Hadrian's Wall Cycle-Way...a ride in the wet.

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.