Simon Armitage is embarking on a second walk as a “modern-day troubadour”, in which he offers poetry as payment for his bed and board, as he journeys on foot along the north coast of the South West coastal path to Lands End and on to the Isles of Scilly. On his first trip, along the Pennine Way from north to south, which he recounted in the book Walking Home, he gave readings along the way, “bartering and trading my way down country”.

In his new venture he is hoping for more help along the same lines. On his website Armitage said: “A couple of years ago I walked the Pennine Way as a wandering poet, giving poetry readings every night in return for bed, breakfast and a round of butties, and Walking Home - Travels with a Troubadour was the published record of that journey. This year I'm writing the follow up to that book, the imaginatively entitled Walking Away.

“Once again I'll be bartering my way from start to finish, giving readings and passing the hat around, inviting the audience to put in whatever they think I'm worth. I want to see if I can pay my way with poetry alone, but this time away from my home ground, and getting further distant every day, towards where the country narrows to a point and the Atlantic begins.

“If you'd like me to give a reading in your local pub, village hall, theatre, school, gallery, church, barn, living room etc, can offer me food and shelter for the night and sherpa my unfashionable turquoise suitcase on to the next stop, please get in touch at the following address: simonswcoastpath@gmail.com.”

You can check out his planned 2013 itinerary here. It starts on 29 August 2013 in Minehead, taking in places such as Combe Martin, Westward Ho!, Bude, Port Isaac, Padstow, and Newquay, and finishing on 19 September, when he hopes to travel - at low tide - from the islands Tresco to Bryher and Samson on the Isles of Scilly.