Alan Cleaver

Alan Cleaver is a journalist and author living in Whitehaven, Cumbria. He spends his spare time walking the footpaths of Britain, particularly those that have a good story or legend associated with them. He has previously written on corpse roads, lonnings, trods and other ancient paths. His new book is called Postal Paths and looks at the routes walked by the rural postmen and women. These could be anything up to 30 miles long, through some of the UK's most stunning countryside. They were delivering to the most remote farms and cottages. In the late 1960s, Royal Mail phased out these walking routes and post is now delivered by van. But the paths remain as public footpaths and as a reminder of the long, hard walks the posties completed daily to deliver post and help keep our communities united.