Pleasley
S unny 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 ...