One slightly foggy and soggy day, Lundy had quite a few of these days. I chose to walk from the village to the North End. A journey of just over 2 miles representing 3/4 of the length of the Island. This was not my usual wandering off the beaten track. Instead, it was a defined route. I followed the marker stones that flank the main path. I had a planned start and end point. I likened it to a mini pilgrimage.

The history of the marker stones

The granite marker stones, have been in position along the main track since 1909. These stones helped the Lighthouse keepers. They followed the main route between the Lighthouse in the North and the Village in the South. These would have been very useful on dark walks to the Tavern. They were also helpful when the island is covered in fog!

More recently they offer a waymarker for visitors. Some visitors be headed to Tibbetts, the most remote accommodation on the island. It also serves as a marker. This helps those who have wandered off the main track. They have lost sight of the path. The track runs straight up the middle of the Island. Regular visitors refer to it as the M1, even though it has no cars!

As I had my camera I decided to photograph each Marker Stone and count their number. The stones are placed at exact distances from each other. In my strides, that meant 44 strides between each one. So a total of 4,620 a distance of a little over 2 miles

A habitat

According to the Lundy Field society, the marker stones offer good habitats for lichens. This is especially true for species that thrive with some nutrient enrichment. An example of this is enrichment from bird droppings.

Most of the stones are still intact. Yet, some have fractured and broken off. Only a smaller part of the whole remains. According to history, the stones were never supposed to be this large but someone apparently got their Maths wrong!

Walking Artist Inspiration

I wanted to represent the walk and invite people to imagine the journey. I took inspiration from Walking Artist Hamish Fulton. I also used numbers and data to represent the walk.

References:

Hamish Fulton: The pilgrim and the nomad (no date). [Online]. Available at HTTPS://walkingart.interactive.org/2018/12/Hamish-Fulton-Curry. [Accessed on 17/02/2024]

https://www.lundy.org.uk/about-lundy/wildlife-on-the-island/lichens