Route Developer: Fran Pickering
Route Checker: Diana Grainger
[1] From the Clock Tower Lodge take the path to the left of the building which curves left through the park towards an old paddling pool which has a pair of basketball hoops in it. Turn right uphill off this path at the paddling pool and go up the steps into the wood. (Caution: Take care, there are 28 steps and they are uneven). At the top, turn right along a tarmac path.
To avoid the steps, you can take a later turning off Firth Park Road which is signposed 'Hinde Common Wood'. This footpath is a gradual slope and meets the top of the steps.
Where the path approaches the road, turn left up a few steps to an A-frame stile onto the pavement.. Cross the road (Hinde House Lane) and go straight ahead into Hinde Wood Close.
[2] Take the footpath on the left beside the first house. Continue along this path (ignoring side paths branching off) as it goes behind houses through trees and curves towards the right before coming into more open ground with new apartment buildings. Where the path forks, go to the left. Go straight ahead and pass through a metal stile beside a metal gate. At the end of the path, keep straight ahead along Bluebell Road, crossing over the side road, Honeysuckle Road.
[3] At the end of the road, cross over Wincobank Avenue straight ahead into Wincobank Road. Continue straight ahead towards a sign for 'Sarah's Plaice', passing a triangular green to your right. At the end of Wincobank Road, turn left along Shiregreen Lane. Keep on Shiregreen Lane until you reach a zebra crossing. Cross over the road and continue along the road towards the sign for Hinde House School and the cemetery.
Before turning right towards the school, you might want to visit the cemetery for sight-seeing and toilets. (New toilets with disabled facilities are on the right just after the lodge buildings). Views over the north of Sheffield and Rotherham, with Keppels Column on the skyline).
[4] Turn right into the road heading towads the school, with the cemetery on the left (beautiful in cherry blossom time). Take the A-frame stile to the left of the school entrance gates. The stile leads to a footpath which runs between the cemetery and the school boundaries with high green fencing on both sides. When you reach a T-junction of paths turn left, with the cemetery still on your left, but with the golf course on the right. Continue along the path, past the end of the cemetery towards the sports centre, passing courts on your left. The path turns slightly right and slightly left to go behind the building and into the car park.
[5] Head diagonally across the car park to a stile in the right hand corner of the car park and enter Concord Park. Follow the path across the park to the children's play area. You reach ornate main gates where you exit onto Shiregreen Lane. Turn right and follow the road to cross at traffic lights on Hatfield House Lane. Turn left to cross on to the left hand side of Hatfield House Lane. Turn right and continue along the road, passing a Methodist Church on your left.
[6] Continue along the road and turn left before the traffic lights into Laver Rock Way. Number 15 is filled with statues, sculptures and garden features. At the T-junction turn right into Torksey Road West, then left at the next T junction into Sicey Avenue. Continue down Sicey Avenue to the roundabout. At the roundabout, turn left and cross at the crossing to Blundells estate agents. Cross on the zebra crossing towards Firth Park.
[7] Enter Firth Park and bear left. Henry's cafe is on the right. There is an old mile stone to the left of the path indicating 116 miles to London. Continue down the path along the edge of the park, with Firth Park Road to the left, until you reach an exit on the left. Leave the park. Turn right onto Firth Park Road and cross the road next to a bus stop. Turn right down the hill and immediately turn left into Hinde Common Woods, just below the junction of Firth Park Road and Firth Park Avenue. Follow the path back past the old paddling pool to Clock Tower Lodge.