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Sheffield

Sheffield in May 2012, with the Peak District on the doorstep: cycling the Monsal Trail near Bakewell, a riverside dale walk, and a moor-edge pub.

Sheffield's party trick is its back garden: the Peak District begins where the last streets stop. In May 2012 we gave it two days, one on wheels and one on foot.

Dileep with a backpack and camera on a stony riverside path in a Peak District dale, a moss-covered stone wall rising beside him
Deep in a limestone dale, where the moss owns the walls and the river sets the walking pace.
Dileep and Inga wearing helmets with two hired mountain bikes on the Monsal Trail, a green valley and town below behind them
Bikes hired, helmets on. The Monsal Trail runs traffic-free along the old Midland Railway line above Bakewell.
Peak District interpretation board for the Monsal Trail at Coombs Road, with a route map from Bakewell to Wyedale
The Coombs Road board near Bakewell: eight and a half miles of former railway, six open tunnels, zero cars.
The stone-built Norfolk Arms Hotel with a castellated roofline at Ringinglow on the moor edge above Sheffield, under a grey sky
The Norfolk Arms at Ringinglow, where Sheffield ends and the moors begin. The Sheffield phone code on the sign gives the game away.

City on one side, national park on the other: not a bad arrangement. When the legs recover, the Lake District is the other great northern escape.