The Port Phillip Bay views were pretty constant on this stroll.
I started this stroll outside the Brighton Beach Station.
So my afternoons adventure really started when I parked the ute at the Sandringham station and jumped on a train up to the Brighton Beach station. Now I haven't been on a train since the plague hit us a year and a half ago and I've got to say it felt a little odd to be stuck in a metal cocoon with 50 or so strangers, yes it made me ponder what air travel will be like when Australia's Vax rollout is finished in 2030 and we can finally travel again. Anyway, pushing these crazy thoughts of travel out of my head I jumped off the Train in Brighton Beach, re-set the GPS and wandered off to see what I could see. Instead of immediately heading south towards Sandringham though, I shuffled north for a few minutes to check out the view from Green Point. Green Point is nice little park that comes with all the usual suburban park facilities however it also comes with a nice view of the Melbourne CBD in the middle distance.
The Melbourne CBD from Green Point in Brighton.
The Great War memorial at Brighton...honouring our WW1 veterans - not making a statement about war!
After somewhat aimlessly meandering around Green Point for a few minutes I turned south and started shuffling along the coast towards Sandringham. After passing the nice WW1 memorial I picked up the sealed Bay Trail for a short stretch. The Bay Trail is a shared use path and is fairly busy with bikes, dog walkers, joggers and old fat walkers like me all using the path, so it pays to keep left and be aware of the other users. Thankfully I only used the shared path for a few minutes before I branched off onto a crushed granite track that stayed fairly close to the tops of the low coastal cliff as it headed south.
Brighton Beach.
I followed the Bay Trail south for a few minutes...
... before branching off onto this crushed granite path.
And that's pretty well how the rest of the walk played out. I slowly shuffled my way south along a series of gravel tracks, most of them un-signposted however with the cliffs on one side and the sealed Bay Trail and the busy Beach Road on the other it wasn't hard to stay on track. I'd decided to do this walk late in the afternoon in the hope that I'd get some reasonable sunset photos although the inclement weather that Melbourne has been experiencing mostly put paid to those hopes unfortunately - although I didn't let the overcast skies didn't deter me from trying!
It was an overcast afternoon.
Looking south the sky looked a bit clearer.
The flash houses lining Beach Road are never far away.
It's not all modern buildings along here.
The Sandringham Yacht Club.
Looking back up towards Melbourne from Picnic Point in Sandringham.
After passing above the Sandringham Yacht Club my walk burrowed into the coastal scrub for the last time as I passed behind the Trevor Barker Oval (one for my Melbourne readers) on Picnic Point. I was originally going to finish my afternoon's stroll when I reached the old rotunda at the bottom of Melrose Street in Sandringham however I decided to head south for a few more minutes to check out a few more views south towards Red Bluff, although judging by the photos that was a bit of a waste of time, at least it got the stats up a bit though! Leaving the coast here, I crossed over the busy Beach Road, followed Bay Road for a few metres before heading up Station Street back to the Sandringham Station and the end of the walk.
Heading across Picnic Point the track burrowed into the coastal scrub for awhile.
Port Phillip Bay, Sandringham.
That's Red Bluff in the middle distance.
The historic rotunda in Sandringham.
Port Phillip Bay.
Looking back north towards Melbourne.
The Dirt.
According to my GPS I walked around 6.6 kilometres and climbed about 37 metres on this easy stroll this afternoon. The majority of the walk is along a series of crushed granite paths that traverse the thin band of coastal scrub between Beach Street and Port Phillip Bay. There are many opportunities for picnic's, swimming or eating out along this walk. I used one of Tyrone Thomas' old mud maps for this walk out of his old book 40 Bushland & Park Walks in Metropolitan Melbourne and even though the book is almost 20 years old the map and notes are fairly accurate - although I did the walk in the reverse direction to Mr Thomas. I also had a look at Google Maps before leaving home and used my GPS topos on the walk. I parked at the Sandringham Train Station and caught the train up to the Brighton Beach Station (two stops) this afternoon - there was plenty of parking here (on a Saturday, in Winter, during a pandemic!) although it may be harder to find a spot in summer I'm guessing.
Relevant Posts.
Relevant Posts.
This was as far south as I got this afternoon.
Sandringham
I finished my walk at the Sandringham Station.
There was plenty of parking at the railway station - although that may be different on a weekday or in summer.
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