• Meersbook Park
• Length: 0.3 miles
• Avg gradient: 9.5%   Peak gradient: 20%
• Difficulty: 2/5 (steep but not long)
• Likelihood of encountering unpleasant motor-vehicles: 0/5
• Strava

A very hilly park, a couple of miles south of the city centre. My introduction to Meersbrook Park was cycling downhill through it at great speed.  It made me wonder what it would be like to tackle it in the opposite direction. There are several routes – all looking steep – through the park but, for the sake of this, I did (with some extension) the Strava segment labelled ‘Meersbrook Grind’.

You’ll enter the park from the direction of Brooklyn Road and the house with the attractive bird mural by Faunagraphic.  The path starts easily enough as you pass the tennis courts on your right.  Looking left, through the trees, you can see what you’re about to tackle.  Follow the path and begin the climb in earnest.  It’s here the the Strava segment begins.

The path is smooth with a gentle curve and you can pretty much see where you’re headed the whole time but it is a bit unrelenting, hitting the peak gradients about halfway up. Different sources disagree about the steepest point of the hill, varying from 17% to almost 22%.  Whatever the reality, you get some idea of how steep the hill is from the angle of the houses in the photo.

If you can, glance behind you, as you climb higher and higher you get an ever more impressive panorama of Sheffield.  Eventually you’ll reach small play trail as the hill begins to peter out.  Shortly after, you’ll reach the 16^th century Bishops House and the top of Meersbrook Park.  A short but sweet Sheffield hill climb.

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