Five things to do in Sheffield/The Peak District when the trails are under mud

1. CLIMBING, Sheffield's 2nd favourite sport

For years, Sheffield has been well known to climbers for its easy access to the gritstone edges.

You've probably seen them topping out on Curbar or Froggatt as you’ve ridden the Eastern Edges route, or seen them huddled around the giant boulders below Stanage Edge on your descent under the crag.

Well did you know that Sheffield boasts a great collection of indoor walls.

For roped climbing, try The Foundry, one of the original indoor walls and home to the world famous Wave bouldering wall. Additionally, Awesome Walls is one of the biggest venues in the country Both walls have a good selection of both lead and top rope routes, with grades from easy to ridiculously hard.

One word about roped climbing - if you’re a complete beginner, you’ll have to enrol on a course before you're let loose on the big walls. Learn the ropes as it were.

If, on the other hand, you have no intention of tying onto a rope but still want to give climbing a go then The Climbing Works is the place for you. It’s a dedicated bouldering only venue where some of the best in the world come to train. However, don't worry, the route setting is legendary with problems from easy to World Cup standard. With competitions like the CWIF and the BIFF, it's also a great place to watch the best in the world battle it out.

If, however, you want to stay outdoors there are plenty of outdoor adventure companies offering instruction/guiding. One example is Peak Mountaineering based in Castleton who offer outdoor climbing introductory courses.

2. Grab your running shoes

Sheffield has some great parks bordering the edge of the city and the Peak District with way marked running routes.

They're all colour coded giving you the choice of Easy, Medium, Hard or Challenging.

With 30 routes available across 14 locations in parks and woodland around the city, you can explore Sheffield from a different perspective whether you choose to run or walk them.

Details can be found at The Outdoor City Run Route

3. Open air swimming in Hathersage

Some of you may know Hathersage, famed for its collection of outdoor retailers.

Did you know that behind the High Street, across the road from the main pay and display car park, there is an open air swimming pool.

It’s open all year round and is heated, although does also offer sessions of cold water swimming if you feeling brave/daft enough.

Details of opening times etc can be found at Hathersage Pool

4. Put your boots on

The Peak District was the first National Park in the UK. It’s home of the Mass Trespass on Kinder Scout (where hundreds of ramblers took to the hills to highlight the fact that walkers in England and Wales were denied access to areas of open country).

It’s thanks to these protesters that we enjoy the freedom of access we have today, so why not celebrate that fact by seeing the glorious Peak District at a leisurely pace and explore the myriad of footpaths that now crisscross the peak.

Check out Vertebrate Publishing's guidebooks for inspiration.

5. Lend A Hand

If none of the above appeal, then why not come and meet the locals by coinciding your visit with one of the monthly dig days led by one of the advocacy groups (Ride Sheffield or Peak District MTB).

Both groups have done great work in keeping the trails running sweet and are working with land owners and land managers to improve relationships between all users and improve access to more trails.

The opening of permissive bridleways along the eastern edges is only the start.

6. And Your Bonus for sticking with me

You’ve come all this way and you simply must ride your bike!

Well, Sheffield might not have the likes of Gisburn or Llandegla in terms of trail centres but what it does have are a series of purpose built trails in various locations around the city.

Lady Cannings

These were the first trails in the UK to be built with crowdfunding.

There are 2 tracks to chose from (Blue Steel and Cooking On Gas) which are both blue grade trails, professionally built by BikeTrack.

There is a red/black grade trail planned for the future in nearby Redmires plantation.

Parkwood Springs

This is another blue grade trail, but with red grade options, offering jumps, rollers and berms in this 2km long XC style circuit. It has 65m of ascent and descent and is a great place to throw in a few laps to get you fit when the rest of the trails are a mud bath.

Greno Woods

Home of the ‘Biggest Little Race’ Peaty’s Steel City Downhill, Greno has 2 red routes, Pub Run and Steel City (with black options) and DH3 which is a black grade trail with several large but rollable jumps which get steeper towards the end.

All trails are connected by bridleways taking you back to the top for another run. These tracks were also built by BikeTrack with permission from Sheffield Wildlife Trust and funded by Peaty’s Steel City Downhill (which gives all profits back into building and maintaining the trails).

Rother Valley Country Park

Situated a short drive off junction 31 of the M1, Rother Valley Country Park is home to the Rother Valley Riders who have built a network of trail to suit all abilities.

Details can be found here: Rother Valley Trails

Finally, if you really must sample the delights of riding in the Peak, up to date trail conditions can be found by following Keeper of the Peak on Twitter @KoftheP

The good people at Vertebrate Publishing have also put together a free download of what is considered an all weather loop, although this too can be impassable after heavy snowfall.

I hope you find this useful and hopefully I’ll see you out on the trails (once they dry out a bit that is).

Oh, one more thing!

When you're out and about, please remember to.....

Breaking the Habit

If you've read some of my previous blogs, you’ll know that cycling has always been a large part of my life. If you haven't already, check my earlier blog Full Circle

However, so far this year I've been out twice.

Once was on a cold clear day just after the New Year. It was a perfect winter’s day, with the exception of the icy roads.

The other was the Cotic Bikes 'Beat the Winter Blues' Ride in the Peak. Thirty of us, all on Cotics, went riding on a loop of the Peak District’s finest trails. It was another great day, despite the snowstorms and freezing rain towards the end of the ride. Stoke was certainly high that day.

Since then, my bike has been washed and remains locked away, awaiting a full overhaul. New cables, brakes bled and hoses tidied, pivots stripped and greased, bearings checked and replaced where necessary. All those jobs that mean once the weather improves I'll be raring to go with the knowledge that my bike is in tip top condition.

Some might say that this is the hallmark of a fair weather biker, but I beg to differ.

We are in the depths of winter, the trails aren't in the best of conditions and more traffic will only make them worse. Plus all that grit and mud won't do my bike any favours. So I'm putting my Cotic Rocket into hibernation until spring.

Luckily the hotel where I stay whilst working away, have let me put my turbo trainer in a spare room, so I can at least keep my legs turning.

A few years ago, winters were spent indoors. Climbing.

It was good to prepare for the coming summer when the fitness built up over the winter came into its own and the tick list of routes you’d built up thumbing through the various guidebooks were slowly ticked off. Summer’s seemed to get wetter and we got bored of visiting the same crags.

It meant that climbing was slowly replaced by biking, with only the occasional foray onto rock just to remind us how good it felt to play in the vertical world.

After a trip to the Lakes last year, Jacquie and myself have decided that we want to tick off the Wainwrights so there are trips to the Lakes to be planned. We also intend to visit a few of the Scottish islands this year.

There's lots of planning and research to do for both these and the depths of winter is the perfect time, when it's dark by teatime and it's cold and wet most weekends.

Do you know what, it feels good to give myself permission to take some time out and do something different, knowing full well that when the sun shine's, the trails dry out a bit, and the daylight lengthens, the bike will be back out. I know that I’ll ride with a new found vigour, like a bear out of hibernation hungry for eating up some sweet singletrack.