DID you know that May marks National Walking Month?

The initiative, by the charity Living Streets, is aimed at encouraging more people to get out and about on foot. 

The team behind the West Yorkshire Combined Authority's £60m CityConnect have chosen their top places in the region for a family walk.

So, what are you waiting for? 

Leeds and Bradford

The Leeds & Liverpool Canal towpath, including the Aire Valley Towpath is largely flat, helping to make it an excellent location for a family walk. 

And as the longest canal in the UK, it’s a destination in itself but there are plenty of places to explore on foot along the way.   

Just a few miles along the towpath from Leeds city centre is Kirkstall Abbey or further along is Rodley Nature Reserve.

The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Saltaire is also easily accessible with the towpath running close to Salts Mill.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Salts Mill, Saltaire Salts Mill, Saltaire

The National Trust’s East Riddlesden Hall is also further along.

At one end of the Bradford Leeds Cycle Superhighway you can access Bradford's Green Line Miles - four-mile long circular routes, including City Park and the University, Little Germany, Manningham Lane and Myra Shay.


Bradford Telegraph and Argus: City Park, Bradford City Park, Bradford

And at the Leeds end of the cycle superhighway, take a walk on the wild side on the city’s owl trail. 

Calderdale

There's a new and improved section of towpath on the Calder Hebble Navigation canal between Sowerby Bridge basin and Hollas Lane Bridge. There’s also the option to link to the Hebble Trail, which runs all the way into the centre of Halifax. 

Explore the Rochdale Canal around Hebden Bridge, which has benefitted from improvements through the CityConnect programme to create a 10km route linking Sowerby Bridge to Mytholmroyd and Hebden Bridge.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Hebden Bridge Hebden Bridge

The Rochdale Canal runs alongside Calder Holmes Park, a great spot for a picnic, or visit the National Trust’s Hardcastle Crags, a beautiful wooded valley with a riverside walk to 19th-century Gibson Mill.  

Kirklees

There is a new and improved section of towpath on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal between Milnsbridge and the town centre.

Wakefield

The Castleford to Wakefield Greenway links Fairies Hill Locks by Whitwood Golf Course with Methley Bridge, and from the Greenway you can also link up with the towpath to the Aire and Calder Navigation Towpath.