R's rue: Pleasley

Pleasley

Sunny in mid-September. This often happens in northern England.

I spotted somewhere I could take a long circular walk, containing some map squares that I had not bagged before. It only took me forty five minutes to get over there - to a village called Pleasley just west of Mansfield. The first part of the name is pronounced just like the "pleas..." in "pleasure".

With boots on I set off, crossing farmland on paths and empty lanes till I reached the village of Skegby. Like Pleasley, it was also once a coal mining community. The transportation of coal required railways but when the coal mines closed those railways were no longer required. Now they are often leisure tracks for walking, running or cycling.

Such a track will take you directly back from Skegby to Pleasley - about three miles.

View of Newbound Mill from the old railway

My body had carried me in comfort for the first four miles of the walk but as I proceeded along the former railway my left heel became tender - not for the first time. I wouldn't say I was in real pain but I noticed every footstep and frustratingly this keeps happening.

There was a time, not so long ago, when I could walk for hours without feeling any aches and pains. Perhaps I was simply lucky. Maybe some cushioning insoles in my boots will help. I'll try that.

But anyway, I enjoyed today's ramble in the sunshine. The world around me was in technicolour and it felt good to be alive, seeing sights I have not seen before, plodding onward until another circle was closed.