Walking the Postal Paths: A Heartwarming Journey Through Britain’s Rural Mail History

Book Review: The Postal Paths by Alan Cleaver

The Postal Paths by Alan Cleaver

“Where there is a path, there is history.”

These are the opening words of the book, ‘The Postal Paths’ by Alan Cleaver. I have just completed reading this book and I would like to share with you my thoughts.

Alan is a journalist and author living in Whitehaven, Cumbria in the far northwest of England and on the coast close to the beautiful Lake District National Park. He’s a man who loves walking and a chance remark by a farmer about a postman’s path set him on a journey to find out more. How many postman’s paths were there in the United Kingdom. What history would they reveal? Alan spent several years researching and tracing the routes of those posties who trudged miles a day across rural landscapes in all sorts of weather.

This book has been on my wish list and has recently been available in paperback. I happened to comment on a post on X that the book was on my wish list shortly before the paperback was launched. A follower and subscriber here on Substack, Mike Lambert, who lives in the USA, kindly purchased a copy online and had it delivered to me.

I must say, as a lover of history and indeed the history of the Post Office and Royal Mail here in the UK that I found the book fascinating. Alan has done much research and spent time meeting the descendants of those postmen and postwomen who trudged the fields, dales and hills on their post round. Country walking routes were replaced first with bicyles, where practical, and then with red post vans quite some time ago. As a result, there are few posties who once had a rural walking route still alive.

It’s great to read the stories of postmen who created these paths by taking shortcuts across fields and moorland to reach an isolated house or farm and deliver their mail six days a week. Many routes were about 20 miles long and had to be trod whether there was rain, hail or snow. Those postal workers took pride in their work and became an essential part of the rural community.

They brought not only the mail, but would deliver newspapers, medicine, local gossip and more. The stories are heartwarming. The posties dedication - inspiring.

If you like history with the human connection and a literary tour described by Alan as he discovered the postal paths and walked them, then this book is for you.

You can follow Alan Cleaver on X or Bluesky

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