The Sheffield Round Walk Revisited

Saturday 15th March 2014

Sheffield is a heavily industrialised city, famous for its steel works, however it has two calls to fame. Firstly, I spent three years there at University, and secondly, the south-western segment, which extends into the Peak District National Park, is unusually wooded for such an industrial city. When I was at University in Sheffield I went around the signposted Sheffield Round Walk and thought I'd failed to complete it after being unable to locate its continuation after passing through Graves Park. Eight years ago I returned to Sheffield to complete the walk in the company of my sister at a time when there was a little snow on the ground. Unfortunately on that occasion we had to abandon the walk before reaching Graves Park as it was getting late. Since it is now twenty years since I graduated from University I felt it would be a good idea to revisit the walk and the city that was my home for three years.

First thing in the morning I caught a train to Sheffield and walked through the quiet city centre  all the way out to Hunter's Bar, a place that I’d visited many times when I was at Uni and is the start of the Sheffield Round Walk. It was great to be back. Near Hunter's Bar is Endcliffe Park, a delightful place that I often used to walk around on warm summer's evenings, and it was very busy now with dozens of people of all ages running around the park. I don’t know why, but it forced me to take paths away from the crowds on rougher tracks beside the Porter Brook where wild garlic fragrantly grew beside the river bank. It is a pity I wasn’t doing this walk later in the spring when the garlic would be in bloom, but there was still a delightful display of daffodils and crocuses to decorate my walk through the park.

The walk continues beside the Porter Brook through woodland that brings back so many happy memories for me of the many walks that I have taken in the Porter Valley and it was a pleasure to be back. The weather forecast for this day had been cloudy and windy, but although it was windy the sun came out as I walked up the Porter Valley and afforded me with a great day for a walk through the supposedly grimy city of Sheffield. As I walked through the wooded valley it was hard to believe that I was still in the city of Sheffield and there were houses at the top of the steep sides of the valley. After passing the Shepherd Wheel and through more delightful woodland I eventually reached Forge Dam, which was usually the limit of my evening strolls through the Porter Valley. Beyond the old mill pond I climbed the narrowing Porter Clough eventually reaching a road that marks the edge of the Peak District, having walked right from the city centre to the national park.

It was very windy as I walked along the road past the Mayfield Alpaca Centre that I’d distinctly remembered seeing the last time I’d been on the walk, in 2006. Now, when I reached the Ringinglow Road I went onto another footpath that gradually descends into the Limb Valley, a broader valley, but also filled with trees, as I slowly dropped down to the Ecclesall Road, and continued beside the Limb Brook into Ecclesall Woods. These are quite extensive woods, the largest semi-natural woodland in the county, but I was not able to see all of it on this walk as I followed the signs that directed me beside the stream through the woods and down to Abbeydale Road. A short walk along this busy road took me past the Dore and Totley railway station and after climbing over the River Sheaf and the railway line I continued to climb steeply through Ladies’ Spring Wood.

This ancient woodland was bedecked in a gorgeous array of woodland plants that unfortunately at this time of the year was not yet in bloom, though I’m sure a month later it is a tremendous display. At the top of the hill, looking down on the railway, I walked along the edge of the escarpment to the remains of Beauchief Abbey and a golf course. I am not a fan of golf so I quickly, and silently, nipped past the golf course to a short walk through Parkbank Wood that brought me onto Greenhill Avenue where a path led me behind the houses into another wondrous wooded valley that I would never have known was there if I’d been driving along Greenhill Avenue. I couldn’t help but think how lucky the people who live in Sheffield are to have so much delightful woodland within their city. A wonderful walk through Chancet Wood brought me onto the Chesterfield Road, where my sister and I had abandoned our attempt of the Sheffield Round Walk in 2006.

A short walk up the road that I have driven along many times brought me to the edge of Graves Park and Cobnar Wood, a steep sided valley that seemed to be such a special place that I decided I would stop there to have my lunch. When I had finished my lunch I followed the path beside the stream that took me out of the valley and into the popular Graves Park, the largest park in Sheffield. At the far end of the park I reached Hemsworth Road where I’d gone the wrong way in 1992, turning left down to the Chesterfield Road, but now I turned right. Considering the fact that I didn’t have a map in 1992 and was blindly following the signposts I don’t think I did too badly and it is quite possibly that at that time this had actually been the end of the Sheffield Round Walk. Now I checked on a map and so turned right beside the busy road until I reached the New Inn, which I remember stopping at when my sister and I later returned to the round walk to cover the section that we’d missed.

At this point a path took me past another golf course into an area with fewer, less developed trees than I’d encountered earlier, where the terrain looked more abandoned rather than wild and so held less interest for me. As I approached the Gleadless Valley Nature Reserve the scenery began to improve, but before going very far into the reserve the round walk turned towards the west back into the city to return to Hunter's Bar. The delights were now few, but among them was a steep descent through the typical Victorian municipal park of Meersbrook, which commands extensive views over the city. After passing over the Chesterfield and Abbeydale Roads, a brief excursion along the top of Brincliffe Edge failed to compensate for having to walk through endless Victorian city streets in order to get back to Hunter's Bar. I am not a city person, but if I had to name a favourite city it would definitely be Sheffield. It won my heart when I was there twenty years ago, and I have continued to be drawn there ever since.