A walk around the Diocese of Leeds might not sound much but it adds up to 360 miles ... and a Huddersfield vicar has decided to make it his sabbatical.

The Rev Canon Simon Moor, the vicar of Huddersfield Parish Church and a keen walker, will attempt the walk in two stages.

He set off from Bolton Priory yesterday (February 10) to spend his first week walking between the larger churches of the diocese arriving that same evening at Bradford Cathedral.

And tomorrow (Monday, February 12) he will walk from Bradford to Dewsbury via Halifax and Huddersfield, while Tuesday will find him walking from Dewsbury to Leeds Minster via Wakefield; the Wednesday segment covers Leeds Minster to Ripon Cathedral, and on Thursday he will slog from Ripon to Bolton Priory.

Huddersfield Parish Church.

With the combination of a well-placed car and public transport, Simon intends to return home each day and anticipates his journey will involve only one stop-over in the outer reaches of Ripon.

He remarked: “This is about finding my own way, walking my own path. Walking has always allowed me the space in my head and my heart to get closer to God.”

Simon will recommence his trek after Holy Week when he will set off to walk the perimeter of the diocese setting off from Walsden in the parish of Todmorden, next to the Lancashire border. He expects the walk around the whole of the diocese - around 360 miles - to take him 17 days and plans to stop over at a number of churches along the way.

“When I walk, everything is unpacked, emptied and put back together again. It makes me whole,’ he added.

Simon will also spend two weeks of his sabbatical travelling in Zimbabwe to better understand the culture. Huddersfield Parish Church serves a number of Zimbabwean families.