A flurry of M62-related conversations recently. First, an enjoyable afternoon spent with Slaithwaite poet and teacher Jack Faricy discussing my 2007 walk. Jack is working on a PhD about the poetics of the motorway, “a poetic exploration of the M62 and the landscapes it connects”. We were introduced by Kevin Crooks with whom I collaborated on his 2017 project M62: The Trans-Pennine Motorway, A Photographic Monograph.
Then, a conversation with food writer Olivia Potts, who, in researching a long feature on the history of food in service stations, has picked up on my unusually lengthy sojourns in the likes of the Days Inn, Hartshead Moor (a three night stay on my M62 journey). We recalled the days when Forton Services was a tourist destination in itself, and chewed over the significance of artisan farm shop services.
Meanwhile, Ken Wilson let me know that he has just published his book Walking the Bypass: Notes on Place From the Side of the Road, his long-awaited excursus of the experience of walking the Regina Bypass, “a series of ambitious and unconventional walks, Wilson sets out to understand the arrival and significance of the new (and politically contentious) highway encircling Saskatchewan’s capital”. Can’t wait to fire up the e-reader to begin this. I’m flattered that Ken references me, alongside Iain Sinclair, a few times along the way.
And finally, Ken Bartley of Belfast’s ArtisAnn Gallery contacted me to ask if I’d share my reflections on my stay at The Curfew Tower, Bill Drummond’s artists’ retreat in Cushendall, Co. Antrim, which was where I spent a month completing my work on Walking the M62 (the book) at the end of my walk. Ken is writing a history of the artistic residencies at the Curfew Tower during Bill Drummond’s ownership of it, which will be published by Bill on his Penkiln Burn imprint at some point.
