Walks near Leeds by train
MapA day hike in the countryside is just a simple train journey away — explore the most charmingly located railway stations near Leeds and plan your next day of green.
Alternatively, view walks directly from Leeds.
Grindleford Circular via Surprise View (Derbyshire)
1 hour from Leeds, with one change.
Quite possibly the best views in the whole of the Hope Valley. Ancient mixed woodland with rocky brook and footbridges, open moorland and gritstone edge. Detailed route map, photographs and route preview video available.
Hilly: a quarter on high ground, rising above the surrounding land.
Woodland: a third under tree cover.
Time: 2h–4h
Walk details: Let's Go Peak District (tips, photos, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Sheffield to Meadowhall Interchange (Yorkshire)
45 minutes direct from Leeds.
Flat urban canal towpaths and riverside paths along the Sheffield & Tinsley Canal and Five Weirs Walk, past Victoria Quays and the Tinsley locks. An easy waterside start to the trail.
Victoria Quays: A large canal basin in Sheffield constructed 1816-1819 as the terminus of the Sheffield Canal.
The Sheffield & Tinsley Canal: A canal opened in 1819 to link the city with the navigable River Don, famous for featuring in the opening scenes of the film The Full Monty.
Walk details: Penistone Line Trail / Penistone Line Partnership (PDF).
Sheffield to Bamford (Yorkshire)
45 minutes direct from Leeds.
Urban streets, landscaped Victorian cemetery, municipal parkland, narrow wooded valley, open moorland, rugged gritstone edges and a scenic descent into lush valley.
Time: 6h30
Warnings: Can be muddy.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Gargrave to Skipton (Yorkshire)
45 minutes direct from Leeds.
Easy, peaceful Leeds and Liverpool Canal towpath: locks, swing bridges, wharves and the River Aire near St Andrew's Church, Gargrave to Skipton.
Waterway: almost all along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
Time: 2h–4h30
Walk details: Community Rail Lancashire (PDF).
Hellifield to Gargrave (Yorkshire)
1 hour direct from Leeds.
Southern Dales fields and woodland crossing the River Aire, past Otterburn and Airton, descending over the Leeds and Liverpool Canal to St Andrew's Church at Gargrave.
Time: 3h–5h30
Walk details: Community Rail Lancashire (PDF).
Penistone to Denby Dale (Yorkshire)
1 hour from Leeds, with one change.
The hidden Gunthwaite valley, bridleways and a packhorse bridge, past the 16th-century Gunthwaite cruck barn and 29-arch Penistone Viaduct, ending at the 'Pie Village' of Denby Dale. The trail's longest section.
Gunthwaite Hall barn: A 16th-century Grade I listed close-studded cruck tithe barn still in agricultural use today.
Denby Dale Viaduct: A 21-arch stone railway viaduct opened in 1880, built alongside an earlier timber viaduct of cobweb appearance.
Warnings: Steps onto Acre Lane can be overgrown.
Walk details: Penistone Line Trail / Penistone Line Partnership (PDF).
Giggleswick to Long Preston (Yorkshire)
1 hour direct from Leeds.
Ribble Way riverside through the market town of Settle, Runley Mill, Turnpike House and a viewpoint towards Pendle Hill.
Time: 3h
Walk details: Community Rail Lancashire (PDF).
Hadfield to Penistone (Derbyshire)
1 hour from Leeds, with one change.
Impressive vistas. Old railway trackbed (Longdendale Trail/Trans Pennine Trail), moorland paths and country roads. Trans Pennine Trail follows the course of the old Woodhead Railway Line between Manchester and Sheffield. Electrified with new tunnel in 1950s, closed 1981 after 30 years.
Woodland: two fifths under tree cover.
Time: 7h–14h
Warnings: Steep tarmac section; busy A628 crossed three times; steep climb.
Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).
Bamford to Grindleford (Derbyshire)
1 hour from Leeds, with one change.
Spectacular gritstone Stanage Edge. Gritstone edges including Stanage Edge and Burbage Edge, moorland, woodland and riverside paths. Gritstone edges carved by ice age glaciers; historically used for millstone quarrying. Pride and Prejudice film location.
Hilly: three fifths on high ground, rising above the surrounding land.
Time: 5h–9h30
Warnings: Hard terrain; rocky gritstone boulders to traverse.
Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).
Chesterfield Circular via the Cuckoo Way (Derbyshire)
1 hour direct from Leeds.
Canal towpath (the Cuckoo Way) running 46 miles from the Trent to central Chesterfield. Out-and-back along an attractive market-town waterway and with kingfishers and water voles to look out for.
Walk details: East Midlands Railway (tips, photos and local insights).
Barnsley Interchange to Dodworth (Yorkshire)
30 minutes direct from Leeds.
Derelict Barnsley Canal towpath, riverside paths, a stillwater fishery and field paths into Dodworth. Industrial heritage of coal and glassmaking.
Walk details: Penistone Line Trail / Penistone Line Partnership (PDF).
Meadowhall Interchange to Chapeltown (Yorkshire)
45 minutes direct from Leeds.
Disused railway trackbed and the Blackburn Valley Trail through ancient Woolley Wood, following the Blackburn Brook past old mill sites into Chapeltown.
Woolley Wood: An ancient woodland continuously wooded since at least 1600, noted for its hornbeam trees and the locally uncommon Hawfinch.
Walk details: Penistone Line Trail / Penistone Line Partnership (PDF).