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Following
the publication of Stephen Bailey's walking guide to the Derbyshire Portway in
Spring 2008, I began exploring and painting this ancient 50 mile route which
cuts across the county from Stapleford on the Derbyshire Nottinghamshire
border, through the Peak District to Mam Tor near Castleton. I am accompanied
in my travels by the faithful Elk, who has learned that 'Portway' means
adventure!
To read
more about the route, please link to
Stephen Bailey's Derbyshire Portway web site by clicking
here.
Excerpts
from the Portway Blog:
For some
time I had been searching for an historical Derbyshire route to form the basis
for a series of paintings. Travelled by traders and pilgrims for centuries
since prehistoric times, the Portway traverses a variety of landscapes,
punctuated by churches, caves and hermitages. Stretches of sunken green lanes
banked by outgrown hedgerows contrast with far reaching views from ridge tops.
The travellers favoured high ground, avoiding where possible river crossings,
but as a painter I am drawn to the water, returning many times to Alport and
Ashford in the Water.
The
hermits caves immediately conjure images of the ancient traveller - the hermits
apparently offering assistance to the road weary on particularly treacherous
sections of the route. At Dale Abbey, the cave is beautifully hewn from the
warm rock, overhung by lime trees. At Cratcliff Rocks, a natural stone overhang
provides basic shelter amidst the overpowering gritstone. Although I am drawn
back to this location it is with trepidation - the atmosphere is as dark as the
wet gritstone. An alarm bark from Elk marks our retreat.
The cave at Harborough rocks was
inhabited by a family well into the 19th Century. We were looking forward to
testing whether it is still weatherproof, after escaping the advances of a
dozen horses and some frisky bullocks in a rainstorm, but were beaten to it by
a gang of damp rock climbers.
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Harthill at
Dusk
Ashford in
the Water
Dale Abbey
Hermitage
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