I didn't have enough time to go walking in the Peak District today because I needed to get back home by 5:30. So it's been a fairly local walk with my brother that finished with a quite short train journey of thirty five minutes, and as it was, I actually arrived home with nearly three hours to spare.
I met up with my brother at Wakefield Westgate Railway Station and we walked through the city centre - I caught this quick glimpse of the cathedral spire as we approached the building.
We walked down to the footpath that goes alongside the towpath of the Aire and Calder Navigation [at this point the towpath is closed] - until we reached Stanley Ferry.
There's an attractive covered walkway at the side of the Stanley Ferry Inn but the gates were locked and weren't due to be opened until the pub opened a few minutes later at 10:30 so we had to double back and go the long way round over the road bridge.
We then walked along the bank of the River Calder for a few minutes - along this stretch I noticed some tomato plants growing on the riverbank. We headed north, keeping to the east of Stanley before arriving at Bottom Boat and then heading across the fields to Lee Moor.
The way north to Lofthouse required that I study the map once or twice, but the route up and over the now landscaped former spoilheap of Lofthouse Colliery was well signposted. As we approached the country park which is now there I stopped for a pee but my brother continued walking, hoping to catch his train back home to Thurnscoe from the nearby railway station at Outwood.
Although you can't see any in either of the two photographs I've included, I was surprised to see that there's heather growing at the top of the spoilheap.
My brother must have caught his train because he wasn't on the platform when I got there. I had over twenty minutes to wait for my train to Doncaster; I spent about half of that time fiddling with my camera - the power button had got stuck and I needed to use the nib of my pen to release it.
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