Melbourne CBD to Campbellfield (near Ford) commute

[Ants]

Hi all,

Just about to start a new Job in Campbellfield, Melbourne, and am going to avoid taking the car as much as possible, hopefully all the time, will be commuting from Melbourne CBD to near Ford on the Hume Hwy, Plan was to take the Upfield bike path and then get onto the Merri Creek all the way to the Western Ring Road Trail then along the bike path to the west of Thomastown then cross Merri Creel again into Campbellfield, just under 30km's. Realy want to avoid riding on Sydney road or the Hume hwy. Does anyone else commute from Inner Melbourne to Campbellfield or anywhere near? Any tips or tricks.

thanks!

[martinjs]

Aaah, memory's. Can't help now days but I used to commute from Reservoir/Preston area to Ford in Campbellfield years ago. Only had to travel on the Hume Highway from Mahoneys Rd to Barry Rd before they bypassed it. Bit scary at times but doable. Good luck should be able to find some good back roads.

Martin

[damhooligan]

i have had a couple of commutes that way , and found sydney road and the hume fine.
really no worse then many roads i travel on in the western suburbs.

why do you wanna avoid them so much?

sorry, cant help you with alternatives..

[jules21]

the bike paths options is good. cross over from upfield to merri creek at albion st.

i don't understand what happens to the merri creek path after moreland road, it seems to turn into a muddy goat track. had a wild ride along that the other night - got well out of shape 3 times and narrowly avoided binning it. there's probably a detour i missed.

[duke6amer]

G'Day Ants,

I commute out that way (to Camp Rd, Broady) quite a lot in the past 6-7 months.
I've devised a route from the CBD on main roads that I think is as safe as any other way out there.
It does use Sydney Rd but only about 6k's of it and 4k of that is once it goes to triple lanes. It's not that bad these days as most heavy vehicle traffic uses the Ring Rd now.
As for bike paths I was told to avoid the Upfield Trial as it is helter-skelter & in really poor condition.
I have also tried Merri Creek but tbh it weaves so much that it adds 15-20mins for the equivalent travel distance.
Have not used the Western Ring Rd track but I have been told it is very good.

So I head out of Melb on Exhibition St, which turns into Rathdowne St until it ends.
Turn Left onto Park St then turn Right onto Lygon St which turns into Nicholson St & take it until it ends at Bell St
Turn right onto Bell St then next left onto Elizabeth St after you cross the bridge over the Merri Ck
Turn left onto Murray Rd then turn right onto Sydney Rd & just before you get to the Western Ring road you should be able to get across onto the Ring Rd bike path heading to Campbellfield.
Have a look at my path on Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/1051949

Hope it helps.