Can we talk about Roman Roads? Please..

[holdsteady]

There's a byway near me marked as a Roman roadScreenshot_20220618-213314_OS Maps.jpg

assume that was probably part of the same Roman Road that went near my Gran’s old house in Norton. Stourbridge - remember walking there with my uncle on visits - much preferred going to Kinver Caves instead though

[boxelder]

If you want to ride one and visit old stuff, you can follow Stanegate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanegate for long stretches, partly on NCN72 (Hadrian's Cycleway). Stanegate predated the wall.

[thenorthwind]

There's a road following Hadrian's Wall which is known as the "military road" which I presume is of Roman origin, for obvious reasons. It's not particularly busy, but I tend to avoid riding it because it's straight, which means means people drive fast and overtake a lot, ignoring the fact that you often can't see what's coming because of the hills and dips.

The A68 north of the wall is similar, but worse. Don't drive it after a big meal either!

I knew what Reg's link would be before I even clicked it

[pistonbroke]

Strange this topic should come up yesterday, I set off at 6am to ride my contribution to the Restrap Solstice Century along a section of the Via Augusta that runs through our closest village, El Perello. The roman road is the longest in Spain, running from the French border 1,500km South to Cadiz and was the road taken by Hannibal on his adventure from Carthage over the Pyrenees and Alps to fight the Romans. Elephants may or may not have been involved.
My challenge was to ride south for about 200km towards Valencia then get the train home. It's now a 50/50 gravel/broken tarmac trail that is slowly being rediscovered after years of neglect. The first barrier is a 400m high col on the way to crossing the river Ebro at Tortosa which was sublime in the dawn light and cool temperatures.


Then it was on through ancient olive groves on arrow straight trail to a snack stop in Traiguera and across numerous dried up river beds to a Roman arch at Cabanes. The trail became much trickier and it got a lot hotter, the temperature was into the 30's and pushing through sandy sections was not fun.


At the small town of Poble de Tornesa I got a voicemail message from a mate in Valencia who I'd been due to meet along the route coming the other way, I listened to a bit, he'd ridden a few km but binned it as it was 38° I also heard the word " slippery" but couldn't quite work out what he was on about.
I carried on as I'd done 150km and there was another 20 mainly downhill km to the first train station that I could return from. The trail turned into a concrete cycle path that descended through a series of switchbacks. Imagine my joy on coming round a bend to see the road covered in a diagonal off camber coating of damp slime that an evaporated stream had left. No chance to brake, down I went, hard. Left knee minus skin, left elbow similar and hip/shoulder hurting like hell. Picked myself up and checked the bike as you do. Brake lever bent but nothing broken so like a true racer(plonker) got back on and carried on, the knee started to swell up, so much that I was riding bow legged to stop it rubbing on my top tube bag. 10km down the hill was a village where I frightened several children by washing my knee in the fountain. Farmacia was closed so I carried on to Vila Real (yes that one Liverpool fans) and rang home to ask MrsPB to come to our local station. I got a bag of ice from a bar and sat on the train for 2 hours to the concern of fellow passengers who gave me paper tissues and helped me get the bike off the train. Trish ran me to the hospital where within an hour I'd had the damage inspected, 6 xrays, wounds cleaned and dressed and a bit of a talking to! Thankfully nothing broken
Don't scroll down if you're squeamish

[woodsmith]

I finally got to ride ( push) the Maiden Way from Kirkland to Cumbria a few weeks ago on a fairly shocking day. It appears that the Romans had no truck with hairpin bends and bashed on straight up the hill. The agger can be seen in the first pic.



Thenorthwind had a few better pics on another thread. viewtopic.php?f=10&t=21671&hilit=maiden

[tobasco]

The A68 north of the wall is similar, but worse. Don't drive it after a big meal either!

Dere street and Clennel street run over the Cheviots N/S ish, proper dirt tracks with many offshoots for exploring

[thenorthwind]

Dere street and Clennel street run over the Cheviots N/S ish, proper dirt tracks with many offshoots for exploring

Hadn't thought of Clennel Street though I've ridden it enough. Not very straight though, but I guess we've gone off at a tangent (if you can have a tangent to a straight line ) to Shaf's original question.

There's Salters Road in the same area but not sure if that's Roman.

And a route called the Devil's Causeway which I've crossed from time to time and even followed bits of but I think it's largely been lost to industrial farming.

[whitestone]

I knew what Reg's link would be before I even clicked it

He's getting a bit obvious in his old age isn't he

Actually it fits in perfectly with the name I gave the Strava activity that Shaf commented on and then started this thread. There's a bit of the old Roman Road between Addingham and Skipton that I'd not ridden until yesterday.

[riderdown]

My thought is that all the Roman roads in E&W should automatically be given bridleway status as a minimum based on historical use......

[redefined_cycles]

Sorry to hear about that nasty fall Duncan. Maybe you need some RICE for the next few days (Rest, Ice, Elevation, Compression). Hopw you get better soon.

Reg, the topic of Roman roads seems very complex and some being unpassable and lots to explore on/about em. I've added Roman Roads to the 'Regs, Quarries, Cows, Shafts' thread. Hoping to get some more rpoets when next they're trodden and next I ride down one it'll never feel the same again.

Doing Fosseway (the scary road section bit) this Tuesday so that'll be interesting and seen in a new light.

TheNorthWind, good point about the dips and crannies with people driving fast across em. Whenever I got over such blind sections I'm always careful as you never know what's ahead when it's blind. But I suppose some people are really stupid/ignorant/not-bothered!

Thanks again all... Learning loads here.

[summittoppler]

There's a pretty decent Roman Road not far from me in north Wales. There's plenty of standing stones & stone circles dotted about too.
Presentation1 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

[TheBrownDog]

Way too many roads here that are not die straight. I mean, what did the Romans ever do for us than give us completely straight roads. They were good, but rank amateurs compared with the road builders in Aussie in the 1940s and 50s. Witness, the Eyre Highway and the 90 mile straight. It's not the longest - IIFC that is somewhere in Saudi - but I rode it on my round Aussie tour in, I think, 2006, and it was the most grindingly hideous awful thing I've ever done on or off a bike.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/West+ ... 23.9442546

[techno]

ermine street goes through south cave and on to york (A1034 turns into the A1079). not that pretty sadly.

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman ... in_Britain
https://roadsofromanbritain.org/yorkshire.html very good site!

[JackT]

This is probably the most detailed and authoritative resource:

https://romanroads.org/osarchive.html

You need to join the association to access it. but the titles of the routes may give some useful guidance.

[techno]

This is probably the most detailed and authoritative resource:

https://romanroads.org/osarchive.html

You need to join the association to access it. but the titles of the routes may give some useful guidance.

on this part of their site you can see their maps and cross reference with bikehike or something: https://roadsofromanbritain.org/

[Cheeky Monkey]

I dont check this thread for a while and then come on to find a graphic up-shirts shot of Piston and his swollen appendage. Oooer

Healing vibes young man, healing vibes.

[thenorthwind]

I was reading The Ride Journal this morning and came across this little passage on Roman roads by Chipps Chippendale (Singetrack editor) and remembered this thread. He makes a fair point.

I finally got to ride ( push) the Maiden Way from Kirkland to Cumbria a few weeks ago on a fairly shocking day. It appears that the Romans had no truck with hairpin bends and bashed on straight up the hill. The agger can be seen in the first pic.

Totally missed this before. I saw your pictures and thought that looks familiar... but if he'd seen my post about it earlier in the year, he might have saved himself the bother... and then I see you have - some things you've just got to go and try for yourself anyway haven't you.

[redefined_cycles]

Well said that Chips chap (who was the precursor for me finding this very forum btw and I kept that mag where he explains and perfordms a simple bivy for years...

[redefined_cycles]

By the way, I learnt soon after starting the thread and the responses and then keeping eyes out for Roman Roads on the OS mpas where I'm going, that it's a bit of a pointless excercise.

Currently trying to make an mtb route from me (Dewsbury) to Nottingham and its definitely not straight with lots of undulations. Watch this space (or maybe the 'todays ride' one)....

[woodsmith]

I was reading The Ride Journal this morning and came across this little passage on Roman roads by Chipps Chippendale (Singetrack editor) and remembered this thread. He makes a fair point.

I finally got to ride ( push) the Maiden Way from Kirkland to Cumbria a few weeks ago on a fairly shocking day. It appears that the Romans had no truck with hairpin bends and bashed on straight up the hill. The agger can be seen in the first pic.

Totally missed this before. I saw your pictures and thought that looks familiar... but if he'd seen my post about it earlier in the year, he might have saved himself the bother... and then I see you have - some things you've just got to go and try for yourself anyway haven't you.

I enjoyed it in spite of the uphill slog and less than ideal weather, perhaps as much for the sake of completion having previously ridden the two other options over towards Alston. There was only one other set of bike tyre tracks up there, yours still lingering I wonder?

[thenorthwind]

I was reading The Ride Journal this morning and came across this little passage on Roman roads by Chipps Chippendale (Singetrack editor) and remembered this thread. He makes a fair point.

I finally got to ride ( push) the Maiden Way from Kirkland to Cumbria a few weeks ago on a fairly shocking day. It appears that the Romans had no truck with hairpin bends and bashed on straight up the hill. The agger can be seen in the first pic.

Totally missed this before. I saw your pictures and thought that looks familiar... but if he'd seen my post about it earlier in the year, he might have saved himself the bother... and then I see you have - some things you've just got to go and try for yourself anyway haven't you.

I enjoyed it in spite of the uphill slog and less than ideal weather, perhaps as much for the sake of completion having previously ridden the two other options over towards Alston. There was only one other set of bike tyre tracks up there, yours still lingering I wonder?

To be fair, I enjoyed it as well, though I probably wouldn't repeat it.

Haha, maybe, though I remember there being a fresh looking tyre track when I was there, and I wonder whether it's just a ghost of the moors trying to lure us to our deaths by making us believe well someone's been this way before