WHEN Dave Hadfield was invited to walk from the Humber to the Mersey along the M62 corridor, he jumped at the chance.

For it gave the sports commentator and writer the chance to combine his love of walking with his passion for rugby league.

And during the 220-mile trek, he made fresh discoveries about the sport and the landscape in which it has struggled and thrived.

At the start of his mammoth walk, setting off from the banks of the Humber, he called in at the new Hull KC stadium, shared by Hull City football club and Hull rugby league club, and finished 220 miles later at the Widnes rugby league ground.

Dave, aged 52, a former Bolton Evening News reporter, has had rugby league running through his veins since he was a teenager and began by covering matches as a freelance rugby league writer during the 1980s.

It led to a job on The Independent in 1990 and to commentating stints for BBC Radio Five Live and Sky Sports, in the process making a name for himself as arguably Britain's best known writer on the sport.

He has charted his walk across the north of England in his fourth book about rugby league called Up And Over. He observes the way rugby league fits into the history of towns such as Wigan and Castleford while taking a Bill Bryson-style look at Britain itself.

He said: "I was aproached by a walking group which asked me if I wanted to walk part of the route from Hull to Widnes, but I thought I could do better than that and did the whole thing.

"I wanted to capture a picture of rugby league land, but I have to say the most memorable part of the walk was when we crossed the border from Yorkshire to Lancashire.

"It had been a terrible day, with the rain pouring down, but as soon as we got over the Pennines from Huddersfield to Oldham, the rain stopped and the sun came out across Saddleworth. I was back in God's home county!"

Dave walked with Sky Sports commentator Mike Stephenson and former Wigan and Great Britain rugby league ace Phil Clarke.

Their trek was charted daily on Sky News with Dave, a former Canon Slade and Keele University student, providing updates.

Dave said: "People who have read the book seem to like it, even those with no passion for rugby."

His book is now being tipped as a contender for the sports book of the year award.

Up and Over is available from bookshops now, priced £9.99.