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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It is World Postcard Day and amazingly a painted postcard I entered in a Winsor & Newton competition has been chosen for a postcard exhibition at London's Saatchi Gallery! The exhibition runs from October 1 to the 11th at the Saatchi Gallery, London, SW3 4RY. #WorldPostcardDay

Painted postcard of a duckling with a L plate round his neck standing nervously by the edge of a pond from which a sign saying 'Deep End' is showing.

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Artist Percy Kelly died in 1993. I call him the 'patron saint' of painted letters as his handwritten letters were works of art in their own right. If you have 2 or 3 hundred quid to spare, some are coming up for auction in a couple of weeks... www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auctio...

Painted envelope by Percy Kelly with calligraphy and drawings of houses.

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Good job, it's not in a World Heritage Site... oh, wait.

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

"The loveliest spot that man hath ever found". Poor Nab Well. Wordsworth drank its waters every day and extolled its virtues in a poem but today it lies neglected and forgotten near his former home at Rydal Mount. I guess it will be gone in a few more years.

A lady kneels by the stones around Nab Well at Rydal Mount.

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I can never understand 'fans' leaving early. They presumably expect the players to stay until the end?

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

The chess section of my library 😉

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Over a beck just south of Hunsonby.

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Mostly Cumbria. More details at sites.google.com/view/postal-... and Hidden Cumbria share.google/SzUmndJbvMaM.... I'll add Laal Tommy's path in a few days.

sites.google.com

Postal Paths

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

A charming packhorse bridge on the Postman's Path from Langwathby to Glassonby in Cumbria. Once walked by Laal Tommy Post. Now, judging by the state of the path, hardly ever walked by anyone 😥 (Laal - dialect for 'little').

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Some good news for Scottish folk, particularly those in #Dumfries... I'll be talking about Scotland's postal paths at Thomas Tosh in Thornhill on Wednesday, September 2nd. And @scotways.com l will be getting much praise of course for their work in this regard... www.thomastosh.com/events/2026/...

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Lesley and I had to walk out of The Odyssey after half an hour as it was just too loud. And we'd turned our hearing aids off! I thought it was just us getting old but I'm reassured by Google guessing the question before I had finished asking it... So it's not just us?

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Removing the trees around your training ground probably helped 😉

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Call me paranoid, but last week Elon Musk fired a rocket at the moon. This week, the moon is blocking out the sun and thousands of meteors will rain down on earth. We're at war with the moon people aren't we?

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

There are not many sunken lanes in Cumbria - they are more of a Dorset thing - but ancient Seacross Lonning at Wythop Mill is one of Cumbria's finest. In the current heatwave, the hazel tunnel offers a cool walk. (Lonning = dialect for lane).

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Record of deaths in the village of Lamplugh, Cumbria between 1656 and 1663 shows: * 4 Frightened to death by fairies * 7 Bewitched * 1 led into pond by a Will-O'-The-Wisp * 2 Died of cold in the church You see, archives can be fun! share.google/CJLUig2CUimW...

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I was in Grasmere today when Will Smith from @samreadbookseller.bsky.social ran out and grabbed me kicking and screaming into his shop to sign some books. I signed about 50 and then he clarified he wanted me to sign MY book, The Postal Paths. There's also one rare unsigned book left in the shop 😁

Alan Cleaver in front of Grasmere's postbox

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Absolutely beautiful. I am looking forward to reading this over and over again. Thank you ❤️

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

It's a long-established principle that a UK footpath doesn't have to go anywhere. Most go from A to B, but they can also go from A to ...not A. Many, like this one, served an old quarry or mine. Gov inspectors have often declined requests to close a footpath simply because it doesn't go anywhere.

The dotted green line on this map shows a footpath ending nowhere in particular.

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Going up the postal path. Then up the garden path!

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I'm honoured to be in such esteemed company!

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

The 'Spittie Whol' in a wall in Caldbeck, Cumbria - spit in it saying "Once in the hole I spit to guard me safe from fascinating charms", then don't look back to ensure good fortune. It's possibly an old plague stone now set in a drystone wall. Coins are also left in it by villagers.

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

This looks like a former postman's hut. Do you know its history?

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Sadly, The Postal Paths didn't win The Lakeland Book Of The Year last night but it was an honour to be shortlisted. Sarah Hall with her book Helm was the worthy winner. So I shall be standing in the Clacton by-election and we'll let the people decide who should really have won!

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Wonderful! I hope you've walked the route in his memory?!

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

That's timely! I'm preparing my talk on handwritten letters for Tuesday (June 30) at Tullie House in Carlisle and Mozart's Letter Duet has just played on the radio! tullie.org.uk/events/cumbr...

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

On the hottest June day on record in the UK, we all need a walk down Boggle Lonning in Cumbria

Boggle Lonning (also known as Seacross Lonning) near Embleton in Cumbria

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Oh my God! Did someone put Trump in charge of water quality at Whitehaven?!

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

"That which takes longer to arrive stays longer in the heart" - The Healing Power of Korean Letter Writing by Juhee Mun

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

"Never, never, dear Madam (N.B. this remark is addressed to ladies only: no man would ever do such a thing), put “Wednesday”, simply, as the date! That way madness lies.” - Lewis Carroll, Eight or Nine Wise Words about Letter-Writing (1890).

A handwritten letter- the address is fake

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

(Nerd alert!): This is interesting - Royal Mail's special issue stamps (the ones with pretty pictures) featuring waterfalls have just been released and include 2nd Class stamps. Royal Mail stopped doing 2nd Class specials months ago, so I wonder why they have now reintroduced them?

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

My thanks to @bookendscarlisle.bsky.social for giving me a 'job' today as a bookseller as part of #IndieBookshopWeek. And which book did I recommend to customers (apart from my own)? It could only be... @ronanhession.bsky.social

Alan Cleaver with a copy of Leonard and Hungry Paul

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

No - but thanks. It's a judging panel.

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

I'm chuffed to say that my book, The Postal Paths, has been shortlisted for this year's Lakeland Book Of The Year award. The awards evening is July 7th - but I'm up against some tough and worthy opposition!

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

I'll be giving a talk on Cumbrian Postal Paths on June 30th (Tullie House, Carlisle), coinciding with an exhibition of the work of late artist Percy Kelly. Kelly is known for his 'painted letters/envelopes' and I'll be also talking about those. Do come along... tullie.org.uk/events/cumbr...

tullie.org.uk

Cumbria's Postal Paths with Alan Cleaver + Percy Kelly Pop Up - Tullie - Museum & Art Gallery

Hear from local author Alan Cleaver about his book The Postal Paths: Rediscovering Britain’s Forgotten Trails And The People Who Walked Them & see artwork by Cumbria's most famous postie Percy Kelly.

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

"There is a charm in footing slow across a silent plain" - Keats

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Just visiting this lovely pub in Rugby, Warwickshire. Guess what it's called? Go on, take a wild guess 😁

Mural.of a squirrel on the side of a pub

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

This delightful photo was taken in June 1970 by A.Michael Davies. He sent it me after reading my book, The Postal Paths, and reading about my walk along the 7-mile path on the Isle of Harris, Scotland. It's a rugged coastal path but postman Duncan MacInnes still wore with pride his uniform.

Postman on the Tarbert to Rhenigidale postal path.

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

"To the dear memory of a little child" - the beautifully touching 1883 stained glass memorial by parents to the son they lost aged four months. Caldbeck church, Cumbria UK #StainedGlassSunday

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

The UK has many footpaths that were once used as 'corpse roads' to take the dead to the mother church for burial. Dales Countryside Museum in North Yorkshire still has a funeral bier apparently used to carry the corpse on the Keld to Grinton corpse road...

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

The golden age of mail delivery before we invented drones

A postman delivering mail to a woman at a cottage door

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Proof handwriting is beneficial for you...

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

On this day in 1840, the first letters with Penny Black stamps were posted. Today, the UK postal service is in a poor state, but let's keep posting letters - and making them special. #PennyBlackDay

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

"Illustration is art with a job to do" - Sir Quentin Blake

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

"Come, let us follow by the woodland way, Come, dearest, let us go a-violeting." You won't find violeting on Google, but it was a British custom a century ago of going for a walk to pick a few violets and display them in a small vase in your hallway.

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