Alan Cleaver is an author from Whitehaven, Cumbria UK whose latest book, The Postal Paths, looks at the routes walked by rural postmen and postwomen from the 1850s until the 1970s (vans are now used for all delivery routes in Britain) and the lives of the posties who walked them. Alan will be on a book publicity tour – if he is visiting your local bookshop during the summer 2025, why not pop in.

Rural postmen and women walked up to 20 miles a day, six days a week in all weathers delivering mail to the most remote farms and homes in Britain. And yet, when the post office, wrote to them in the late 1960s to say they would now be given a van they were, on the whole, heart-broken rather than delighted. As Stuart Lewis who walked the 15-miles route around Shap in Cumbria told me: “It broke my heart. I loved the walk and went out in all weathers. There wasn’t a day when we didn’t complete the round even in mist, snow and ice.” It seems rural posties not only loved the hard slog along country paths but were also uplifted by meeting and helping those lonely folk on their daily route. Indeed, I came across one Yorkshire postman who on a rare week off chose to spend it walking the route he walked every day for work! 

These rural posties also found artistic inspiration from their routes. Many wrote poetry or prose about their walks. Others were inspired to sketch or paint. Welsh postie Idris Mathias opted to draw a map of his route along the banks of the River Taifi. It took him 17 years and, when finished, stretched to sixty feet long. It is beautifully illustrated and details the route in minute detail, including the names of the coracle fishermen and their trawls. It is both a celebration of that part of the world and a valuable historical record (It is now held by the National Library of Wales and a digital version can be found here ). Other posties took a  inspiration in a more scientific form. Many became respected naturalists. Charles Macintosh noticed the fungi on his 16 mile walk at Dunkeld, Scotland (images above) and decided to study them properly. He became a famous mycologist, identifying several previously unknown specimens. He even encouraged a young holidaymaker with a similar interest to sketch and paint the fungi. Her name? Beatrix Potter. 

The rural postie may be long gone but the paths remain as public footpaths and I hope that they will continue to inspire the writers, poets, artists and scientists who walk them.