Meet: Thursday afternoons outside Forge Dam Café, Brookhouse Hill, Fulwood, in time to register and begin walking at 2pm.

Day: Thursdays 

Time: 1.50 in time to start walking at 2pm

Meet: outside Forge Dam Cafe, Brookhouse Hill, Fulwood  S10 3TE

 

 

 

Forge Dam Café is in the Porter Valley on the border of the Peak District & is just 10-15 minutes’ drive from Sheffield City Centre. From the café, you can easily access several footpaths and bridleways, some of which link together as part of the Sheffield Round Walk.

We gather at the Café from 1.45pm & the one-hour walk begins at 2.00pm. We sometimes follow the river downstream as far as the Shepherd Wheel in Bingham Park, and we sometimes walk the other way travelling away from the City towards the source of the Porter. A choice of walks is offered and occasionally one group walk up the valley whilst another group walks down. We take regular pauses during the walk and anyone wishing to walk a little more slowly or for a shorter distance will be accompanied ‘back to base’ by one of our trained volunteer leaders.  

After each walk, we enjoy refreshments or ice-cream from the Café, have many lively conversations and appreciate the views & wildlife around the Dam itself. 

Some of our regular walkers have said the following about this RWW Step Out Sheffield walk:

 “…Thursday is now the best day of my week & I really look forward to the walk…”

 “…I feel so much better now after joining you & walking regularly…”

 “…if it weren’t for the health walks, I’d just sit around at home…”

   

Buses:    The 120 and 83a buses stop in Fulwood village a short walk from the Café.

Parking: park at the end of Brookhouse Hill opposite the old chapel and walk across the field to reach the woods beyond. Turn left at the junction and the right above the childrens playground for the safest route down to the cafe. 

Toilets:   There are public toilets next to the cafe.

  

The dam at Forge was last dredged approximately 20 years ago but silted up again despite a 'silt trap' further up the river Porter. Work to drain, dredge and remove the accumulated silt began in late autumn 2021. The pictures above were taken on 20th January 2021 when 5 diggers were working in sequence to dig out and then remove the silt. The operation to clear the dam is estimated to take another 8-10 weeks. In the meantime the ducks that lived on the dam have re-located to waters further down the River Porter. For example there are now many more ducks, including Mandarin ducks, on Wire Mill Dam.