During September, two guided walks hosted by a local historian will allow visitors to the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway to discover the history behind old postal or postmen’s paths around the area.

The walks are part of the railway’s museum’s current exhibition Walks from Ratty, and takes its inspiration from the book of the same name written and illustrated by Alfred Wainwright in 1978, famous for his Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells, who described Eskdale as ‘one of the grandest of Lakeland’s valleys’.

Local historian Alan Cleaver and the Ravenglass Railway Museum are holding the ‘Boot Postman’s Walk’ on Saturday, 7th and Sunday, 15th September in conjunction with the Walks from Ratty exhibition at the museum.

Alongside pictorial depictions of Wainwright’s routes, the Walks from Ratty exhibition also looks at routes that rural postal workers once walked every day, and is being held in the museum’s temporary gallery until the end of 2024.

Alan Cleaver’s guided walks will follow a series of walks that members of The Wainwright Society, who are sponsors of the exhibition, took part in earlier this year.

The walks will follow in the footsteps of Postmen and Postwomen of the past, and thanks to Alan’s research, visitors to the exhibition can discover the history behind the old postal or postmen’s paths – the routes travelled every day by Postmen, and women, of the day.

It is one of these routes that Alan will bring to life for visitors when they join him to complete the Boot Postman’s Walk.

There is no charge to join Alan Cleaver on his ‘Boot Postman’s Walk’, although the museum will welcome donations. Both walks start from Dalegarth Station at 11.10, with the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway being the ideal way to journey to Dalegarth for the walk.

The 10:25 train from Ravenglass will arrive at Dalegarth station in plenty of time for the walk starting time of 11:10.

Details of the guided walks can be found on the museum’s website at www.ravenglassrailwaymuseum.co.uk.

Earlier this year, the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway introduced season tickets for dogs travelling with their owners, and for Halloween it will be holding a special Peter’s Railway – Little Engineers Days event.

Rural postmen and women often walked or cycled many miles a day in all weathers to deliver the post.

Today all deliveries are by van. They were tough walks but through some of the most beautiful parts of the Cumbrian countryside. I’ll be sharing the routes and revealing more about the people who walked them.

Alan Cleaver, local historian