Cycling Roman Britain

[MichaelW2]

Peddars Way is a pretty easy day ride from Thetford to Hunstanton, where it isn't off road it it very quiet country lane.

 

[tribanjules]

Icknield street south of Birmingham is a lovely run. Need gravel/robust tyres in places. More horses than cars

 

[Richard Fairhurst]

If you want to ride the Fosse, NCN 48 was originally planned to roughly follow its course but on minor roads - indeed, its project name was "Fosse2". Like a lot of the early planned on-road NCN routes it's never been "finished" (i.e. signposted throughout), but there's some good riding there. The intended route was something like https://cycle.travel/map/journey/86887 .

 

[Mr Celine]

From there it's a 3km downhill tarmac roller coaster which even has a blind dip - it has overhanging trees on both sides which as you descend hide the view of the up side of the dip - the road is straight, but only single track, though it is very quiet. At Shotheids the tarmac ends.

I found some gopro footage of this from 2016. The road was closed at the time for roadworks, which didn't stop the usual numpties (and cyclists )from ignoring it. It also led to some rather interesting braking from 30mph+

I hadn't ridden the off-road section, there is a handy bench there to recover from the climb up from Hownam, which feels almost as steep as strava thinks it is.

 

[pawl]

I was watching Great British Car Journeys the other night and they were driving the Fosse Way, a Roman route from Exeter to Lincoln, which the vast majority looked like proper roads and worth avoiding, but some stretches looked like they'd be a nice pleasant ride (eg. The bits that were an uncomfortable drive and bridleway).

There's a thread on CC here discussing the Fosse Way which doesn't make it sound at all attractive... but are there any other Roman routes around the UK that are good to cycle?

The old Fosse west of Leicester B114 to Sharnford Aprox half a mile is a Lane called Bumble Bee Lane This goes up to High Cross which is where the Fosse crosses Watling Street From there it continues through Brinklow Through the Cotswolds Down to Bath.

This is a really pleasant road Haven’t been further further than Stow On the Wold so cannot comment what the route is like.I understand from others it re mains fairly rural.

 

[Richard Fairhurst]

Depends on your tolerance for traffic, really. Stow to Cirencester is a busy road and not one I'd cycle. South of Cirencester it's an unmade byway for much of its length - good gravel-bike riding. It becomes a hilly minor road the closer you get to Bath. For the last few miles (after Colerne Airfield) it's a bit of a rat-run and I'd take another way into Batheaston.

 

[Lookrider]

Continuing north from Towford it's tarmac for just over 1km to Pennymuir. I've never yet walked or cycled the next 3km to the Five Stanes stone circle, but here is a pic of the five stanes looking south -
View attachment 511555
The roman 'road' is slightly darker green grass this side of the dry stane dyke on the right of the picture. From this point northward it's a slightly better defined grassy path for about 1km -
View attachment 511567


then becomes more of a track in between two dykes until you reach tarmac at Whitton Edge, where the road turns sharply west and from where the photo in my previous post was taken. From there it's a 3km downhill tarmac roller coaster which even has a blind dip - it has overhanging trees on both sides which as you descend hide the view of the up side of the dip - the road is straight, but only single track, though it is very quiet. At Shotheids the tarmac ends. I've never walked the next 3km to Cappuck. IIRC there is a footbridge at Cappuck over the Oxnam Water.
This is a photo from Ulston Moor looking south towards Cappuck -
View attachment 511572
The surface is like that all the way from Cappuck to Jedfoot.
From Jedfoot the road is 'lost' for 2km so follow the St Cuthbert's way footpath which crosses the Teviot on a suspension bridge. The next 5km to Hiltonshill Toll is a footpath which meanders back and forth along the line of the old road. This is looking north towards Lilliardsedge (monument on the horizon) with Eildon Hill North visible to its left.
View attachment 511573

And looking south from Lilliardsedge -

View attachment 511576

At Hiltonshill Toll the road becomes the A68 for about 2km to where the A68 turns right to pass through St Boswells. The line of Dere Street from there to Trimontium is lost.

Thanks very much for this help ..it must have took you a while to do ...when we do eventually ride this rd I will do a post about it

 

[Brains]

The A5 was a Roman road called Watling Street, running from London to Shrewsbury, I know there are still old parts of it left but it is a very grim place to cycle.

Watling Street runs from Dover to Holyhead

It goes under a lot of names today, mostly the M2, A2 and A5
However as it passes through the towns and Cities it often reverts to it's original name
I've ridden a lot of the original route where it's still bike friendly.
There is a cycle route that more or less follows the line from London Bridge to Dover

 

[Ian H]

Here's part of the Roman road between Dorchester and Exeter. By no means is all of the route known. Margary's map is wrong in many places.

 

[FrothNinja]

I did some Roman road earlier this year

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYxJ2IlMRh4

 

[Sallar55]

The end of the line, one end of the wall at Bowling. The Fort is under a former bus garage and houses.