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Circuit distance : 7 kilometres Today’s return walk along the Torrens Linear Park starts near O.G. road, and goes down just beyond Stephen Tce. My daughter Karen comes with me for the exercise, and to provide a spot of colour! We park at the end of Church Road, off Pitt Street. [Click on the map below and resize the window to see a larger version.]
• 1 The path immediately descends to the river and passes under a busway bridge.
• 2 A little further along, following the river, we walk under Ascot Avenue. In fact, this walk is a walk of bridges: 3 road bridges, 7 busway bridges, 1 metal footbridge, and 3 low wooden footbridges. This section of the river is dominated by the busway. Not such a good walk for enjoying the tranquil joys of nature!
• 3 Just beyond Ascot Ave, we can stand on a footbridge and enjoy the reflections ...
• 4 ... along with this pigeon.
• 5 This rock construction looks like it might have been stepping stones once.
• 6 The busway is very prominent along this stretch of the river. We are walking during the rush hour, and a continual stream of buses is taking commuters into the city, with a similar stream of 'Not in Service' buses returning for the next load.
• 7 We come to a place where the busway crosses the neck of a southwards loop of the river. Since I want to follow along the southern side of the river, we take a branch track which passes back under the busway, but it leads to a street, so is not helpful. We do come across this man mowing the grass.
• 8 Retracing our steps, Karen decides to flit across a rock crossing.
• 9 The other member of our group follows the proper track in a more sedate manner across the busway bridge.
• 10 Coming to Walkerville we pass a large parking area for the Ministry of Transport workers. Near here is the metal footbridge. A cormorant is drying his wings after doing a little fishing.
• 11 Busway Bridge Number 6 crossing the river and the line passing beneath Stephen Terrace. Edward Stephens (1811 – 1861) was Adelaide manager of the South Australian Banking Co, and a zealous Wesleyan.
• 12 The track now passes the Don Dunstan Adventure Playground, a destination well known to us. Named after past premier Don Dunstan, it contains amongst other things a high suspension walk ...
• 13 ... a very long slide ...
• 14 ... and a ... well, I have no idea what this is called, but it obviously gives a lot of pleasure!
• 15 The trail now continues on beneath Stephen Terrace. Some large rocks in the river by the Playground allow the agile to cross to the other side. There is no direct access to Stephen Terrace for crossing, so we continue on a little distance until we reach the next footbridge.
• 16 A swamp hen is enjoying the scenery there. In NZ these birds are called pukekos.
• 17 The track back on the northern side is of poorer quality, and doesn’t continue down beyond this footbridge. Coming back opposite the Playground, we discover why we have seen no cyclists recently!
• 18 The steps bring us to Victoria Terrace which we follow past the metal footbridge to the Smith Street intersection. Here the trail returns to the river. This trail is au naturel, and obviously loved by dog owners and their pets.
• 19 The track is really very pleasant along here. The natural beauty of the Linear Park on today’s walk tends to be overshadowed by the busway.
• 20 Now we are back to busway bridge Number 3.
• 21 The footbridge near Ascot Ave has been occupied by a family feeding the ducks and passing the time of day.
• 22 It is clear from this sign that this section of the Linear Park is the responsibility of Vale Park Primary School. A good idea!
So back to O.G. Road where we cross the road bridge and return to the car. |
