Whitehaven author lures readers away from Lake District 'honeypot'

He fell in love with the town - and Cumbria as a whole - while visiting his in-laws, Jim and Babs Park.

His wife Lesley was bought up there but moved away in 1979 when she attended journalism training college near Portsmouth and met Alan.

"I was always keen to move here. But Lesley had only just moved away so was less keen! We spent most of our working lives moving around the country, ending in Hampshire where I was editor of the Hampshire Chronicle.

"After 10 years there, we finally came north."

From 2005 to 2014, Alan worked as deputy editor at The Whitehaven News. Lesley still works as an archive assistant at Whitehaven Record Office.

The couple from Church Street like nothing more than spending their spare time walking the fells and discovering the stories behind some of the ancient paths they tread. 

This led them to research and compile a book on the 'corpse roads' of Cumbria. These paths were used in medieval times to take the dead from remote parts of the parish to the mother church for burial. The more famous ones can be found at Wasdale, Shap, Loweswater and Grasmere.

Their book, Corpse Roads of Cumbria, won the 2019 Lakeland Book of the Year award.

Their second book, Get Lost... in the Ancient Trackways of Cumbria, looks at lonnings, trods, waths, postman paths and many of the other types of paths in Cumbria.

Alan and Lesley in the place they now both call home (Image: Submitted)

Alan, 63, said: "Cumbria seems to have delighted in coming up with dozens of different paths! I love the history and stories behind them."

These include Beggars Trod, Parson's Passage, Lucy's Lonning or Ticklebelly Alley.

"The names are usually just local names for a path but they always intrigue me as they hint at the path's history.

"Harrington, for example, has Billy Watson's Lonning. We know almost nothing about who Billy was but we know this was a path once favoured by young lovers so perhaps he wooed his future wife walking her down this longing.

Corpse roads have a melancholy name but many of these are beautiful walks, following paths that have been walked for centuries."

The latest book celebrates some of the traditions and legends of Cumbria. A Lake District Christmas is an anthology of festive tales, poems, ballads and recipes from Cumbria.

Alan said: "Cumbria has its own unique take on winter and the Christmas celebration - perhaps it's because the mountains ensure there's always some snow about!"

Alan's next project is recording 'Postman's Paths' which can be found all over the UK. These were the routes walked by rural posties until 1976 when the Royal Mail decided all deliveries should be done by van.

The rural postmen would often walk 12 or 15 miles a day, six days a week, in all weathers to deliver to remote farms. The paths remain public footpaths but the routes are in danger of being lost as the rural postmen die off.

Alan believes that Cumbria's diverse paths could be promoted to encourage tourists away from the honeypots of the Lake District and persuade them to visit the rest of the county.

"Who wouldn't want to walk Tatie Pot Lonning, the Beetham fairy path, Chitty Mouse path, Bloody Bones Lane or Nanny Knockabouts?!"