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My route around the Bay

Now that I have run from home to Portsea three times I thought it was high time I ran around the other side of Port Phillip Bay so that I can say I have run all the way round. Going on foot from home to the mouth of the Bay beyond Geelong is a fair bit more complicated than doing the side I’ve already done, and a considerably longer distance. I realised I couldn’t stick by the water for all of the way and I was often going to have to run without the comfort of off-road trails. Actually I wasn’t 100 percent certain it could be done.

The first couple of days were straightforward - ish. I ran from home along the beach path through Elwood, St Kilda and on beside Beaconsfield Parade, then through to Sandridge Beach and Westgate Park where I went slightly astray. I got the punt from Westgate Park across to Scienceworks and then followed the coast trail through Newport to Williamstown and ended my first day at Williamstown Beach. It was a beautiful day but very cold. I did 23.7 kms.

On the second day I continued on the coastal trail. It was really foggy and so cold that I ran with my sweatshirt on for the first 10 kms. Much of the trail was inland across wetlands and there were lots of birds around, especially swamp hens, oyster catchers and herons. As I was reaching Altona Beach I came to a junction and took the turn that looked most likely to lead to the coast; after about 20 minutes I arrived at a junction that looked a bit too familiar - it was the same one and I had gone around in a circle. By this time the fog had lifted and I could see the obvious way to go. The worst of this was that the circle detour had involved a flooded path and I had not been able to avoid getting my feet soaked. Altona Beach looked great, as if the sand had recently been replenished.

After this I had more wetlands and then turned to follow Skeleton Creek on another sealed path. It was a typical Melbourne bike path: through suburbia alongside a reedy creek with a few ducks. Close to the end I left the path to get to my day's destination, Hoppers Crossing. I had to cross several busy roads and the Princes Freeway, and to my consternation there looked to be no footpath alongside the road as they were doing roadworks, but at the last minute I saw a gap in a fence that was intended for pedestrians to descend to the road I was headed for. This road turned out to have every retail outlet imagineable, but at least it had a wide footpath and took me directly to Hoppers Crossing station via a shopping mall. 27 kms for the morning.

By the third day I was running out of off-road paths and I was a bit worried about running with traffic. I ran from Hoppers to Werribee along suburban streets following the railway line then headed out of Werribee on the footpath along a dead straight road. At the edge of Werribee I was done with my separate path and had to run on the road. The next 7 kms were unexciting as I passed embryonic housing developments, a quarry and lots of roadworks. There was little traffic barring several big trucks connected with the roadworks or the quarry so I could mostly run on the road; the grass verge was uneven and would give a good opportunity for twisting an ankle.

I was pleased to leave this road and move onto quiet dirt roads through farmland with cows and horses. I could see the You Yangs clearly, they are an odd little blip in an overwhelmingly flat landscape. In the whole 8 kms of dirt road I was only passed by one car and one tractor. I came to Little River and went straight to the station to find out the train times. For the third time in three days a train was due imminently so I have been rather lucky. I never even got to see if there was a shop in Little River and I had to wait until I got back to Gardenvale to have time to buy a coffee. This was definitely the least exciting day. 22.8 kms.

My on-road running continued from Little River to Lara, soon turning away from the You Yangs, and coming into Lara I had about four kms of straight road where I could see the same building ahead the entire time, hoping it would be in Lara and signal the end of my road running. I’ve had roughly 27 kms of road running.

From Lara I joined the Hovell Creek Trail (paved) and ran through a marshy area. At the start the creek was wide but it soon became a trickle. I was well away from the road but the traffic noise was loud. The trail undulated a bit across grass hillsides and ended at the Corio Bay foreshore with boats and blue water, and then I had to head inland again to reach Corio station via Geelong Grammar School. 22.6 kms for the day and my legs are getting really tired.

My fifth day was a short one, just crossing Geelong. Between Corio and the Geelong waterfront I had a lot of industrial views, interrupted by a brief section by the water at Moorpanyal Park where I did a sea swim years ago. (There was a sign up about this year's swim.) I tried to run along the bay here but the path dead ended and I had to back track. Sad face. The streets here had nice names: Seaview, Seebreeze, Seaside but all I could see was the fertilizer plant, and the Esplanade was sandwiched between the highway and several factories.

The waterfront was a welcome sight and it was a lovely sunny day for a run along the beachside promenade. Quite suddenly the industrial sights were gone and I could look at the beach, the water and the greenery of the parklands around Eastern Beach (which was not on my route), not to mention the pretty totem poles of lifesavers, theatre goers etc. I turned off and ran down to South Geelong station where a train was conveniently waiting for me. 15 kms.

The last day. I was braced for a long haul on the Bellarine Rail Trail and for the first half this was hard. Until Drysdale at over 18 kms the trail was a paved path in a tree lined corridor between houses and fields with long straight stretches and I was running right into the wind. It was a case of mind over matter and I thought I would be walking a lot in the second part from tiredness. I stopped in Drysdale by the station and got a coffee from a van then sat there for a while before walking the next km with my coffee. I was disappointed to see I still had 16 kms to go as I thought Queenscliff was nearer.

Almost immediately the path changed. It became a gravel trail flanked by big trees (rather than the sapling plantings earlier on) and was entirely through farmland. This was really peaceful and pretty and I had a tail wind to boot. The trail was dotted with former station buildings. I kept up a good pace and felt a lot better.

Approaching Queenscliff the trail stopped abruptly and I had a kilometre of road running alongside the swampy Swan Bay, then joined the dead flat, dead straight bike path into town. Suddenly I was running into a stiff head wind and it was very difficult to keep moving forward. The trail came around the northern shore of the Queenscliff peninsula so I was confused when I reached the town edge and I headed to the wrong boating area, going for Swan Bay rather than the real harbour, and I ended up with extra mileage. Then I located my real destination and ran/walked to the main jetty.

The ferry between Queenscliff and Sorrento was departing in half an hour so I decided to stay there and go on a cruise to Sorrento rather than wait two hours for the bus to Geelong. This means I never went into Queenscliff town. I took the ferry across the Bay to Sorrento, the bus to Frankston, the train to Mordialloc and Denis picked me up in Mordialloc to complete a long day of trains, ferry, bus, car and - oh I almost forgot - 37.7 kms of running.

My total distance around the Bay has been 245 kms including various mistakes and detours to get to trains and buses.