Melb Eastern Suburbs to City.

[Coffee_Jimmy]

Just wondering if anyone can recommend a good way to get to the city from the eastern burbs.

Currently I ride the bike path north along eastlink to ringwood then the bike path through mitcham all the way along the eastern freeway to the Boulevard.
Once a the top of the Boulevard I can't work out how to cross the Yarra and get in to the actual city.

Anyone have a good route, staying off main roads if possible to get to the city and back.

Thinking of doing a good ride this weekend seeing its going to be bit cooler.

Thanks in advance.

Jimmy

[10speedsemiracer]

Eastlink Trail > Koonung Creek Trail (at Springvale Rd) > Main Yarra Trail (at Kew East) and then up Grange Rd (?) to Heidelberg Rd and down into the City via Clifton Hill > Fitzroy > East Melb..

Heidelberg Rd has nice new bike lanes.

[Cyclophiliac]

Another option (although longer) is to ride the entire Gardiners Creek Trail to the city. It's not my favourite shared path (bumpy in parts and way too many road crossings), but it gets you to the city with minimal on-road cycling, if that's your preference. Depending on where you are in the eastern suburbs, you can ride along the Box Hill to Ringwood Rail Trail, then at Laburnum train station head south (mainly along Pakenham St) to connect with the GCT. I ride this route in reverse every afternoon to get home, and it's not too bad.

I do think the Koonung Creek Trail is a better shared path, though, as it has almost no road crossings and few bumpy parts, and it's probably one of the best shared paths in the Melbourne area.

I've commuted to/from Melbourne from the eastern suburbs for almost 10 years, and there are plenty of routes, although I should mention that a lot of the routes I ride to Melbourne are between about 4:30am and 5:45am or thereabouts, and so I'm free to pick just about any route, including major roads, because there's little or no traffic.

Regards,

--- Victor.

[cogs19]

Once a the top of the Boulevard I can't work out how to cross the Yarra and get in to the actual city.

Anyone have a good route, staying off main roads if possible to get to the city and back.

I used to live in Abbotsford but moved a while a go so my information might not be current.

If you take the Boulevard all the way until near the end there is a path and bridge across the Yarra (it is a right turn off the Boulevard at foot of Studley Park golf course). The bridge will spit you out, after about 50 metres, at Nicholson street. Turn left and take Nicholson and cross Victoria street and turn right into Elizabeth Street. Elizabeth street will take you into the city (it turns into Albert Street on the western side of Punt rd)

[ausFred]

I used to live in Abbotsford but moved a while a go so my information might not be current.

If you take the Boulevard all the way until near the end there is a path and bridge across the Yarra (it is a right turn off the Boulevard at foot of Studley Park golf course). The bridge will spit you out, after about 50 metres, at Nicholson street. Turn left and take Nicholson and cross Victoria street and turn right into Elizabeth Street. Elizabeth street will take you into the city (it turns into Albert Street on the western side of Punt rd)

This is what I used to do also. For a longer ride I used to cross the bridge at the top of Burnley St and then follow the Yarra into the city.

[Coffee_Jimmy]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

Cogs19, that's exactly what I was looking for mate. I hadn't seen that on google maps before. End of Gipps St will take me west then in to the city and down to the bay.
Easy peasy.