How Sheffield's 'great outdoors' can keep us going in latest lockdown

Meanwhile, those of us lucky enough to have Bradfield or Burbage within striking distance have just put our coats on and gratefully admired the view.

“You can see forever!” cried one young visitor to the snowcapped Ox Stones above Ringinglow last week.

This winter, the outdoors looks like being our respite again, just like the spring. We can still go out once a day, locally, and even meet one other person, as long as we keep our distance.

And we’ll have to bite our lip when we listen to friends from greyer cities sighing ‘there’s nowhere local to get a breath of fresh air’ after we get home from one of Sheffield’s windy hilltops.

The old story of Sheffield’s countryside before it became the Outdoor City was that we’d casually visit our moors, woodlands and 800 or so green spaces at the weekend, come home for our Sunday tea and take it all for granted. Not this year.

In 2020, surveys from both Sheffield universities found that more Sheffielders are getting outdoors and staying out there longer. And nearly everyone said that visiting the outdoors helped them cope with the pandemic.

One Sheffield Hallam respondent said: “Getting outside to breathe, to have time away from everyone and the terrible news cycle has been the single most important factor in maintaining a good standard of mental health throughout the lockdown for me.”

Virtually every respondent to the Sheffield University Landscape Department survey said they visited the outdoors for a health and wellbeing benefit in 2020, such as physical exercise, stress or anxiety reduction, as ‘a space to think clearly,’ or to boost their immune system. And 79% said they’d be getting out into the natural world more often after the pandemic eventually recedes.

This year, our city parks and woodlands have felt like a necessity, especially for families without a garden, but many of us have learned how our wide open moorlands are the best places to escape the pandemic.

You might see a hawk or a deer as a reminder that the rest of nature is still out there carrying on perfectly well without us. Even if you do encounter other folk, there’s always enough wind up there to take everyone’s breath away.

Get out your coats and rediscover daily walks

And after reports of parking chaos on country roads and piles of litter festering in the UK’s parks and roadside ditches, here in Sheffield the notable point for regular outdoor citizens was how many more people were out enjoying the wilds, many of them newcomers asking questions.

“Is this the way to Houndkirk Moor?” asked an elderly couple in trainers and sunglasses stepping out from Lady Canning’s last spring.

“Does this path take us all the way round Ladybower?” asked a hopeful family with handbags, hijabs and picnic rugs in August.

Now, particularly in the dark winter months, under the new lockdown the outdoors is still good for our health and mental health, and much safer than confined indoor spaces. But Public Health stress the need for distancing, particularly since the new mutant virus may spread from smaller doses.

So currently you can still run, ride or walk with a friend, but only if you stay local and keep two metres apart (15 minutes with a non-householder closer than two metres makes you a viral contact, even if you are both running over the frozen moors).

As the 2021 lockdown begins, we’re all hoping vaccines arrive here soon in greater numbers than the B117 Covid variant, while trees bearing thank you signs have appeared in places like Ecclesall Woods, from a city grateful to the staff and volunteers who help look after the nature on our doorstep.

A respondent to Sheffield Hallam’s Outdoor Recreation Research Group put it like this: “There’s a sense of wonder at nature, the chance to be in it with loved ones and also a pride in Sheffield which we always feel. Aren’t we lucky to live here?”