A2 Art Print: The Packhorse Trail

The Packhorse Trail is a short documentary film retracing an ancient bridleway of the somewhat forgotten, altered or lost Packhorse Route through Edale, Derwent and over Moscar into Sheffield. The route is approximately 46.4km, and takes in a modest amount of climb, circa 1600m of ascent. Chris’ brother Nick Goddard runs the 46.4km route and along the way, stops off a key landmarks, marker stones and crosses to share their history and importance.

Reconnecting this old route and finding new ways to cross the areas of land that have changed, such as the Snake Pass and Ladybower reservoir, made the reccing and running of this route feel quite special. Most of the original pathways are intact and you get a feeling that you are travelling through a historical landscape. The features, their history and the events that have shaped our landscape is a fascinating part of this route.

The whole project was filmed during the UK’s lockdown in 2020 which, in itself, formed a secondary narrative alongside the original idea behind the film. As routes and roads have been developed over the last 100 years, places outside of our local area are more accessible than ever before. In search of adventure, people will often travel to less familiar places perhaps forgetting to fully appreciate or understand the places on their doorsteps. Many of us have walked a route perhaps not understanding why it’s there. Due to restrictions on travelling outside of our local area, these historic routes became intrinsically as important as they had been all those years ago. As people sought local recreation, we reconnected within the local landscape and in doing so, appreciated them more than ever.

Watch the film here