The idea was to walk along the 127-mile Leeds to Liverpool canal to sample the industrial historical landscape, so last August we caught the train to Leeds and booked into a hotel.

This first morning saw the four of us, Lesley, Anne, Dulcia and myself, setting off along the canal -- but we hadn’t bargained on the sweltering heat!

We set off along the canal tow path admiring the wonderful reflections of the old buildings in the water and the peacefulness of the area.

The beauty was all around us in the history of the area, the buildings, and the quietness of the canal itself.

The tow path is also a National Cycle path; and there we were, 4 ramblers of a certain age, swamped by a veritable mass of cyclists as they made their way along the track!

This eased the further we went, but still there was often a steady thrum of wheels coming towards us or coming up from behind.

Staircase locks abounded along the canal.

These consisted of two or three interlocking locks, and showed the height difference the canal makers had to deal with.

Unusually not many narrow boats were making their way along the waterway, maybe because some canals were having to close as water levels dropped in the hot summer.

This gave us a quieter feel to the day but deprived us of the usual lively banter with the boat owners.

Underfoot it alternated between tarmac and gravel, very little was the usual hard packed earth that I would associate with a towpath.

We walked on past locks, houses, fields, nature reserves, and at one stage the remains of Kirkstall Abbey rose above its surroundings to delight us.

As well as the locks, we encountered several swing bridges.

These required a key to unlock so a narrow boat could go past, shut it, and then continue on their way, an irritating obstruction on their journey.

Finally we reached the much anticipated village of Apperley Bridge, where a member of the hotel staff had recommended a good cafe, so we had to sample it. She was right, it was a good cafe.

We sat in the shade, gratefully sipping cooling drinks and eating our lunch, having a much needed break and respite from the relentless sun.

By this time we had walked around 10 miles, plenty of exercise on such an extremely hot day but…….so we decided to catch the train back to Leeds from Shipley, almost another 5 miles along the tree shaded tow path.

Trying to use a ticket machine that seemed to have overheated in the extreme sun did not make buying train tickets very simple!

Eventually, after much persistence tickets were obtained and we gratefully took the train back to Leeds, passing many of the places we had walked through that day.

It was a delight to return to our hotel, have a refreshing cup of tea and a shower, ready for more discoveries tomorrow.