Stanage Edge and Robin Hood's Cave from Ecclesall Woods
A genuine city-to-gritstone-and-back run. You leave a suburban car park, touch the Stanage trig and Stanedge Pole, and come home through the Porter Valley without ever getting in a car.
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A 24.6km loop from Ecclesall Woods in Sheffield out to Stanage Edge and back, crossing Houndkirk Moor and Burbage on the way out and the peat of Hallam Moors and the Porter Valley on the way home.
A genuine city-to-gritstone-and-back run. You leave a suburban car park, touch the Stanage trig and Stanedge Pole, and come home through the Porter Valley without ever getting in a car.
The route
From the Sawmill car park at Ecclesall Woods the route runs west on soft, rooty woodland singletrack, climbs past Whirlow and Lady Cannings Plantation and reaches Ringinglow at around 4km. From there Houndkirk Road takes over: a wide, rough old turnpike across open moor, loose and cobbled underfoot, exposed the whole way and busy with mountain bikes.
Stanage
You cross the top of Burbage Rocks at 8.5km, pass Upper Burbage Bridge and get onto Stanage Edge. The trig pillar at 457m comes at 10km and the next kilometre along the edge top is the best of the route: bare gritstone slab and block steps on the lip of the escarpment, with Robin Hood's Cave tucked beneath at 11km. The route turns north short of High Neb and picks up Stanedge Pole at 12.5km, the old waymark on the Long Causeway packhorse route.
Hallam Moors
This is where the route earns its grade. From Stanedge Pole the line drops northeast towards Redmires, then turns east and crosses Hallam Moors past Rud Hill. Deep peat, sphagnum bog on the watershed where the Porter Brook rises, and very few clear lines. It is slow, wet ground and most Sheffield runners underestimate it. In poor visibility it needs a compass.
The Porter Valley
At Porter Clough the route drops off the moor into a steep wooded ravine and joins the Porter and Limb valleys, Sheffield's green corridor, for a fast finish on flowing woodland singletrack back into Ecclesall Woods.
What you are in for
24.6km and 620m of climb, but the numbers hide it. There is nothing to eat or drink between Ringinglow at 4km and the Porter Valley at 18km, and the peat crossing in the middle is the slowest ground of the day. Carry everything you need.
Hallam Moors between Stanedge Pole and Rud Hill is deep peat and sphagnum bog with few clear paths, and it is hard to navigate in cloud. The Stanage top path runs along the lip of a 25m drop and the gritstone is polished and slippery when wet. Ring ouzels nest at Stanage and Burbage from March to July, and adders are active on the Eastern Moors from February to November. Nothing on route for around 14km in the middle.
Safety on this route
- No signal? Text 999 — pre-register first: text register to 999
- Tell someone your route and expected return time before you head out
Leave No Trace
- Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories.
- Please respect the countryside and all its inhabitants.
- Dogs on leads near livestock, and around ground-nesting birds from March to July.
- Gates as you find them — open or closed, leave it that way for the farmer and the next runner.
- Take it all home — wrappers, peel, tissue, the lot. It doesn't count as biodegradable if you can still see it.
- Stick to the path where the ground either side is wet, planted, or nesting habitat.
Common questions
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