2023-08-14 -37 145

Location

In Bunnings' carpark, Box Hill South.

Participants

Stevage

Expedition

A straightforward ride out along the bike paths and maybe a brief visit to Bunnings, yeah? Maybe.

With a meeting at 4, I realised at 12.30 that I'd missed my window for getting out and back in the daytime, and looked for an evening buddy. Lachie said he'd do it "reluctantly" do it at 8 or 9 if no one else had, beforehand. The idea of Lachie reluctantly riding anywhere broke my heart, so I decided to do it.

In the end, I had a pretty crappy day of work, and badly needed the ride, even though my heart wasn't exactly in it. But exercise, mental health, blah blah, geohash, good for the soul, blah blah, 9 out of 10 doctors, yada yada. Off I went.

Out along the Eastern Freeway path. I must have been in a particularly bad mood because Strava says I set a PB up the hill without even trying. Walkers, joggers, doggers, commuters were all out in force. It was a nice evening, though the traffic noise from the freeway was getting me down a bit. I was sadly without earbuds to distract myself with a podcast.

A border collie chased me for a bit - what is it with dogs lately?

Branching off the main path into...Blackburn?...I found some fun little paths and parks that seemed vaguely familiar from some previous expedition. I discovered a miniature railway I'd probably once known about. It got harder and harder to avoid the main roads, and soon I was steventuring down a dubious piece of single track along a sports oval, which surprisingly did not end badly.

The Bunnings was right where I expected it to be, and the large zebra-striped pedestrian crossing patch of carpark was everything I dreamed it would be.

Not having any reason to actually go into the Bunnings, and lacking carrying capacity to lug any impulse purchases home, I thought about food. I couldn't resist the punny Burgertory, and had an "Envy" plant-based burger. I'm not sure exactly what I was meant to be envious of, but it's true that I was still hungry. So I had an ice cream. Then I was still hungry, so I had a banana. Then I was still hungry, so I had a vegie puff from a nearby Indian cafe.

It was well dark now, as I picked up the start of the Gardiners Creek Trail, to make a big loop of it. I haven't done this bit of trail much, so I was a bit tentative, but as I progressed it became more and more familiar, until I hit the main section, which I have done perhaps hundreds of times. I gave a little wave in Laura G's direction.

At the Walmer St Bridge in Abbotsford, the way was completely blocked by a large fence. I wasn't completely surprised. In fact, I wasn't really surprised at all, considering I'd already ridden past two large "Path closed ahead, detour" signs. But I still managed to muster up a tiny bit of outrage, and attempt to move the fence out of the way. It wasn't having it.

Back I went, setting a goal of minimising my detour. I was distracted by a flashing red light across the river, and eventually concluded that I was looking at the famous Skipping Girl sign reflected in the windows of a fancy house. Didn't that sign used to be in Richmond?

I found a sneaky path through some fancy new apartments. Gosh there are a lot of apartment buildings in that patch of Abbotsford.

I bashed my way through to Wellington St which did its best to be uneventful, and succeeded masterfully.

I reflected on the little slice of Melburbia I had experienced this evening. I like my neighbourhood, but I do also like all the trees and parks out east. It's nice to be able to get a bit of both.