Sheffield City Centre to Ringinglow


This route is part of Sustrans National Cycle Network Route 6. We ride this route regularly and this page was updated in July 2020. The video above shows you the route from Ringinglow to the City Centre, while this page will help you follow it from Sheffield Station. The map shows the entire route to Manchester. It’s all signposted as NCN6, Peak Park Anniversary Route.

The Peak Park Anniversary Route was put in to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Peak District National Park in 2001. Starting at Sheffield Station, you climb steeply up Howard St before crossing Arundel Gate and entering the City Centre. You will pass the Winter Gardens and the Town Hall before crossing Pinstone St and using the bike ramp to get to Barkers Pool, with John  Lewis on the left and the City Hall on the right.

Cruising along Devonshire St, you can visit the independent shops and the Forum, then the bike path throws a left across Devonshire Green (which has a BMX park) before taking you along Broomspring Lane, along one of Sheffield’s earliest and best segregated bike paths. Crossing the Hanover Way Ring Road (with a junction for the Ring Cycle Route) continue along Broomspring Lane.

At the junction with Brunswick St you might want to stop and take stock. You are in Broomhall, originally land belonging to Broom Hall, a mansion possibly dating back to the 15th century and which more recently became the home and workshop of the cutlery designer David Mellor.  The area became a well-to-do Victorian suburb, but the mid 20th Century saw a decline largely due to a planning idea to build a flyover from St. Mary’s Gate to Broomhill  – demolishing the houses underneath! –  and by the 70’s & 80’s Broomhall had a reputation as a red light and drug dealers area.  Strong community action and a ground-breaking traffic management plan – initially to prevent ‘kerb-crawling’ – however, has seen the revival of the area, and it is now a pleasant mixed community. Brunswick St acts as a cycling corridor from Nether Edge and the south-western suburbs – the “Professor’s Route” –  to major employers in the area such as the University and hospitals. Off this is Collegiate Crescent and Victoria Road, apparently described by John Betjeman as one of the most pleasant streets in the UK, in an area which inspired him to write the poem entitled  ‘An Edwardian Sunday,  Broomhill, Sheffield’

Continuing up Broomspring Lane, which in the 19th century became a cause for concern due to people driving their horses and carriages too fast down it (some things never change!) watch out for the left turn into Gloucester St – here the houses were built to replace those destroyed by bombing during the Second World War. This will take you through Lynwood Gardens, a recent addition to Sheffield’s public green spaces, with three interesting information boards giving the history and natural history of the site. Turn right on Park Lane then left on Clarkehouse Rd. In a a recent victory we have got rid of daytime parking along here so hopefully the bike lane will be clear.

Prepare yourself for the right turn onto Endcliffe Rise Road. Unfortunately a combination of this being a rat-run for owners of overpriced cars to the well-off suburbs and a botched traffic calming scheme on this road means that traffic tends to be quite fast, so continue to be careful. Turn left onto Riverdale Rd, then left to Oakbrook Rd, cross the mini-roundabout into Bingham Park, and you may now start to enjoy a traffic-free section along the Porter Valley as far as Clough Lane. Watch out on the way for Shepherds Wheels one of the original Little Mesters of Sheffield where tools and cutlery were made with a working Water Wheel driving the machinery, Forge Dam with a Cafe, toilets and a kids playground and then a very lightly traffic’ed but steep  lane up to Fulwood Lane (and an alternative, even steeper MTB route) which is a bit busier. Turn left for Ringinglow, where you can also access Lady Cannings Platation with singletrack routes for riders of all abilities.

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Pootlin’ up Greenhouse Lane to Porter Clough…

From Ringinglow you can continue on NCN6 towards Hope & Castleton (the route isn’t finished beyond Castleton) and Manchester, or follow the Western Circular Route, either towards Dore or Lodge Moor, or whizz down Ringinglow Rd and be back in Sheffield before you know it!