Lady Canning’s Plantation
Lady Cannings Plantation was mentioned as a possible location for a trail at the founding meeting of Ride Sheffield. It’s a great location as it’s on the edge of the popular Houndkirk Moors byways and bridleways as well as being close to the wider Sheffield trail network coming up out of the Porter Valley.
For a few years, unofficial trails and paths have existed in the woods as walkers and riders explored. In 2013 there was a big step forward for mountain bikers when the main track through the woods was re-classified as a Bridleway.
5 years on from the Ride Sheffield meeting when the potential for trail building was first mentioned we decided to use an innovative – and at this point unique – crowd funding campaign to raise money to professionally build the trails. Thanks to the success of the campaign and a fantastically supportive land owner/manager in Sheffield City Council, the first phase of the Lady Cannings trails, “Blue Steel”, opened in July 2015.
This was completed with the support of Go Outdoors, Norton Mayfield Architects, Cotic and Avanti Conveyors and of course the good people of the mountain bike community who put their hands in their pockets and got behind the crowd fund.
The “Blue Steel” trail starts at the top of the newly classified Bridleway through the middle of the woods, just into the woods from the gate onto Jumbles Road on Houndkirk Moor.
With the generous support of Go Outdoors, the “Cooking On Gas Trail” was opened on April 8th 2017. Starting at the end of the forestry road from which Blue Steel starts, it descends in four sections to the foot of the plantation.
Trail Grades and distances
Both trails are Blue Grade. The Blue Steel trail is packed full of fun but there are no jumps or features that will put off the novice, with the trail twisting and turning through berms and rollers from top to bottom. The surface is generally smooth. Cooking On Gas incorporates less in the way of features and is more of a flow trail with loads of opportunity to pump for speed over rollers and out of the massive berms. Again, there is nothing that a beginner can’t handle.
The aim with Lady Cannings is to offer fun trails for children, beginners and intermediate riders to enjoy and improve their skills before building up to the more technical trails in the Peak District. There is no issue with taking competent children down the trail, but as an experienced rider you will have a tonne of fun too.
The whole loop is connected by either using the bridleway up the middle of the woods, or to get some big views head up Houndkirk Road from the Sheep Hill Road car park, turn right at the crossroads with Jumbles Road and climb up to the top that way.
Total Trail Distance:
Blue Steel: 1.4 Km Descent: 50 m
Cooking On Gas: 1.6 Km Descent: 50 m
Location/Access
Lady Cannings Plantation is located to the west of Sheffield just above the Village of Ringinglow. The nearest post code is S11 7TU.
Parking
There is limited parking on Sheephill Road and opposite the Norfolk Arms pub in Ringinglow. It is also located just off the Houndkirk Moors byways and bridleways and the top of the trail through the Parks up Porter Valley tops out to the East of Ringinglow so this is great for access by bike as well.
The nearest railway station is in Dore and Totley.
Local Services
As already mentioned, the Norfolk Arms pub in Ringinglow is not even 200m from the main entrance to the woods and is open for breakfasts as well as more usual pub opening hours. Please note that the pub car park is for patrons only.
In the opposite direction, Dore has a small centre if you follow Sheephill Road and then turn left down Long Line, or take the Ringinglow Road itself back towards Sheffield and there are amenities at Bents Green.
Thanks
A huge thank you to each and every person who put up money for the trails as part of the Crowd Funder. Thanks to Sheffield City Council for their permission to build in the woods and support in getting the permissions to get the trail built, Ride Sheffield volunteers for their ongoing work maintaining the route and working on the next phases, Biketrack for building it, Norton Mayfield Architects, Cotic and Avanti Conveyors for contributing generous amounts into the initial crowd funder, and finally to Go Outdoors who made it possible to build Cooking On Gas by contributing a massive £60,000.
