Tanunda
I try and do my Monday work in the library at Tanunda. It’s warm and quiet, and a great ride up from home. I’ve been enjoying finding various routes up and back; you don’t have to take the main road.
One great discovery is the quiet road to Gawler. Instead of risking death on Main North Road, you can take Coventry Road from Elizabeth to Gawler. There is only ever light traffic. It runs parallel to Main North Road, slightly to the West. In fact, from the CDB you can go to Gawler on bike lanes and back streets.
On today’s ride I avoided the main Barossa Highway by taking Calton Road out of Gawler and then cutting across the railway line via Anne Milroy Lane to Kalbeeba Road. There is a little footpath past the Concordia CFS, even though the Lane is sign posted as a No Through Road.
Kalbeeba Road is unsealed, but good for riding, and morphs into MaCullum Road, which eventually meets up with the Rosedale Road. There is a short sealed section into Rosedale and then good unsealed road (Rosedale Road) up to the Gomersal Road into Tanunda. Gomersal Road is sealed. It has no bike lane or verge, but the traffic always seems very respectful.
Today took me 2hrs 10 minutes from Elizabeth. It is a slow climb all the way to Tanunda, apart from a dip across the river in Rosedale. Scenery is delightful. Distance 43km.
I came home via the main road from Tanunda to Lyndoch. There is verge in most places, but it’s a road I prefer to avoid during commuting hours. From Lyndoch I continued to Williamstown. The fun starts there.
Taking Yettie road out of Williamstown (the road to Sandy Creek) leads to Gottswald Road. This formerly appalling unsealed surface has been recently upgraded and is now far less corrugated.
It begins with a 13% slope up towards the Para Wirra National Park. There are some steep climbs here through to the Tea Tree Gully – Gawler Road. 
The surface is sealed after the first 2.5km. Time is about the same, helped by the fast downhill ride from Tanunda to Lyndoch. Distance 49km.
Good people.
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