Thomastown to Port Melbourne via Kororoit Creek

Monday, October 31st, 2005 at 07:34pm

Today I went for my first ride (I’m not counting commuting to work) since April when I rode down the Maribyrnong River Path.

My day unfolded as follows:

  • Train from Glen Waverley Station to Richmond Station
  • Rode through Yarra Park (where the MCG is) to Jolimont Station which saved me from having to go around the loop and then wait at Flinders Street Station
  • Caught an Epping bound train to Thomastown Station
  • From Thomastown Station I rode down to the bike path along the Metropolitan Ring Road and then west until I reached the new Hume Freeway
  • I detoured up the Hume Freeway to the City of Whittlesea Public Gardens, where there is also a pedestrian bridge across the freeway, and the back down the ring road.
  • I took a couple of photos where the Hume meets the ring road as it was under construction when I last saw it almost two years ago
  • I continued west along the ring road to Jacana where I took a number of photos from the pedestrian bridge over the station of the goods line meeting the surburan line which I regretted not taking when I started here when I rode the Maribyrnong River Path
  • Continuing on I came to the start of the Maribyrnong River Path at Brimbank Park. It was good to see that the path that ran down under the E.J. Whitten bridge has been resurfaced.
  • Pressing on along the pretty boring path I eventually reached the top of the Kororoit Creek Path
  • There are two things I can say about the Kororoit Creek Path: It is boring and it does just end in the middle of nowhere like the maps show. The concrete path just stops behind some factories with apparently nowhere to go…
  • Instead of turning around and negotiating my way along side streets to Sunshine Station as I had planned I pressed on and found a vacant block between some factories which led me out to Somerville Road. The ride from there to Tottenham Station wasn’t very pleasant as it is industrial with a lot of trucks.
  • After I got off the train at Footscray I rode across to Docklands on the path along Footscray Road. When I got to Citylink I was fortunate enough to catch CLF1 and CLF4 at the automatic rail crossing that wasn’t there when I last went through
  • Once I has traversed Docklands and found my way around the back of the Melbourne Exhibition Centre I followed the path along the light rail to Port Melbourne and back.
  • I crossed back over to Docklands and made my way to Birrarung Marr along the north bank of the Yarra (normally I would use the south). Making my way behind the Holiday Inn was interesting as it seems to discourage through traffic.
  • After taking some photos back towards the city I returned to Richmond Station for a train home…

Just over 80 kilometres in just over 4 hours of actual riding…

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