The Professor’s Route

 Abbeydale to the University of Sheffield


I call this the Professor’s Route because a lot of academics and University staff use it to get from the leafy suburbs of Nether Edge and beyond to the University.

We start at the strange and awkward crossing of Abbeydale Road,  just up from the Broadfield Rd junction, where sadly Edinburgh Bike Co-Op is no longer located, but Albert Butterworth’s bike shop is not far away. The shop by the crossing used to be Shah’s, an excellent Asian Grocers but is now Stokes Paints. If you do some very tight twists and turns across the crossing you will find yourself on Empire Rd, follow it along and it becomes Crescent Rd.  This section of the route has very draconian speed humps so any traffic you meet won’t be going very fast, but it does make it a bit uncomfortable on a bike.

A short climb will take you up to Wostenholme Rd which is busier and faster. Take a right and follow it along as it becomes Washington Rd and then Summerfield St (what is the difference between a road and a street?)

Descend the hill with care – the cycle lanes here are too narrow – and when you get to the bottom you will see the Sunny Bank cycle track directly ahead of you. You will be the only traffic going straight on here so beware of traffic in the left lane turning right – drivers are not always as respectful of the ASL here as they could be. A short climb through this pleasant Sheffield Wildlife Trust site takes you to Wharncliffe Road – you are now in the Broomhall 20mph zone. Continue up Broomhall Place to Wharncliffe Rd, taking care when crossing Broomhall Rd and through the little bike gate – watch out for traffic coming up Clarke St.  You can use the short cycle lane here to keep out of the way on any traffic coming down Brunswick St  – you are now in a cycling contraflow scheme.  At the junction with Broomspring Lane you are crossing NCN Route 6 and the last section is quite narrow  so again, be careful. Cross busy Glossop Rd onto Leavygreave and you can use the Dutch Ramp, commissioned by the Author, to get onto the University Concourse. Here you are adjacent to the site for the University’s first Cycle Hub, due to start construction in 2017.

By continuing through the campus you can link to routes to Walkley or North Sheffield.

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