Friday 21st November 2025
I have found myself once again cat-sitting for Felix (Emily’s cat) so I’ve planned a few things to do while I’m here. Cycling, gardening and writing Christmas cards are on the agenda. It was very cold overnight in Sheffield so I really didn’t want to venture out too soon.
When I was working, by November I always seemed to have a day or two left over from my annual leave and I often spent one day writing Christmas cards. This is how I passed my time this morning while waiting for the temperature to climb above zero and it took me straight back to those days. I have recently donated what’s left of my old hi-fi and record collection to Emily so I had the old records spinning and I was having a great time.
After a nostalgic morning, I set off at 11am on quite a hilly ride hoping the climbing would keep me warm but since the side roads still looked a bit icy I took it very slowly. The roads may not have been slippery, but I wasn’t risking it.
Just outside Rotherham, I was on a rough track concentrating on avoiding the many obstacles when I suddenly noticed ahead a long stretch of solid ice! Keeping an absolutely steady line I managed to stay upright but it was a very nervous few seconds.
I got lost around Meadowhall. In theory, the route seemed clear enough following a variety of cycle paths by the shopping mall, but the sun was low in the sky and I was dazzled each time I looked South. Another difficulty was that the paths frequently crossed the busy (and fast) roads, yet there were no traffic signals indicating when I could safely cross. And this was on the TransPennine Trail, too.
I zig-zagged around a bit until I found the right course and it turned out that I’d been there earlier in the year, but travelling in the other direction when everything looks different.
I had made a note to look out for suitable cafés in this area since I was halfway round the route, but I doubted that the rather deprived region would deliver. There would’ve been dozens within the shopping centre, but I wasn’t going in there which is well out of my comfort zone. Google suggested that there was a café not too far away in Firth Park. Henry’s cafe was tucked away on the edge of a park and once I located it, it turned out to be a fine place with safe bike parking. I stumbled across it after pushing the bike down one-way streets and up blind alleys. It shut at 3pm, but by 2 o’clock it felt like I was outstaying my welcome since the staff were putting the cakes away and sweeping the floor.
When I got back, I texted Emily to let her know where I’d been and her response went along the lines of “you were in Firth Park?!!!?? Be very careful round there”. I checked with Google who confirmed it as the 5th most crime-dense ward in Sheffield. I’m glad I didn’t also admit to cycling through Burngreave and Gleadless (nos. 2 and 7 in the crime league tables). I always thought that Sheffield was a friendly city. Who knew that large swathes of it had misplaced its moral compass and then found it had been run over by a tram?
Saturday 22nd November 2025
Although I had come to Sheffield for cat-sitting reasons, I had loaded the car with gardening stuff too, hoping to help out with tackling the lawns & hedges which had become a bit overgrown.
It was raining all morning so I didn’t go out, but by lunchtime there was a dry spell so I mowed the grass and raked out all the accumulated moss. Like the loaves & fishes, I managed to fill five bin liners of spoil but the lawn looked just the same!
Sunday 23rd November 2025
I’ve identified some orphan Veloviewer tiles south of Sheffield so at 9.30 I set off to claim a few of them. There was no frost this morning and the sun was out, but wet roads and bright, low sun made it very tricky to see the road markings.
I soon left the busier roads and began climbing up onto the moors. One road I chose was narrow and thankfully traffic-free, but its surface was strewn with debris. I had to carefully pick my way uphill through leaves, gravel, bits of tree and what appeared to be a mountain stream. Once on the tops, it was beautiful and I had a tailwind to boost me down to Kelstedge and Ashover.
Soon afterwards, rainbows in the distance foretold future events. Firstly the sun was obscured by heavy clouds and as I approached Chesterfield the rain began. Gentle at first, giving me time to deploy waterproofs, but then it became heavier as I left the town. Soon I was climbing into the wind with heavy rain stinging like hail (cue autocorrect). The discomfort only lasted for eight miles and once under a hot shower, my travails soon mellowed into stories for a blog.
Monday 24th November 2025
I went down to Chesterfield again today on a chilly but dry morning. The Met Office had predicted the chance of rain at about 30% to 40% and they were right: it rained for about a third of the time but nothing too heavy.
The route took me above the former collieries of Grassmoor and Williamthorpe. There is little trace of them now, but the whole area has a melancholy feel to it.
I discovered evidence of the former mines in a most unusual manner. I passed what resembled a huge half-submerged tin can which was incongruously sitting in an old cemetery. I stopped for a closer look and discovered that it is actually a church made out of a mustardy-beige Glass Reinforced Plastic. If it were painted in Farrow and Ball colours, the shade would be called Dorset Cream which would endow it with a class it really doesn’t possess. The church of St James the Apostle at Temple Normanton is the fourth church to have stood on this site. The substantial Victorian church (number 2) was badly damaged by mining subsidence and was replaced by a temporary wooden structure in the 1920s. By 1986, this building was itself replaced by this GRP monstrosity (in my opinion). Only two religious services per week are held there now, but the building is used for other community purposes.
I took very few pictures today since the weather was drizzly, misty and miserable and I was in predominantly former mining territory, so the scenery wasn’t up to much. I did see one cracking street sign in Chesterfield, though. It was entirely electronic, like those huge advertising hoardings you see these days. I suspect that it was being tested, since the traditional one was still in place beside it. I’m not sure what I think about it yet.
There are still several other routes I need to plan round this area to increase my tile cluster, but they will save for another trip.