Grade: S-X
Distance: 11.5km to Reed St and 10.7km to Cowlishaw St
Road Conditions: Mainly cycle paths
Route: From Woden Town Centre Library via Hindmarsh Drive, Chifley, Waramanga, Tuggeranong Parkway and Lake Tuggeranong to the town centre.
Map: Location Map (Ride No 17) and detailed Map 13 of ride
Starting Point: Woden Town Centre Library, cnr Corinna and Furzer St
Description: You can indeed cycle all the way from the Woden Town Centre to the new Tuggeranong Town Centre, built on the shores of Canberra's third artificial lake, not that far from the Murrumbidgee River.
The first part of the ride duplicates that for Commuter Ride 16 until after 1.4 km it reaches a tunnel to the left under Hindmarsh Dr. (directly opposite a walking track leading to Oakey Hill), which takes the cycleway towards Tuggeranong. The path climbs steeply for a short while after you pass through the tunnel, but the gradient becomes less pronounced as the cycleway files through open country. It moves right to cross Waldock St at a sign pointing to Chifley, and once over this road continues to climb before flattening out to rush downhill, cross Waldock St again and travel beneath the Tuggeranong Parkway via an underpass. It parallels Badimara St, Waramanga, for a time before moving away from this road and climbing to the top of a ridge. Distance travelled to here is 3.4 km.
A long and exciting downhill dash of about 2 km follows, the cycleway entering Tuggeranong and meeting Sulwood Dr., Kambah. Once across this intersection with the Tuggeranong Parkway notice a sign pointing to Weston Creek (see Commuter Ride 18). Ignore this turning and continue riding parallel with what is now Drakeford Dr.
There are no signs to tell you, but a safer route to the nearby Kambah Village shops (left), rather than crossing busy roads, arrives at an underpass to the left, 5.5 km from the start. Should you take this route, then move to the right beyond the tunnel and find that the path you are on brings you to Marconi Cres. opposite Primmer Crct, part of the shopping centre.
After this diversion return to the main cycleway and ride on to a difficult Drakeford Dr. intersection, this time with Boddington Cres. Once across this obstacle the bike path continues on the edge of playing fields and runs past another underpass. This one, if you take it, is another safe route to Kambah Village. Once again there is no sign to guide you. A long connector on the right, leading into this underpass, runs across sportsgrounds to link with Ferrett Crct.
The cycleway continues alongside these playing fields and past a connector (left) under the Drakeford Drive. It passes under an O'Halloran Crct bridge and sweeps through parklands to cross an access road to playing fields. A children's adventure play area is passed and the cycleway once again runs beneath O'Halloran Crct (there was so much smashed glass in this underpass when I was researching this ride, that I had to carry my bike through it). On and on the cycleway goes, passing the Cardio Fitness Club (now closed) and running beneath Athllon Dr. to reach the northern reach of Lake Tuggeranong (8.2 km from the start) where it turns left and heads towards Drakeford Dr.
Reed St ending: Just before the cycleway travels beneath Drakeford Dr., turn right to cross a storm-water drain by way of a bridge. Turn right again almost immediately to cycle back near units on the northern lake shore.
Tussocky islands being revegetated are passed before the cycleway crosses Mortimer Lewis Dr., Greenway, then moves under Drakeford Dr. and, about 200 metres from Mortimer Lewis Dr., suddenly stops. Here it is possible to walk your bike over rough ground to gain access to Singleton Cres., Oxley, near its intersection with Newman Morris Crct.
If you do not wish to travel into Oxley, then simply continue riding along the cycleway next to the lake shore until you reach a footpath at the Erindale Drive bridge. If you turn right here, the footpath will take you across Lake Tuggeranong. Once over this, you can move down to the right to reach Reed St near the Health Insurance Commission offices.
Cowlishaw St ending:. After cycling under Athllon Dr., turn right to follow the cycleway along the southern shore of Lake Tuggeranong and across the Dam wall into Tuggeranong Town Park near the indoor swimming pool. From here it is a simple matter to ride on to a cycleway junction where you turn right to reach Cowlishaw St, about 150 metres from the entrance to Lake Tuggeranong College.
Pedal Power is grateful to Graeme Barrow for agreeing to allow this material and
maps to be reproduced here from his book "Riding Canberra's Bike Paths: A
commuter/tourist cycling guide". Other titles by Graeme Barrow include:
