Sheeck one

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Sheeck here.

This route isn't the shortest and most direct but it takes in Rother Valley Country Park and Shire Brook nature reserve, which are worth visits in themselves.
I walked this at the end of January, in fairly clear weather. Being mostly on hard surfaces, sensible shoes were good enough but it can be very muddy in a few spots after rain. I went from Eckington to Sheffield. Between the two locations, there are the 252, 50(a) or 53(a) buses. It took me 3 and a half hours although that was at quite a fast pace.

The terrain is not difficult. Most is on good paths, often beside the road, with just a few stretches of dirt path beside the river Rother near the start and through the first half of Shire Brook Valley nature reserve. There are no particularly steep bits except one street up towards Skye Edge fields which can be detoured around. There was a kissing gate at the river Rother section and a few squeeze gates (A frames). If you stick to the route, there are significant flights of steps at railway lines (with a ramp for bikes), a chicane next to them, and a couple of smaller, rougher flights in woods which can be avoided with a little planning.

From the start in Eckington, its roadside walking to the start of the river Rother after Pipworth Lane. In the wood there, a railway bridge passes over the river and its barely head height on the path. I barely had to duck. The river section ends at a gate and soon joins the Trans-Pennine Trail. Watch for cyclists whizzing up and down ! The TPT and you part ways when you turn off to walk beside Rother Valley's lake but if you want to avoid the railway footbridges and a few wooden steps in the wood next to them, you can keep following the TPT until the routes join again at the top end of Rother valley park. It's also worth mentioning that the far side of the lake has some buildings that have a toilet and a cafe, according to the park's web site.

Here the route goes through Beighton. The route is poorly mapped here and I went the wrong way twice. Soon after passing the Cumberland pub, turn right down some steps and follow the dirt path to a meeting of ways. At this point go up the steps rather than the other two ways. There is an extremely narrow squeeze gate up here and you might want to detour around it, which is not too difficult with a map of the area. Again, the badly traced route causes problems as it appears to lead through a fenced off school. The route in fact goes a little north of it to a car park and there is an easily missed footpath leading West. Whenever in Beighton, the public footpath signs should send you the right way. Keep a close eye on the route through the rest of the way to Mosborough Parkway as it's a maze of dead-ends.

A bridge over the parkway leads to the nature reserve. In wet weather this can get extremely muddy. In dry weather it's a great place to wander through the many paths. Again, the route could do with some refinement here but as long as you keep going East/West (or vice versa) you'll end up in the right place as the whole reserve and the main paths are oriented this way. The turn off from the edge of the reserve into the centre, and onto the main track through the middle, comes shortly after passing a tunnel under the parkway that's on the left. Turn right and keep going over a bridge and uphill to join it. When walking along the main E-W road, there is a bank on the north side which has a nicer path on top.
From hereonin, all paths have hard surfaces.

Where the route crosses Richmond Road, you have to option of a 10-15 minute detour up Richmond Park Road to the massive Asda which has a cafe and toilets (check web site for cafe opening times). You can return to the route by walking down beside Sheffield Parkway. Of course there are a lot of shops and pubs along the route if you're prepared to go off a short distance.

You're on a national cycle trail as the route takes you alongside Sheffield Parkway. At the end, (just after the amusingly named "Corker Bottoms") there is a wiggle onto Maltravers Road. Near the end of that road, you turn steeply uphill to Sky Edge. Unfortunately, Skye Edge fields cannot be seen, being on a higher elevation, so I don't see much point going that way unless you want to see the art project at the flats. That said, the view coming down past the amphitheatre to the railway station at the end is a good one.
If you want to save your aching feet and cut out that climb, carry on to the end of Maltravers, go down Broad Street to Park Square (possibly popping into the Wonkeresque Granelli's sweet shop), and climb the steps on the left and keep left to reach the path to the railway station.

Share your views about this route, give it a star rating, indicate whether it should be verified or not.

Include information that will be useful to others considering to walk or wheel it.

You can add up to 15 photos.