It was my birthday and rather than wallow in self-pity at being at the wrong side of forty I treated myself to a short break cycling up and down hilly terrain just to prove I wasn’t over the hill. For my two-wheeled foray into the English countryside I joined ‘Saddle Skedaddle’ new trip along the recently opened ‘Sustrans’ Hadrian’s Wall Cycleway (2006).

A windswept day found me and a pal deposited with our bikes at the ready in a roadside lay-by in Barrow-on-Solway. This is the start for this epic 3-day pedal, the most westerly point where one of the world’s most iconic river barriers descends into the Irish Sea. Flat and totally exposed, the enveloping salt marshes are one of those areas that are at odds with itself. It cannot decide whether it wants to be commercially viable or just a remote stunning area of natural beauty. Butting against the English/Scottish Border, it gives the impression little has changed, save for a few craggy villages, since Hadrian first started erecting the 73.5 mile wall AD122 (16 years in the building).

The cycleway runs roughly along the route of the wall, whilst taking in various local highlights and attractions. West to East is the best way to go to avoid cycling into prevailing headwinds. The simplicity of the trail is that it sticks to deserted rural roads, towpaths or dedicated cycleway. It is designed to be idiot-proof as the ‘National Cycleway’ ‘blue’ sign route 72, embellished with the roman helmet logo, shows the way.

Past Carlisle the steep climbing commences into the rugged rough countryside. But we took solace from the knowledge the destination would be worth getting wet, sweaty and windswept for, so with admirable determination, we pressed down on the pedals.

As we rose there were historic reminders everywhere, recording the ongoing border struggle both ancient and modern. Unwieldy fortified watchtowers jutting from crop fields, previously ransacked rustic farm buildings, juxtaposed within fortified compounds, and battered desolate St George’s Cross flags stubbornly ‘ripped’ in the fierce winds. They mark the most northerly outpost of England. For the strenuous effort of cycling up to them, you are amply rewarded with compelling views. Although there is no actual ‘wall’ at this point, there is no escaping its influence; it is so powerful you can almost taste it in the air.

Before long we are turning our wheels alongside some of the best sections of the wall that run up to Birdoswald Roman Fort. One of many historic sites along the route, this fully excavated museum gives a great insight of Roman life at the far outer reaches of their empire. At Vindolanda a few miles down the road, there is still a major archaeological dig in which the public can participate.

There are of course many attractions and some unbridled scenery to be had surrounding the route. We missed a sign at one point and found ourselves in the wide-open hinterland, north of the trail. Pausing for a rest on a particularly steep rise, we peered out across the stunning vista as sheep eyed us with circumspection. This is wind hewn, wild and woolly countryside beautifully imprinted against a powerful overbearing sky. The undulating wall itself hugsw the curves of the thrusting peaks, as if painted on, emphasising just what an amazing feat of construction the wall was.

Heading towards the downward descent on the last leg of the ride, is almost like travelling in a time warp. Firstly the impressive Housesteads Roman Fort, where, unbelievably, they had under floor heating via hot water aqueducts. As we descend towards the Tyne Valley over-scaled magnificent ruined castles dot the landscape and permanent reminders of the Border Wars between Scotland and England present themselves along the way.

Further on in Wylam on Tyne, is the birthplace of George Stephenson, the world famous railway engineer and inventor of the ‘Rocket’ steam train. The mid 18th Century cottage, is now a public museum set in idyllic rural setting of open fields, a far cry from Stephenson’s time. In those days it was a bleak place to live in. To quote Reverand Samuel Smiles in 1857 ‘unsightly pumping engines surrounded by heaps of coal dust and slag’.

The final leg is a flat pursuit along the banks of the River Tyne, where history of the Industrial Revolution and the might and inventiveness of the Victorian era is evidenced wherever you look. The huge redundant shipbuilding dockyards of Newcastle, give way to the fantastic iconic steel matrix bridges and the modern day Millennium Arch Bridge. Built almost 2000 years since Hadrian’s moment of insight and inventiveness, it neatly links as an umbilical cord of engineering greatness from the past to the present.

Journeys end found us rounding the edge of the estuary coast to arrive at the Tynemouth Priory and Castle where the North Sea meets the River Tyne. This was a fitting end, where history is firmly etched on its ravaged fortifications of many battles over the years.

It was an invigorating ride through some of the most conflicted lands in history. It gives you a strong sense of the solitude legionnaires must have felt, as they surveyed the lonely Scottish Borders from their turrets and castles.

The ride along the wall left me with an ever-increasing respect for a Roman civilisation that achieved such a great engineering feat of construction in such a short time, with little more than application, brawn and discipline.

NEED TO KNOW TRAVEL FACTS

Tour Company:
Saddle Skedaddle
Ouseburn Building
East Quayside
Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear
NE6 1LL

www.skedaddle.co.uk

Tour duration: 4 days

Grade: 1 – 2

Optional Bike hire & insurance

Tour Details: Self-guided
3 nights B&B (twin share basis)
3 days biking emergency back up. Luggage transfers, People transfers, Minimum 2 people
When to go: April – October

See: Hadrian’s Cycleway Router Map, available from www.sustransshop.co.uk.

For more information see www.hadrians-wall.org and www.cycle-routes.org/hadrianscycleway 

23 January 2009