Fortunately the ankle felt a whole lot better after a decent night’s sleep, so we could get out and ride. We got a reasonably early start because I skipped the morning journally type stuff and the pushups/situps, figuring I would be getting plenty of exercise to compensate and that I could reflect while I rode.

We chose an out-and-back route down to the George’s River and racked up 42km!

the route

The weather was completely fabulous and sunny. I do definitely need to organise a lip-balm with high SPF protection, but otherwise unusually managed to miss no spots with the sunscreen!

Apart from the start and end bits (where I largely rode on the road!), the route was pretty much all very flat bike path which was excellent! There were a good many cyclists out enjoying the morning (but it was never over-crowded), loads of runners about too which had me consumed with envy. I really enjoy riding the bike and especially spending time with Don, but in no way does it compare with pounding the pavement.

Some scenic shots in order of appearance. Truly, I do live in a very, very beautiful city.

Just after entering the Cook’s River path – it was incredibly still and the river all mirrory.

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Naturally we had to stop to admire the golf course.

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Abandoned grandstand, home of the St George Saints

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Chinese market gardens

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Airport control tower. I appear to really like shooting into the sun.

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Botany Bay. Northern End of Lady Robinson’s Beach.

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I was blown away to encounter this stone pine / umbrella pine grove beside the beach. I generally think of this as a totally Roman thing (one of my favourite bits of Rome – along with everything else in Rome). The InformationSuperhighway tells me this was an accidental planting from the 1930s.

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If you squint at that horizontal thing in the distance, you might be able to make out a very land-locked jetty. The sands shift a huge amount in the bay and there is always a ton of dredging going on to try and stabilise the beaches.

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End of the line. We decided against entering The Shire and turned around and went back to where we came from </shire joke>

It was a really lovely ride – very much recommended. Definitely not a ride for a sunny afternoon because the shared path along Botany Bay was getting crazy-busy with unpredictably wandering pedestrians by the time we made our way back.

We plan to head all the way to Kurnell at a future date, but that will be a pretty epic outing which we may need to work up to!