THE BEST OF HADRIAN’S WALL
Best for Tracing the straight-line route of Hadrian’s Wall, before diving into big-time B-road action carving through farms, fields and forests almost un-noticed into Scotland
Length 62 miles
Route Heddon-on-the-wall, Port Gate, Chollerford, Greenhead, Roadhead, Catlowdy, Harelaw, Langholm
Roads B6318 and a tiny bit of the A7
Love it because Who doesn’t love a bit Roman history — okay, a lot of Roman history — coupled with fantastic scenery and a serious piece of wiggling wizardry to wind yourself across the border into Scotland? And you won’t need a sat nav — it’s all on one road; the B6318, the UK’S longest B-road.
The ride kicks off just to the west of Newcastle at Heddon-on-the-wall on, yes, the B6318 — for the first half of its length, the road runs pretty much as straight and true as a Roman road. Which, oddly, it isn’t — it was built instead in the middle of the 18th century by the same General Wade who built many of the military roads in Scotland. Cynics might say they’re a lot more fun but this one is tracing the line of Hadrian’s wall, following the ancient stonework as it passes Roman forts, up hill and down dale, under flowering hillside slopes and across farmed fields.
Skies are high and wide, and the road arrows beneath it into the vanishing distance. But after 30 miles the landscape changes and the B6318 drops into Greenhead, over a river, and then as if in response to the previous 30 miles, can’t stop wiggling across low-lying meadows flowering pastures. We nip into plantations of conifers, out into farmland, down alongside rivers and across the inauspicious Scottish border to finally flow into Langholm, a perfectly sized little town with a few cafés and shops to grab some much needed refreshment after the excitement.
Stop for a cuppa at Errington Coffee
House on the roundabout on the A68.