Melbourne Docklands to Cheetham Wetlands, Sunday 16 May, 2004
Report and photo by Ludo
On that memorable day, we met at the Telstra Dome, Docklands when the sun was already high and bright in the sky, be it fully covered by dark clouds. Didn't matter, we knew the sun was there … somewhere.
In true "Be Spon" tradition no one really knew who was going to turn up, but by leaving a bit later, we should not have left any one behind or did we ? As it turned out John thought he was too late and that he had to catch up on us by crossing the Yarra River over the West Gate bridge (no kidding, he was stopped by police but was not arrested ) and ended up having to wait for us for the rest of the day in Altona.
So off we went along Footscray Rd which was renamed the Boulevard and has been graced with a really up-market winding bike path. Once in Yarraville, we ended up in the middle of a "walk-a-thon". Since the officials weren't sure whether we belonged on the track or not, we proceeded carefully along the sweating bodies, at times trying an encouraging smile or avoiding a gaze of which the suffering was just too much to bear. Why run your heart out if you can do the same on a "bent"...
Williamstown was alive and bustling as always. It's probably the only suburb in Melbourne where a recumbent bike will not induce turning heads. When you walk in Williamstown, and you see something unusual , you just pretend that you've seen that before, because that is the thing to do when you are part of the scene in Williamstown. Here we paid a visit to The Enterprise replica. This beautiful little schooner is just tossing and turning at it's moorings, because Melbourne has not woken up to the fact that it has a maritime history, that deserves to be kept alive.
Robert, Renild, Ludo, David, Aaron, Daniel
Next stop at a shelter along the Williamstown beach was dictated by a fierce shower, rolling in from Geelong. Nice spot for lunch, was it not that we had to share the limited dry space with a birthday party, which reminded me of the birthday parties of my childhood, where we had to eat the cake in total silence, because you couldn't open your mouth whilst you were eating. We've come a long way, in fact I think we've turned full circle, as I don't think any of these young revellers had any idea of what goodies they were eating, but they surely made a lot of noise.
From here we went further past Altona, where we finally met up with John and Ken, towards Altona Meadows all along nice bike paths to Cheetham Wetlands. On our way back, we had our cappuccino at a genuine Breton creperie on famous Nelson Place, Williamstown. We clocked up some 60 km, nearly all on bike paths or dedicated bike lanes. It must be said that in the last few years a lot has improved for bikes on this side of the city. If only the same could be true for a thing called ... The Federation Tale !