A DENBIGH man is one half of the duo behind a new book on how two very different people became good friends as a result of a walk around the UK.

Hussein Sharif, born in Kenya in 1996, moved to Denbigh back in December 2019.

He recently became newly-related to Guy Kennaway through marriage - with guy's son being wed to Hussein's sister Sally.

The pair could not be any more different if they tried to be.

22-year-old Hussein describes himself as an 'African-born, inner city Tory-hating Muslim', whilst 63-year-old Guy is described as being a 'white, middle class, overweight, English, Tory-voting writer'.

The pair firstly assumed they had very little in common. But, newly-related by the marriage, they decided to go on a walk through Britain to get to know each other.

The result of this walk, from Shropshire to Llangollen and everywhere in between, was a book entitled 'Black and White thinking'.

Published by Mensch Publishing last month, it discusses Hussein and Guy's differences were set aside during the walk that would see them form an unlikely friendship.

Guy’s mission was to explain to Hussein how wonderful British life and culture was, and Hussein’s was to describe to Guy the realities of life as a young black Muslim in Britain in 2019.

Over a forty-mile hike they made friends, fell out, told stories, encountered strangers, argued, laughed and got very sore feet.

Held up by COVID-19 and dramatically diverted by the Black Lives Matter movement, they reached the end of theirwalk together, but for both of them it marked the start of a new and more important journey.

Guy has already written books in the past, but this is Hussein's first.

Talking about the experience, Hussein, who moved from Kenya to Tottenham, North London, when he was eight years old, said: "The best thing about it was having something to do. I've suffered from really bad anxiety for the last five years and so haven't been out of the house much at all.

"The scenery was absolutely beautiful. I like to float about; many things happen to me that shouldn't happen, and things turn out to be blessings in a weird kind of way. I love family, traditional food, and try to be a good Muslim, though often fail."

'Black and White Thinking' is available through Mensch Publishing for £20.