I recently came across this wonderful film by runner and explorer Beau Miles. It’s called “Run The Line” and I really recommend that you take a look too.
As you may know, I too am exploring a railway line, but through my art rather than through running (though I am runner too, and you never know!) This beautiful film therefore struck a chord with me in lots of ways:
Beau explores a long-closed railway line in his home town in Australia. Unlike the Amlwch line, which I am studying, its track and infrastructure is largely gone and there is no hope of it making a comeback. Beau’s self-made one-man marathon is a fascinating and enjoyable journey through geography, history and the imagination; part run, part re-enactment, part day out.
Railway lines (both old, current and future) mean many different things to many different people. Yet I was very struck by how Beau’s film uncovered many themes and ideas which I recognise from my own research into the Amlwch line on Anglesey: the fragility of places and the resilience of memory; the human impulse to remember and its propensity to forget; the strange blend of the mundane and the poetic that old railway lines conjure up; and of course the amazing resilience of long distance runners. Thanks for a fascinating and enjoyable film, Beau!
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.