Behind the Story

Where It All Began

Every book starts somewhere. The Road to Dunbar started with a simple question: what happens when a careful, ordinary life is turned upside down, not by drama but by a "for sale" sign and a stranger in a café?

Dave had always said he had a book in him somewhere. After years of telling other people's stories through local journalism and broadcasting, he finally sat down to find out whether it was true.

Two Places, One Journey

Swindon is Dave's home, and it's Neil's too. The story is full of places local readers will recognise: the Old Town, the canal path, the shops, the café on the corner. It's a town of routine and familiar faces, which is exactly what Neil likes about it.

Dunbar, on the East Lothian coast, is where the road leads. It's a small harbour town of stone cottages, fishing boats and North Sea wind, where Scott grew up and where Neil spends a Christmas he won't forget. The sunset on the back cover is Dunbar's Victoria Harbour, the place where the story's most important walk takes place.

Between the two lie four hundred miles of motorway, a service station in Northumberland, and plenty of time to think.

A Story of Its Time

The book follows one year, from April 2016 to March 2017. Look closely and you'll spot the moments that made that year: a polar research ship nearly called Boaty McBoatface, the songs on the radio, and a Christmas Day that brought sad news from the music world.

And then there was Max. Every story needs a scene-stealer. Max, Scott's Jack Russell, sits for nobody, sleeps wherever he likes and decides very early on that Neil is one of his people. Readers have a habit of falling for him first.