We’ve just returned from completing the Hadrian’s Wall Cycle
Ride starting on 21st June. In total we did about 198 miles including a
deviation to stop at Hilary’s house, a friend from our last trip to Spain. One
thing we can say is that it was a wet ride having chosen probably the wettest
days even Cumbria has seen for a long time. It is difficult (and expensive) to
alter plans when the hotels and camping are booked, which because of the
popularity of the walking and cycling routes is a must.
 |
| The remains of the Roman Baths at Ravenglass & the start of the Hadrian's Wall Cycle-Way or Route 72 (blue sign seen on the post). |
We took the camper up to Cumbria stopping near Ravenglass
and then cycling up the Cumbrian coast past Seascale and Sellafield to reach
Silloth on the Solway coast. The ride from Frizington (where we had stopped
overnight) to Silloth was windy and wet with some flooding but we managed to
dry out overnight. The next day was good cycling, again in the wet but we
avoided the tides on the Solway to reach Carlisle in no time. Here we stopped
for lunch and then found a way around the floods to get to the Brampton road. The
Hadrian’s route (marked as Route 72) was difficult in Carlisle because of the
flooding of the river Eden and poor state of the cycle path, wet and muddy. We
decided to turn back and cycle through Carlisle on the roads and then leave
over the Eden bridge to pick up the unflooded cycle-way past Linstock. The rest
was easy cycling to Brampton where we had a pleasant evening at the Howards
Arms hotel in the centre of the town.
 |
| A impressive monument to the coal miners at Whitehaven: "The End of Era". The seams went over a mile out to sea. |
The next day was harder work as we progressed uphill to meet
the first of Hadrian’s Wall near Banks and then on the Roman road “The Stangate”
to “Birdoswald”, a Roman Fort. After
that we had a steep climb up to the larger Roman Fort “Vindolanda” where we
spent about three hours going on the guided tour and looking around the extensive
museum in between downpours. After that we had another steep climb to “The
Stangate” and free-wheel down to Hexham, again in the rain. We did get to see
the distant hills from the ridge but this would be a great ride in the summer
sunshine.
 |
| Part of the Roman Fort, "Vindolanda" during our guided tour. This is one of the better roman forts on the route with an excellent museum and cafe on site. It is best known for the tablet scripts that were found here. |
We had difficulty finding our hotel in Hexham, mostly
because the directions and GPS coordinates were wrong and the fact that it was
about a kilometre up a hill to the south of the town. Anyway, we had a nice
free-wheel out in the morning with no rain making our way to the Tyne and
Newcastle. The end of Route72 for us was at the end of Hadrian’s Wall at a place
called Wallsend and here we found a Hotel called the “Hadrian Lodge Hotel” making
a great end to the journey, well not quite as we had to cycle back into
Newcastle to the rail station and transport back to Ravenglass. Just before the
hotel and just off the path, we spent some time at another Roman Fort, “Segedunum”,
not as big as “Vindolanda” but it had an interesting film on the history
of Wallsend and Tyneside. It also had a reconstructed Bath House which was enlightening
for us having seen the bare foundations of a Bath house at “Vindolanda”.
I had been a little concerned about route 72 in Newcastle
because from past experience, e.g. Plymouth, it is easy to lose cycle-ways in
cities, or at least the one you want. However, Sustrans at Newcastle had sorted the problem
with nice cycle-ways, mostly in view of the river, and always to the north of
the river. The only time a decision was need was after Newburn when the route
separates, one going north to Lemington and the other to find the Tyne on a
riverside loop. We took the latter option through a riverside park.
 |
| A moment in the dry whilst on the deviation cycling on the Coast to Coast route. Notice those trendy cycling glasses and white sky that was actually grey...that's digital cameras for you. |
Our trip back by train was also made interesting by the
recent floods in Cumbria. We hadn’t realised they had been so bad until we
heard the evening news at Wallsend. The trains from Carlisle to Maryport had
been cancelled because of flooding and they had laid on buses to connect with
the route south to Ravenglass. Hilary had heard the news and been told they
wouldn’t carry bikes on the buses. She phoned us to offer help but we decided
to see what happened. In the event, it all went well as the bus driver let us
put our bikes in the boot of the bus and was very helpful (despite notices at
the station saying no bikes on buses!). Anyway, we got back to the camper in
record time and met up with Hilary for some sightseeing and walking the next
day. As we left Cumbria, passing through Ambleside, there was torrential rain
and thunder but this had gone by the time we reached Oxford. On returning home
we heard about the storms that had caused extensive flooding on Tyneside, so I
guess we were lucky to have avoided the eastern deluge.
 |
| At Wallsend, the end of our ride, Hadrian's Wall turns south to meet the Tyne. Segedunum Roman Fort is worth visiting for its reconstructed Bath House, films and high rise cafe...another warm soup. |
If you are thinking of doing Route 72, the Sustrans Map for the cycle route is excellent but we did use Ordance Survey Maps when off-route and finding our way around floods in Cumbria. The route is generally well marked with finger-posts and blue stickers and we only lost it a couple of times through missing the stickers; this is when the OS maps helped. The hilly part is from Brampton to Hexham, otherwise it's flat with a few small hills, nothing too serious. I got two punctures and Helen none..must look where I'm going in future! Certainly an area of the country we'd like to visit again but in the sunshine.
