Grade: S-X
Distance: 12 km, one way
Road Conditions: Mainly cycle paths
Route:
From Woden Town Centre via Athllon Drive, Wanniassa, Gowrie and Chisholm.
Map: Location Map (Ride No 19 and 21) and detailed Map 13 and Map 14 of ride
Starting Point: Callam Office car park, Woden Town Centre
Description: Follow the description for Commuter Rides 19 and 20 until you reach the point off Langmore Cres., Wanniassa, where the cycleway divides with the right arm taking you down to the Erindale Centre (Commuter Ride 20). This time keep riding straight ahead and find the path sweeps through bushland before reaching Erindale Dr. It follows this busy throughfare before crossing Steruberg Cres. near a roundabout at the Erindale Dr./Sternberg Cres. intersection. The path continues to run downhill and about 1 km from where it divided back near Longmore Cres., reaches a cycleway sign--straight ahead takes you to the Erindale Shops while left brings you out in Gowrie once the path tunnels beneath Erindale Dr.
(If you want to go on to the Erindale Shops simply ride on past the tunnel entrance where the cycleway continues alongside Erindale Drive to Tuggeranong Town Centre. There are turnoffs to the right to end at the Erindale Centre, with its cultural and leisure activities.)
Back at the passage beneath Erindale Dr., find the cycleway narrows to footpath width to run between houses and under Castleton Cres., Gowrie, before threading through parkland between houses to pass a primary school and reach the Gowrie Shops at Jeffries St. By now you have cycled about 8.5 km since leaving the Woden Town Centre. Once past the Gowrie Shops the path again travels under Castleton Cres. and then Bugden Ave before it meets a proper cycleway running parallel with a floodway.
(If you ride to the right at this T-junction you will find the cycleway travels under three bridges, the first being on Isabella Dr. and the second on Ashley Dr. After the second underpass, a path via a bridge over Tuggeranong Creek leads to nowhere--it simply stops beneath Ashley Dr. Another connector to the left just before the third bridge gives access to Ellerston Ave, Isabella Plains, while beyond this bridge, on Isabella Dr., another link takes you into Cockcroft Ave, Monash. The cycleway keeps going through open country, turns sharp left, and stops. This point is 2.1 km from where you turned to the right back at the intersection with the Gowrie path.)
The route to the left, through parklike surroundings although the floodway drain is an eyesore, eventually takes you to the Chisholm shopping centre. Initially it parallels Galleghan Crct, Gowrie, before passing under Kellett St and climbing through the remnants of a pine plantation. The path divides at a point 0.5 km beyond Kellett St with the route straight ahead skirting a picnic/play area before crossing under Bugden Ave and stopping in pines at a medium-density housing development site.
The fork to the right takes you over a small bridge, through more pines, and then across Isabella or. via an overpass to end at Halley St and the Chisholm Shopping Centre, some 5 km from where the cycleway divided off Longmore Cres., Wanniassa. The striped, corrugated iron roofs and the modest buildings grouped in a semi-circle give the Centre a village-type appearance which, even if contrived, is a charming departure from some of the ugly shopping developments in other parts of Tuggeranong.
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:
