Walks you can reach from Wakefield Westgate by train

Parks, river and heritage trail.

Museum of Making

Darley Park

Time: 5h–10h30

6 lunch spots: Darley Park (1h–2h30 in) — Darley Park Terrace Cafe, the Little Darley in the Park, the Abbey Inn, or the Darleys; plus the Joiners Arms (3h–6h in), or the Orangery Café (3h–6h in)

4 end-of-walk rewards: the Alexandra Hotel, the Brunswick, the Victoria Inn, or the Waterfall

Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.

Similar walk: North Staffordshire Community Rail Partnership.

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).

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).

Waterways — River Derwent, Derby & Sandiacre Canal and Erewash Canal.

Time: 5h30–11h

2 lunch spots: Canal Cottage Cafe (2h30–5h30 in), or the Navigation (3h–6h30 in)

2 end-of-walk rewards: Peking House, or the Sawley Junction

Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.

Largely urban walking on pavements and a riverside path, through parks and along the line of the Derby Canal.

1 lunch spot: Waterside Café

Warnings: Only a few trains a day call at Peartree.

Walk details: North Staffordshire Community Rail Partnership (tips and turn-by-turn directions).

Mixture of off-road cycle path and on-road sections. Part of the longer London-to-Lake-District route.

Walk details: Derwent Valley Line Community Rail Partnership (local insights).

Repurposed railway track along the Great Northern Greenway.

Time: 4h30–9h30

2 lunch spots: the Bell and Harp (1h–2h in), or the Three Horseshoes (2h–4h30 in)

4 end-of-walk rewards: the Alexandra Hotel, the Brunswick, the Waterfall, or the Merry Widows

Warnings: Follows a busy road for a sixth of the walk.

Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.

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).

Recommended: A largely step-free, fairly clear route on roads, paths and through a pair of parks, with a brief stretch of industrial ground between them. A field path leads out of Featherstone and the road into central Castleford is quite long.

Time: 2h–4h

Warnings: The path runs close beside the M62 for about ten minutes, with heavy traffic noise; you are safely behind a hedge.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A great mix of nature, old and new industrial architecture. An easy and flat walk almost entirely along the canal towpath. The Sheffield half is a little uneven and can be slightly muddy underfoot; after Rotherham it is well-surfaced as part of the cycle route. Off-road for almost the whole way with no steps. Lined with interesting industrial archaeology and some street art at the Sheffield end. Suitable for dogs, buggies and cyclists. The Sheffield canal basin (off the published route) has the famous straddle warehouse plus shops, cafes and toilets.

Waterway: four fifths along the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation.

Time: 3h–6h

Warnings: Sections of the towpath have been subject to temporary closures with diversions; check before relying on a continuous route.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Some beautiful scenery along the way; excellent views over the fields near Chapeltown. A pleasant, quiet route that does a good job joining up green spaces (parks, woodland, cemetery and fields) with only a few roads between, through varied Sheffield suburbs. It has steep sections, many steps and muddy field paths and with uneven steps in Hartley Brook Dyke. Joins up green spaces including Burngreave Cemetery and woodland; good public transport links at both ends so you can start at either. Shops at Ecclesfield in the final stretch.

Time: 3h30–7h

Lunch: Shops and a chip shop with outside seating along the main road at Ecclesfield.

Warnings: A quarter urban. Steep sections, steep and uneven steps (notably in Hartley Brook Dyke), and muddy field paths; some road crossings without lights (Herries Road, the A6135) need care; kissing gates and narrow barriers throughout.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

An otherwise glorious walk. A glorious Peak-to-city route: a steep climb out of Hathersage onto open moorland with criss-crossing, sometimes unclear tracks (map and GPS essential), passing between Iron Age forts, then a contrasting descent through green fields and woods down the Limb Valley and along the Sheaf Valley into Sheffield. Steps, stiles and gates; broken road and dirt and very stony ground; can be boggy and very windy on the tops. Crosses Burbage Moor between the Iron Age forts of Carl Wark and Higger Tor; follows the Sheaf Walk (signed to Granville Square) into the city. Hathersage church has the grave of Little John. No refreshments until Millhouses Park; a Tesco and Sainsbury's with cafes lie near the route.

Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.

Time: 2h30–5h

Lunch: No refreshments until Millhouses Park (a summer kiosk), then a Tesco and Sainsbury's with cafes near the route.

Warnings: The moorland tracks above Hathersage criss-cross and can be hard to find in poor visibility, requiring map and compass; the tops can be very windy and boggy. A new development blocks a short section of the Sheaf path (divert ~100m along the main road); avoid a closed footbridge on Broadfield Road. Can be muddy.

Walk details: Slow Ways.