Tory MP Rory Stewart

A Tory MP will deliver an annual lecture to aficionados of the late guidebook author Alfred Wainwright.

Rory Stewart will be on home turf for the Wainwright Memorial Lecture at Rheged near Penrith.

The Conservative parliamentarian, a keen walker, represents Penrith and the Border in the House of Commons.

Derek Cockell of the Wainwright Society, which organises the lecture, said the former Black Watch officer shares some aspects of the late author’s traits.

He said: “He was elected MP for Penrith and the Border in 2010 and in the summer of 2012 spent much of the parliamentary recess walking 400 miles around his constituency and staying in the homes of some of his constituents.

“It is reminiscent of Wainwright’s 1938 Pennine Journey when he walked from Settle to the Roman wall and back.

“Like Rory Stewart, he would arrive at his destination without any clear idea where he would spend the night.”

Mr Cockell said Mr Steward also undertook between 2000 and 2002 a series of treks in the rural areas of Pakistan, Iran, India and Nepal. He also walked across Afghanistan in 2002 and wrote a book of his experiences, The Places In Between.

Following a brief career in the Army, he joined the Foreign Office, serving as a diplomat in Indonesia, Montenegro and Iraq.

The Eton-educated MP was a member of the Labour Party in his youth

Tickets for the 28 September lecture cost £12, or £8 to Wainwright Society members and are available from the Rheged Centre on 01768 868000.

Previous speakers at the memorial lecture include Yorkshire mountaineer Alan Hinkes, biographer Hunter Davies and photographer Derry Brabbs.