48. Sheffield in the cold

Sunday 7^th January 2024

I’m in Sheffield on cat-sitting duties once more, so before Christmas, in preparation I created a few routes starting from Bradway which were intended to gather some stray tiles and increase my cluster around the city. Now that I’m here, I think that perhaps I was a bit ambitious with my ride lengths, since the shortest one was 45 miles.  

Setting off from home in the car this morning in zero degree temperatures, I was grateful when the mercury crept up to 4° as I dropped into Sheffield, although I had encountered snow flurries on the Snake Pass.  After the drive, I found I was only setting off on the bike at 1pm so I didn’t fancy anything too long so I asked my trusty cycling software to generate a <20 mile route for me.  It offered three options and I selected the one which took me through the city centre, my reasoning being that there was likely to be lighter traffic on a Sunday than a work day.  It turned out to be a good choice.

I modified the route slightly so that it picked up a couple of missing tiles in the Hemsworth area to the East of the city, but other than that, it was unchanged.  On the route, I was pleased to note that I cycled very close to Emily’s rental property from last winter before descending down to pass Bramhall Road, Sheffield United’s ground.  (You may deduce that I like spotting football stadia: I don’t really know why, since I hate football, but it could simply be because they are famous landmarks which I’ve heard of).

Then, I headed into the city centre on very serviceable cycle paths, which snaked beneath or past busy junctions and avoided all main roads.  I even went past the old university accommodation I remember taking Emily to in 2010.  (That may have been the time where I managed to sneak into the security–controlled car park without a pass and then found that the barrier wouldn’t open to let me out!)

Then I began to climb out of the city, up one of the seven hills upon which Sheffield is famously built.  (It’s in good company here, since both Rome and San Francisco make the same claim).  I went past a hotel we’ve used several times on visits to the city before Emily and Ellis set up home here, past the Botanic Gardens and continued down to Endcliffe Park.  My route took me right through the park, where I was forced to mingle with dog-walkers, family groups and other cyclists, none of whom were interested in keeping to their designated lane on the paths. (I know, that’s my dominant pedantry gene surfacing once more). 

Then suddenly, the city had barely chance to transit into suburbia before I found myself climbing ever higher onto the open moorlands.  By now, it was 2.45 and beginning to go dark.  It was getting cold, too.  Garmin even suggested that it was approaching zero, but I think it may have been fibbing.  Anyway, after I’d cycled off my route for almost a mile (just to reach the top of Ringinglow Hill on Burbage Moor – well, why not?) I turned around and headed back down through Dore and Totley and home to Bradway.

After making a brew and feeding the cat (yes, in that order: I’m not stupid!) I showered and began to settle down with a book for the night when I became aware of a flashing light at the back of the house.  Then I realised that I hadn’t yet put my bike away in the garage!  Thankfully, they’re honest folk round here, so my carelessness hadn’t cost me a bike, but I need to remember to establish a better routine in future.  Collect the garage key, put the bike away, then brew up and feed the cat.

Tomorrow, noting my reluctance to cycle when there’s any chance of ice, I won’t be setting off early, but I haven’t decided on which, if any, of my five planned routes I will take.

Monday 8^th January 2024.

After a lie-in (until 07.50 – hey, I’m on holiday; I’m entitled to a bit of luxury), I began to plan out my day.  The weather was cold and dry, with little chance of ice, and so I decided on a 50 mile ride up to Holmfirth following a pre-prepared route.  I waited until after 10am to give the traffic chance to disperse and the temperature time to rise above zero. (Spoiler alert, it barely managed it all day!).

When I selected the pre-programmed route on my Garmin, it asked me if I wanted to be directed to the start.  Not being precisely sure where I’d set the start point, I accepted this and followed the guidance to head NE.  It was only after about a mile that I noticed that the machine was showing the start point as being 15 miles away!  Clearly something was wrong, and then I realised that when I’d planned this ride weeks ago I’d decided to take the car and park by Ladybower reservoir and start from there.  And then I’d promptly forgot all about that decision.  So I then made the second error of the day by selecting my second-choice route which was to be a 56 mile jaunt around Rotherham.  But of course by now it was going to be 58 miles due to me initially heading off in the opposite direction.

After about 10 miles, during which time I’d climbed probably 400 metres, my fingers were still icy cold.  My body and feet were fine beneath a skull cap, two jerseys, a waterproof jacket and overshoes, but I couldn’t feel my fingers, and gear changing had become a hit-and-miss affair.  So I stopped and evaluated my situation.  I still had nearly 50 miles to go and the temperature forecast was only 1°C maximum.  It was about 11.15 which meant a maximum of 5 hours of daylight remaining.  In theory, I didn’t have a problem, but I just needed a puncture or a mechanical hiccup and I’d be in bother.  Normally, in desperation, I could call on my back-up team of wife, son or daughter to rescue me, but today, they were respectively 65, 600 and 1200 miles away (both the children being on holiday). So I decided to lower my risk profile and head on a shorter route back to base.  

Then another issue arose.  I was wearing a warm, waterproof cycling coat which has no pockets and is a tight fit around the base.  My phone (complete with a set of Ordnance Survey maps on it) lives in the back pocket of my cycling vest.  I needed access to the maps so that I could select suitable roads back (suitable being defined as tarmacked and with little traffic).  The only way to access the phone (and its maps) was to unzip my coat and remove a glove so I could unlock the screen, which was not something I looked forward to in these conditions.  (Yes, I could have asked Garmin to take me home, but I don’t really trust it, since in the past it’s sent me on some very unsuitable routes)

Long story short, my overall ride today was just 21 miles, but the sad bit is, as soon as I turned round and headed home (away from the 12mph headwind) my fingers warmed up, and I began to enjoy the journey.  

I did think about extending the ride or even heading out again after having a brew but neither option really appealed.  So I stayed in and kept the cat company.  I did venture out later on a short walk around the town.

Tomorrow, since the forecast is for more of the same, I’ve abandoned my pre-planned routes in favour of a shorter trip of about 35 miles.  I’ll no doubt use those carefully curated routes (to maximise Veloviewer tile collection) at a later date when it’s warmer with more daylight hours.

Tuesday 9^th January 2024.

Today was another cold, raw day, with a 16mph North-easterly breeze making the 2°C temperature feel like -3°.  Of course, at the time I was setting out into the breeze, it was still sub-zero so I needed all my layers.  It was dry, though, so no ice.  

My route took me away from the city and into the countryside to the East.  I always name my rides, usually after the largest town at the furthest point, but today I struggled because there were no notable towns along the route.  I went through Dronfield, but that was only after 3 miles which didn’t help.  I settled on the uninteresting and ambiguous name of ‘Towards Worksop’ even though I turned back 7 miles short.  The landscape may have been pretty in spring or summer, but today, it just all seemed to be uniformly drab.

As I headed round to the North and then back home, I entered the southern suburbs of Sheffield and back into the traffic.  My preferred route-planning software, Cycle.Travel, tries to avoid busy roads if at all possible, so I found myself weaving through housing estates for much of the return journey. 

At one point I did end up on a road with tram tracks which I think I may have been on before but I decided to take to the pavement rather than risk mixing with the trams like I did last time.  Much safer.

I was back in time for lunch much to Felix’s delight.  He seems to expect feeding whenever I put the kettle on.  I’m sure he never gets fed so much normally.   Or perhaps I should drink less tea.

He meowed to go out mid afternoon and as soon as the door was opened, he shot off across the garden and scaled the 6 foot fence at the back.  Then I saw what he’d obviously seen; a large cat sat on top of the fence almost obscured by leylandii trees.  Lots of yowling followed, ending with Felix strutting back down the garden with a smug look on his face.  Another intruder seen off.

I spent the rest of the afternoon reading before walking to the shops for some supplies.  I’ve yet to decide on a plan for tomorrow.

Wednesday 10^th January 2024.

It was warmer and there was no ice when I woke up today. Yay!  But it was raining. Boo!  The Met Office couldn’t assure that it was going to stop drizzling all day, so I decided to wait until later before venturing out.

When I did head out, it was still drizzling a bit so I only went a short ride to pick up a Veloviewer Explorer tile. I thought I’d got it last year, but when the ride loaded onto Veloviewer, it wasn’t showing; I must’ve missed it by a few feet.  I’ve managed it now, but it’s made little difference to anything.  There are a couple of tiles to the West of it which are in the middle of a moor with no paths, so I’m not that keen to capture those.

But the target of today’s ride was achieved, albeit at a cost of 13 miles in the rain with nearly 1,700 feet of climbing.

After tea, I ventured out for an evening walk in the drizzle to capture some of the sights. I got wet.

Thursday 11^th January 2024.

The warm spell continued today, although that was no real comfort; 3°C is hardly tropical, and the accompanying drizzle actually made for a miserable day overall. I had planned one more ride for my last day on this visit and as it probably wasn’t going to stop drizzling, I set off in the wet at 9.40 and took a route to Bolsover and then back through Chesterfield.  

Two incidents stand out.  The first, by some roadworks involved a large rock rolling from a pile heading directly towards my path.  I had barely time to react when the rock hit a traffic cone and shunted it a foot or two into the carriageway.  Thankfully, by then its inertia was spent and I just squeezed past both obstacles without any trouble.  It made me jump, though! 

The second issue was a failure of route planning.  I knew I had to cross the M1 at junction 29 which is where the A617 and a couple of other roads all meet. As I approached the large roundabout on a minor road, I noticed that on the roundabout, the left lane (my usual position) was for traffic destined for the motorway only.  The roundabout was busy with drivers treating it like it was the Nürburgring so I wasn’t going to try to take the right hand lane to reach the next exit. I ended up walking along the verge to reach my road.  There wasn’t even a pavement.  I really don’t think I should’ve been there, but looking at the map afterwards I couldn’t see an alternative.

Anyway, I survived both incidents, so all’s good.  This was the end of my short sojourn but I’m sure it won’t be my last visit.  There are too many unexplored roads round here.