6/11/21 Urban Riding and Dumplings: Adelaide

While we're in Adelaide I'm attempting to discover as much as I can of Adelaide by bike, given that most of Adelaide is dead flat and there's lots of bike paths.  

The Outer Harbour Greenway (OHG) runs beside the railway line from Outer Harbour to Adelaide Railway Station. I was keen to ride this and then continue along the linear path to the mouth of the (River) Torrens, and home via the foreshore. Roger, not so keen on the urban riding of the OHG or the idea of riding it while the UV was high, elected to skip that bit and catch a train in to meet me in the city.

Thunder grumbled outside all morning, but it had settled down by early afternoon, so off I went.

The OHG goes right past the end of our street, and uses a tunnel under Grand Junction Road.  Unknown persons use the tunnel to dump their rubbish, which is not appreciated.

 The OHG follows back roads and dedicated paths beside the railway line all the way into the city.

There's lots of street art along the way.

Including bicycle-related art on the scobie poles.  This was in the suburb of Kilkenny, which has embraced both street art and bicycle riding in equal (exuberant) measure.

Making sure no one gets misplaced.

From one end...

...to the other.

My phone rang as I was cycling over the freeway and thinking how nice it was to be cycling on a big bridge over the freeway.

"Have you seen the keys to my bicycle lock?" asked Roger. He was a bit terse, which was forgivable because he had a train to catch and had just spent 30 minutes looking for a key so he could unlock his bike to bring it with him.

Long story short, I found his keys in the bottom of the pannier on my bike, which was unexpected because I don't use his bicycle lock. We had a moment of mutual blame, as you do, and then we had to change our plans because now his bike had to stay at home.

I continued my ride into the city.

I like crossing freeways like this.

The last couple of kilometres into the city were on the linear path beside the Torrens, which is quite a respectable size here thanks to judicious weir placement.

I met Roger at the train station and locked my bike beside a whole cluster of other bikes. I put mine in the middle on the theory that, like with cutlery, thieves would work from the outside in.  Bikeless, we walked down to the Botanic Gardens for a wander.

Patterns under a bridge.

Botanic gardens, with a wedding in the distance.  There were five weddings in progress at the Botanic Gardens and it was very difficult not to inadvertently photo-bomb the making of their precious memories. 

Water lilies.

Photo of photographer taking a photo of a water lily, and so on...

The old glass house, full of the spikiest possible plants of which Madagascar seems to have more than its fair share.

 

On the way back to my bicycle we happened upon the dumpling market component of the Ozasia Festival so we made the most of the availability of dumplings and had a dumpling dinner sitting on hill overlooking the Torrens and listening to live music.  The evening, while not at all what we planned, was in the end quite enjoyable. My bike was all in one piece when I returned to it and the train ride home was uneventful. The dog was predictably overjoyed to see us, and the loop ride remains firmly on the 'to-do' list.