High Green to Halfway

From High Green get on the Chapletown Greenway (old railway line running parallel to the Meadowhall – Barnsley line) At Meadowhall interchange park & ride veer off to the right to go under the railway bridge, cross various roads near the Sainsburys garage, and turn right towards Meadowhall South tramstop. There’s a choice of routes here – you can do a U-turn to follow the Five Weirs Walk towards City Centre (the official route) or carry on, over the bridge at Mhall south to the canal, and then follow the tow path towards the City Centre. If you take the 5WW, go past the Oasis, under the road bridge, cross Weedon St and alongside the river to Carbrook St. When you emerge back on the road look for the route signs towards Handsworth and follow the route alongside Valley Centretainment to the Arena bridge on Broughton Lane, cross the canal and tramline (this is where you would join up again if you had used the canal towpath) then turn left under a slightly unsavoury bridge where there is often fly-tipping, and up to Europa Link. Cross Shepcote Lane and continue up towards the former airport (look out for Letsby Avenue, the police HQ along here). There’s an off-road path here but traffic is light, so stay on the road if you prefer.

At the top of the airport there are some roadworks going on, so take care, find the access point into some woods and follow it round the airfield perimeter, with Tinsley golf course on your left. Up the hill and you will come up to High Hazels Park in Darnall, which you go through, take a little snicket to your left and go up to Main Rd and over the Sheffield – Worksop railway line. Turn right on Handsworth Ave, then at the end veer left into Bowden Housteads wood. This will bring you up to a bridge over the Parkway, beyond which you take the path at about two o’clock which leads up to the bridge over the Mosbrough Parkway. Don’t cross the bridge, stay on the same side of the A57 parkway and follow the trail which will lead you through to Beighton more or less following the A57 all the way. (The trail is a bit disrupted here due to reclamation work on a landfill site)

When you come out at Beighton turn right and take Robin Lane through to Sothall Green, and come down the hill to the junction watch out for the access point on the left (lots of people miss this one! Follow this through and you will end up at Rother Valley Country park. Continue south along NCN6 and you will reach the bridge over the A616 – come off the trail here and when you reach the road, turn left to head west towards Halfway. Improvements are taking place here as part of the Sustrans Connect 2 project.

The route is fairly well signposted although scroats sometimes move or re-move the signs. Bear in mind that it has suffered from flood damage so take care in places. Assume you should be on the pavement rather than the road unless it is pretty clear there isn’t an option- most of the shared use pavements should be coloured red – cycling off-road isn’t really about safety, it’s about enjoying the ride.