It was another weekend where me and Elle (my partner) were gifted a child free time with good weather. We had a few things to sort at home but couldn't waste the opportunity for a good few hours on the bikes. We decided on a urban cycle ride into Sheffield, to visit a Cycle Café we had been planning to check out. The route was set, we would leave our village on the outskirts of Sheffield and follow the Trans Pennine Trail from Beighton to Victoria Keys. We would then venture into the centre for lunch at the café, before taking a longer (but flater) route home via the canal and Rotherham town. The total distance would be around 40KM with minimal roads and plenty of sights and places to stop. To find out how I plan my routes for choosing the best cycle friendly roads and trails, please check out; Five steps to planning the perfect bike route on cycle friendly roads.
Cycling the Trans Pennine Trail from Beighton to Victoria Quays
The TPT link from Beighton Shirebrook Valley Nature Reserve to Victoria Keys, is a great and challenging cycle route. The surface is generally clean and well maintained, most of it is smooth tarmacked paths well away from any busy roads. The whole route is about 8KM with close to 100m of climbing. You definitely need your climbing legs for this route, but the gradients aren't crazy enough that you are force to hike a bike up them. The route feels very much like a countryside one, as most of the trail is protected by tree cover. You are only reminded by it's urban surrounds, when you occasionally have to cross one of the few roads you encounter.
Route Details
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The first part of our urban adventure went well, the climbs were a challenge but nothing to stop us. A lot of them were bomb holed, where you speeded up on a descent to make the following ascent easier. We made it to a very busy Victoria Quays, full of long boats and people enjoying the outside bar. The next section of our journey was through the town centre using the new cycling infrastructure Sheffield has. From Victoria Keys this looks great with smooth cycle paths made from red tarmac, but it doesn’t last. It soon becomes hit and miss with a lot of confusion with pedestrians as to who has right of way. But to be fair, it's just as bad as most other cities in the UK. After the slow moving we finally made it to the cycling café ready for some Lunch.
Eating at Amici & Bici Cycling Café, Abbeydale Road, Sheffield
Amici & Bici is an Italian café I would class as more of a restaurant. The café is beautifully presented with a clean bright interior along with a very nice outdoor seating area for hotter days. The décor is perfectly cycle themed with large painted murals on the walls of past cycling legends. The walls also feature a lot of winner jerseys from British heroes like Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas. There was definitely plenty to look at for any cycling fan. The menu was just has impressive, with a large all day breakfast selection, followed by all the Italian favourites of Pizza and Pasta. And of course, there was a good list of coffees and other hot drinks for the passing cyclists to recharge from. The only small complaint I had, was that there wasn't as much menu dedicated to Vegetarian and Vegan customers. For my vegetarian diet I just asked for the Bacon and Brie panini to be adjusted to a mushroom and Brie option. The staff made no fuss of this, so I was happy. The food and coffee's were amazing, easily a 5* cycling refuel. Extremely tasty and not too much to weigh you down. There is no doubt we would be making a return visit to the café in the future. After a great lunch stop we battled our way back through the city centre to Victoria Keys to start our second Urban city cycle route.
For more details about Amici & Bici, click here
Cycling on the Five Weirs Walk from Sheffield to Meadowhall
The next section was the 'Five Weirs Walk' which takes you from Sheffield city centre to Meadowhall Shopping Centre. This trail is 8KM long and very flat as it follows the River Don. It some very beautiful sights for such a city central trail. It is named as such, because it passes five weirs throughout it's journey. Our favourite section is towards the start and named the "Cobweb Bridge". This section of the trail passes under a bridge with has a lot of cobwebs on it, however the main feature is some really friendly looking spider sculptures on the roof of the bridge. After that, the trail is just as great, there are a few tricky areas on a bike with tight and loose surfaces but nothing most cyclists can't handle. As you get closer to Meadowhall, the surface of the trail turns to newly laid smooth tarmac. The first part of the shopping centre you come to is the huge food court, so it’s a great place to shop for food and refreshments if you need it.
Route Details
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We didn't stop at Meadowhall but continued onto our third and final section of urban trails. The last one is one of my favourites as it always seems to be peaceful and quiet. However, on this occasion it wasn't such a great trail as shortly into the route we found a trail closed sign. Just after that we found the reason, a huge tree had fallen completely blocking the trail. It had come down with so much force that it had mashed up the industrial metal fence preventing pedestrians wandering onto the nearby recycling plant. As we were inspecting the area to see if there was anyway past, some council workers came to send us back while they set to work chain-sawing the monster of a tree.
Cycle the canal trail from Meadowhall to Rotherham Centre
There is an amazing canal trail that links Meadowhall shopping centre to Rotherham town centre. The route follows the canal way past many locks and long boats. The trail is mostly smooth tarmac and surprisingly wide for a canal path. Along the way you encounter lots of wildlife and even artwork on some of the concrete walls alongside the trail. The route is only short at 5KM, but for me it's well worth it. You know you're getting to the end when you see the impressive New York stadium towering above you.
Route Details
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After we had failed to enjoy the trail, we headed back to Meadowhall and then picked up one of the new cycle paths Rotherham council had been working on. They have spent what looks like millions refreshing the cycle lane into a cycle highway between the two areas. As impressive as the bike highway is, I feel like it's money that could have been better spent elsewhere for other cycling infrastructure. Once we got to Rotherham we just had a hilly 5KM journey back home. The detour hadn't spoiled the adventure at all, just added another story to a great day.
I hope you've enjoyed another one of our cycling adventures. Some of the trails are included within the article if you what to give them a try. If you have any other great trails round Sheffield please send them over to us. Thank you again for reading.
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VeloHunt Steve