A SOUTH Cumbrian writer will retrace the footsteps of the romantic poets - promoting green travel for tourists.

Kirstie Pelling, of Burton-in-Lonsdale, will explore Lakeland towns and villages by bike, bus, boat and boot.

Ms Pelling won a grant from the Go Lakes Travel programme to produce 'hiking haiku, electric sonnet and prose' on the move.

The small grants programme offers a financial helping hand to organisations looking to reduce reliance on the car.

Along the way, Kirstie will be 'vlogging' - or creating video blogs - and sharing her poetry on the GoLakes Travel blog and tweeting using the hashtag #poetinmotion.

The mum-of-three, who has won a top national award for the blog that she writes with husband Stuart Wickes, said: “Using sustainable transport like the bus and ferry frees your mind to be creative.

"And who hasn’t had their best ideas while out for a walk? This winter I’ll be exploring the options for leaving the car at home, producing poetry and video poems as I go. I believe if Wordsworth was around today he’d be writing about Lakeland life from the top deck of a bus.”

Last year, the husband-and-wife team's ‘Family Adventure Project’ won the MAD (mum and dad) Blog Award at a ceremony in London.

The pair also won a BritMums award for best UK Travel Blog.

In the next few weeks, she will be using different modes of transport to experience the landscape from a fresh perspective and get the creative juices flowing.

Richard Greenwood, Head of Operations at Cumbria Tourism, said: “From bike rides to bus trips, electric cars to train journeys, this exciting GoLakes Travel project will see our Poet in Motion taking the cleaner, greener travel message out into the community.

"She will even be getting out onto the water to see how many how many different ways visitors can write words on - or in - the water, so watch out for her on a canoe or the ferry, or even bobbing up out of your favourite tarn with a snorkel and a stanza!”

The GoLakes programme is a £6.9 million initiative being delivered in partnership by Cumbria County Council, the Lake District National Park Authority and Cumbria Tourism. It aims to reduce the area’s CO2 emissions by 11,000 tonnes by 2015 whilst helping local businesses and the economy.