Sydney by bike

Following on from my previous post about exploring your own backyard, on the weekend I decided to take advantage of the great weather and do just that. My partner was working at Mosman, so I took the opportunity to throw the bike in the back and carpool with her, and go exploring from there.

I’ll admit that I drove to Kirribilli and parked the car on a residential street, but it saved me riding back up the hill to Mosman at the end of the day (not to mention avoiding the traffic along Military Road!).

I started with a leisurely cruise along the foreshore to Luna Park, looking over the harbour to the Opera House, Botanic Gardens and Circular Quay. From there it was up the hill to North Sydney, which is also where you access both the pedestrian and bicycle paths across the Harbour Bridge. The east side is for pedestrians only, and the west side is for bikes. Suffice to say the views from the bridge are magnificent! If you’ve never walked or ridden across the bridge, I highly recommend it.










The cycleway from the bridge meets up with the new bike lanes on Kent Street, which have been installed by the City of Sydney. Basically it is a dedicated lane on the street for bicycles, which is protected from cars and trucks on the road by a concrete medium strip. A full map of the cycleways can be found here on the City of Sydney’s website, to help you plan your trip.

From there I cut across Pyrmont Bridge past Darling Harbour, and again along more dedicated bike lanes through Pyrmont to the end of Anzac Bridge. While the Anzac Bridge doesn’t have the same beauty that the Harbour Bridge does, the views from it are also amazing.



From the end of Anzac Bridge I turned left to follow the edge of Rozelle Bay, where there are parklands and a shared pathway along the waterfront. This stretches around to meet Blackwattle Bay, and then you’re basically at the fishmarkets. From there I went back through Pyrmont and Darling Harbour, back up Kent Street and back across the Harbour Bridge to where I started.





Touring by bike in Sydney has never been easier and more inviting than with the new cycleways that have now been installed. It’s nice and cheap, and you can cover a lot more ground than if you were on foot. Just make sure you take some water and some basic tools and a puncture kit, and a reasonable quality lock just in case you want to drop into any shops along the way.