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Songline 2007 - The Journey so Far
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Year 2
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My intention is to create a line of song around mainland Britain. That is to say I will sing at many and various points around a 4,500 mile walk travelling anti-clockwise starting and finishing in London. Starting in April 2007 I walked up the east coast to John O'Groats and then to Cape Wrath, a third of the way. This took five months at an average of 12 miles a day, staying in a tent, B&Bs, hostels, communities, and with friends. No one was able to predict the awful weather conditions which effected mainland Britain during this period. Orlando Gough gave me music which I performed in or around at least 300 churches and Steve Moran gave me songs which I performed in both churches and schools. The events which took place are so numerous as to suggest at least a book which is one of my intentions.
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APRIL - AUGUST 2008
CAPE WRATH (SCOTLAND) TO ST.DAVID'S HEAD (WALES) DISTANCE 1500 MILES
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I had to get back to the furthest point from home (Sussex) on mainland Britain but I knew where I was going and had last year's experience of walking continuously for 5 months and finding ways to survive. I looked forward to the west coast of Scotland and it didn't disappoint. The walk down to Oban was the best and I was lucky to have the best weather in living memory. There were no coastal paths so there was a lot of road walking but it was pre-tourist season and quiet so I was something of a novelty and always warmly welcomed and generously helped in all sorts of ways. I spent a long time deciding how to get to Glasgow before deciding on Lochgilphead to Tarbert, across to Arran and back up from Ardrossan. The romance of solitude in wonderful landscape departed as the roads filled with lorries to and from Stranraer but that gave way to pastoral Galloway, cows, Burns country and eventually the English border. It took 5 months and 1500 miles of coastline to get round Scotland and by Carlisle I was half way through the whole 4500 mile trip - mentally I was going home! |
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| Many people and groups came and walked with me but above all the 4 months I walked alone confirmed the significance of doing a deed alone. Writing this in retrospect confirms my prediction that taking the decision to undertake this task will both touch many people on the way, that it will provide interest, and that it will give me personally a huge archive of material which I can use for years to come. The east coast was heavily populated, the west coast not so, and so I embark on this year's quest more openly and with more flexibility. I expect nature and the elements to throw themselves at me and to show themselves in many varieties, both challengingly and magnificently for which I will try to be prepared. The Songline will be more outdoors and within nature for which Orlando has written an appropriate piece of music. It will take me down as far as St. David's Cathedral in Wales by the end of august this year. |
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From Carlisle to Silloth it was again remote. Inland was now Cumbria and the Lake District but the coastal communities struggle for any recognition. THe industries and mines have stopped and now the next 50 years of Selafield's history will be about dismantling the neuclear plant. Barrow-in-Furness remains active at the entrance to Morecombe Bay. From Fleetwood to Liverpool was flat walking along miles of esplanade except for the Ribble Estuary up to Preston. I got to know Liverpool better after a couple of days exploration and enjoyed its efforts at being the Cultural Capital of Europe. Round the Wirral and into Wales via Chester. I was pleased to get across North Wales to the delightful Lleyn Penninsula and into Cardigan Bay. The weather like last year got worse and worse through August. The Pembrokeshire Coastal Path is well marked and well walked but seriously challenged my knees so that by St. David's Head I was physically wrecked. The hardest part had been the last. |
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