New book celebrating Great British walk features Boston (twice) thanks to two epic trails

Peter (left), just after starting one of the trails, and Nigel at Snowdonia National Park. Below, Dominic Solesbury, from The White Hart.

Paths & Poetry is the work of two journalist friends – Nigel Heath, 76, of Monmouthshire, in South-East Wales, and Peter Gibbs, 79, of North Somerset.

It comprises 20 travelogues of walks completed by the duo from across Great Britain, accompanied by 40 poems inspired by them. Nigel writes the travelogues, Peter the poems.

Among the walks are two trails that start in Boston – the 290-mile Macmillan Way to Abbotsbury, on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, and the 280-mile Cross Britain Way, which ends at Barmouth, overlooking the Irish Sea in North Wales.

“Both trails, created by the Macmillan Way Association, in support of the Macmillan cancer charity, make wonderful walking adventures,” Nigel said.

“The incredible thing about The Macmillan Way is that it only passes through three towns, namely Stamford, in Lincolnshire, Cirencester, in Gloucestershire, and Sherborne, in Dorset, and there are many idyllic villages to explore along the way,” he said.

“The Cross Britain walk is also wonderful, contrasting the flatness of the fens and the rolling countryside along the way with the more challenging, and quite spectacular, sections as it makes its way through the Snowdonia National Park,” he added.

Both trails head south from Boston (one closer to The Wash than the other), before heading off in different directions near Fosdyke. The Macmillan Way heads south-west past Spalding, while the Cross Britain Way shifts west through Algarkirk, Sutterton, Donington and such Sleaford-area villages as Horbling, Billingborough and Folkingham.

Nigel and Peter completed the walks a section at a time. Before setting off, they stayed at The White Hart Hotel, in Boston, which is just a few steps away from the beginning of the trails.

The Coaching Inn Group, which owns The White Hart, has since ordered some copies of Paths & Poetry.

General manager Dominic Solesbury said: “Looking through a copy of the book might perhaps inspire other guests and regulars to follow in Nigel and Peter’s footsteps.”

The book is available from Amazon at https://bit.ly/pathsandpoetry, priced at £8.99 (or £3.99 for the Kindle version).