14/05/22 Fuelled on Coca-cola: Bike Riding on the Last Day of Summer (Again)

We woke to a grey and gloomy day with a forecast for possible showers.  "Let's go for a little ride," we said.  "Just to make a respectable number of km for May."

We packed our rain jackets, left our hats behind on account of the heavy cloud cover, and tootled off to  the south.  We had all day so we took things easy and allowed ourselves to be side-tracked by the opportunities for plane-spotting at the end of the runway. There were multiple dead end streets separated from the runway only by a corrugated iron fence, with convenient boxes and  metal  stands for vertically-challenged plane spotters to stand on.

You can stand on the metal bar to see over the fence.

The runway lights extended into suburbia at  the end of the runway.  In some places they were in vacant lots where houses had (I assume) been resumed.  In other spots the runway lights were in back yards,  right next to the patio and  BBQ.  This would all be very good if you were a plane spotter and reveled in yelling "There goes the 737 to Delhi!" while you turned your sausages, but could be disconcerting if you considered that your house would play a major role in arresting the progress of any plane that inadvertently ran off the end of the runway.

Backyard spotlights taken to a whole 'nother level.

Fortified by the roar of planes taking off overhead, we made our way to the Mike Turtur bikeway which followed the tram line from Glenelg to the CBD. 

 

The sun shone brightly and it was quite warm while cycling, so when the Morphettville McDonald's frozen cokes called us we were quick to answer.  While we were slurping, several trams stopped and disgorged hordes of very well-dressed Adeladians, and it was about then that we realised that it was Saturday, the races were on, and we were just outside the front entrance of the Morphettville Racecourse.  Unfortunately our cycling clobber wasn't sufficient for attending races and my hi-vis helmet sun brim wouldn't quite cut it as a fascinator, so on we went along the bike way.

Fuel stop #1: caffeine and ice.

We hung out with some chain link running men on the Mike Turtur bike way..

Not to have a toilet themed post or anything, but  the downstream effect of two large frozen cokes was a subsequent need for the loo, so loo-looking we went and when we found one it was very well camouflaged...

Where's the loo?

Ta-dahh! There it is. 

We pedaled on and before long we crossed the street in Goodwood and got distracted by the old buildings festooned with grape vines, and little eateries and bakeries that just shouted 'come and have lunch with us!'  So we did.

Stop #2: Let's have lunch.  But we'll find a more comfortable seat.

The gloomy clouds had long gone by the time we finished lunch and meandered through the park lands.  One token little cotton-wool cloud floated all alone in the bright blue sky.

"This is definitely the last day of summer," said Roger, as we appreciated the last blooms in the rose garden.

We stopped to watch a small group set up for a wedding.  They did this a bit backwards, setting out a table of delicious food first.  We contemplated inviting ourselves to pre-wedding snacks, but suspected that this may not have been the right thing to do and so we went on our snack-less way.

Man wants snacks, can't have them.

On we went through the West Terrace Cemetery,

and came upon an AFL game with the tantalising smell of sausages wafting from the sidelines.  "Let's stop and watch for a bit!" said Roger.  Before we knew it a sausage and two soft drinks just fell into our hands, so we snacked and watched the game.

I have to confess I know nothing at all about this game.  I could blame this on being a Queenslander, but I know nothing about Queensland's versions of football either.

Further along in the park lands we investigated some loud music and there was a little festival with lots of food stalls and people doing festival things. It looked like fun and the food smelt good but we'd already had sausages so in the interests of not cycling on a full tummy we passed on the festival food and went on our way.

Festival crowd doing festival things.

On the home stretch of the Torrens Linear Park we found, with great excitement, the site of Adelaide's first reinforced concrete bridge.  Roger may be (unofficially until his long service leave runs out) retired, but he's still an engineer who can get excited over a good concrete bridge.

Read all about it!  Adelaide's first reinforced concrete bridge.

Fortified by frozen coke and soft drink, I kept going when Roger turned off to head home.  I pedaled all the way to the sea and said hello to my favourite metal pelicans at the mouth of the Torrens.  Then instead of heading home again I pedaled to Glenelg beside the sea.

Yesterday's beach replenishment had worked a treat.  Children were rolling down the sand and landing in the waves which, due to high tide, slopped at the foot of the sand hills.

Looks like fun.

I cruised home around the airport, having completed 56km for the day and feeling full of beans and ready to get right into doing a load of laundry, cooking tea, and attending to my cat-brushing duties.

I think I should drink coke and soft drinks more often when I'm riding my bike.