral is 93 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Durham Castle and Cathedral → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum from East Town H is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum from East Town H → back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the road → Willowford Roman temporary camp is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.