Crackenedge

Four ponies gallop on the rough pasture on the hillside. It's a cold, clear morning with bright sunshine; the blue sky with the cumulus sailing by in the breeze, makes me wish I was walking up there on the crest of Crackenedge with those ant-sized people by that row of thorns. There's a newly published guide to the Kirklees Way, a 72 mile circular walk through this part of Pennine West Yorkshire, part of which follows the ridge.

It's about time I tried walking a section of it. Now that I've finished revising my Village Walks book, with the constant necessity that involved of checking details along every path, it would be great to walk just for fun again.

The railway, which I've recently been along on my way from Dewsbury to York, runs between the two stone houses, the road (and bus route) just beyond them.

It's the horses and walkers on the hill beyond that seem to be calling me to get out in the fresh air but the mocha and lemon tart here in the Café Casbah, where I'm sitting on a large, low and comfortable settee drawing this are also very tempting.