The longer shared path bike trails in the Bankstown area are Salt Pan Creek and Duck Creek. The rest of the trails on the map are a collection of short paths and council roads. This includes the meandering Bankstown oval path, Rookwood Cemetery, Padstow to Revesby and the council designated cycle roads from Bankstown to the Georges River Cycleway. South of Salt Pan Creek and north of the Georges River lies some really cycling around Oatley and Como. Here are some videos of trails in the area
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The Salt Pan Creek Trail
There is some excellent exploring to be done on bike and on foot around Salt Pan Creek which is in the suburb of Riverwood. See bike trails in the Salt Pan Area >>
I started my ride from John Mountford Reserve which is really handy to the corner of the M5 and King Georges Rd. I then crossed south under the M5 and headed west next to the M5. You can ride for a few kilometers on pretty good trails crossing only three roads. You will then come to Salt Pan reserve which you can bypass on good trail to the north. Alternatively bump around on a mountain bike on a longer trail for a laugh by heading the long way round. Crossing under the M5 past some street art and you are at Mclaughlin Oval. This is another good entry point to the trail and a good place for kids to start riding. If you want to do a bike ride and then pack the bikes away and do a walk, this is a good place to start. From the Oval, you start to run into about a 1.5km of wooden walkways. You need to walk on these as they are not so wide and the council says they may fine you. That said, where in Sydney can you walk on 1.5 km of wooden walkways in mangroves. So walk and ride south down Salt Pan Creek till you get to a bridge. You can ride a little further where it turns into a walking track. To avoid walking back up the walkways, cross the bridge and head left on a neat little trail that ends up at Riverwood Park. Head down Union and the Roosevelt Streets till you get to the Karne Street reserve. Now you are back on the original trail. So head back to where you started. Notes: You could train to this trail by getting off at Narwee Station which is near John Mountford Reserve. This trail is very kid friendly if you start near the Riverwood Community Centre or McLaughlin oval and you will have about 3 kms of trail to ride on. Find out about the long Woronora extension to Sutherland >> Pictures starting at the John Mountford Reserve, head west to Salt Pan Creek and then return back through Riverwood to the same trail and head back to the start. The map shows where you need to be aware about walking on wooden walkways and also the easy way to head around the giant reserve. Filming on a wet day and a dry day. See trail in Google Maps >>
Get to Salt Pan Creek from Bankstown Getting from Bankstown to Salt Pan Creek is not all that difficult and its only 4 km. If you can find the Grahame Thomas Oval, you are well on your way. Check the map carefully >> for the crossing of Fairford Rd and Cantebury Rd. Probably don’t take your kids until you know what you are doing and they know how to keep in a straight line. When you get to Salt Pan, remember to walk your bikes on the wooden bridges. Definitely take kids around Salt Pan Creek. Extend Your Trip another 20km by heading to Sutherland You can head south from Riverwood across the Point Alfred Bridge to Menai and then head east to Sutherland Station along Menai Rd. Its all separated cycleway after a few tricky backroads in Riverwood. See pics and the story here >>
Read about Woronora
See it at the southern end of the sydney map here >>
Padstow Heights to Riverwood Station to Oatley Park
You can go down the edge of Henry Lawson drive and then through Riverwood back streets to get to Riverwood station. Its an OK path. You can ride up a very steep hill from Oatley Park near Lime Kiln Reserve and then its a relatively easy ride through back streets to Riverwood Station. Read more on Oatley and Como here See Oatley Park map here on Google >>
Commuters and more may want to head to Revesby Station I have established a good alternative track from Alfords Point Rd to Revesby Station. This is good for two reasons, Revesby is an express station on the Glenfield line and its a little bit closer than Riverwood. There are some steep streets in the area so study the map carefully. One reader said the streets of Padstow can get busy during school times. Also on the map is a quick detour to the lookout in Padstow Heights overlooking Salt Pan Creek and the Georges River. Its off the Berkely Trail on a bush track that requires walking the bike. Not too far. See it on the map here >> Pictures from Revesby to Padstow Heights
See videos from riding a loop from East Hills to Bankstown to Salt Pan Creek See photos from Revesby to East Hills using Horsley Rd and Marco Reserve and photos of Voyager Point which is just west of East Hills
Kingsgrove – M5
The reason I like this ride is so people who ride the Salt Pan Reserve trail can add a few extra kilometers to their journey. This trail was completely updated in 2020 September. Its all super wide concrete cycle paths. I like it a lot and find this trip real good. Wolli Creek to Earlwood on the Cooks River Trail then Earlwood to Kingsgrove then the M5 Cycleway and then down to Salt Pan Creek and finish up at Riverwood station and catch the train home. Here is the map of the trail >> Its 4km each way, so it will help a little with your daily workout. If you are a really keen commuter to be, you can battle thru the suburbs from the dead end at Bexley to Wolli Creek. Why they didn’t extend the bike path thru the very average parks that run all the way to Wolli Creek is beyond me. If you only want to do this trail, park in Koorella St, Kingsgrove track. You will see the track. If you are adding this to the Salt Pan Creek trail, you need to cross across King Georges Rd. Here are all the photos
Final Note: This is the King Georges Rd Crossing. You are looking for the trail behind the fence in picture 2. Sometimes I will cross using Shorter Avenue across to Burradoo Rd. Cross the busy road carefull and everyone on Shorter Avenue want to get around the corner becuase of the long light delays.
When you cross King Georges Road, look for the gap in the wall. Once thru ride to Salt Pan.
Oatley and Como
If you ride to Sutherland, there are more adventures including head downhill to the Como Bridge and then ride across that and into Oatley station. You are going to go down some steep hills so the train is a very good idea to get home. One of our routes hugs the railway line and requires you to lug your bike up 50 steps at one point as the road runs out. Much better to do this heading downhill so drivers will treat you well. See the Como bridge and Oakley trail on Google Maps >> Here is the terrific shared path bridge at Como that takes you to Oatley.
The Oatley Area Once you get to Oatley Station there is a great park less than 2km to the west and its called Oatley Park. This sits on one of the headlands jutting out into the Georges River. At the top the park is a figure 8 road that is one way. Cars can use this road, cyclists have one side and walkers the other. The top trail is really smooth and the little hills are 20m here and there, even I can handle it. You could go around these roads a few times and see very few cars. One Caveat, 20km per max speed. Its a great place. Hanging off the Figure 8 are roads that disappear down the hills to a river bathing area and off to the west to Hurstville Golf Club. Oatley Park has a lot of trees and some sensational views. All you need to know is head down Oatley Park Avenue and the rest becomes obvious. A road on the west side heads down to Lime Kiln Reserve. Well worth a trip and see the firetrail on the map link below. To the east of Oatley Station is Moore Park. This is not so big but probably worth a turn around once as the path down the hill through the bush is really good. Not a bad place to park if you just want to do Oatley Park and coffee in Oatley which is really nice place. It could also be a place to take your ten year olds for a ride.
Oatley Park to Riverwood Station
If you are a billy goat or you have an e-bike, you can traverse from Oakley Park across to Riverwood station through Peakhurst Heights. Start at the Lime Kiln Reserve and ride up Pamela Avenue. Then head for Gannons Park and enjoy some very smooth concrete. Then aim for Oglive Avenue which is your main route north to Riverwood Station. This crosses the busy Henry Lawson Drive using pedestrian bridge. When Oglivie ends head left 50 yards and go down a pedestrian road as per the map. The track is on the map here >> If you want, you can also use this trail and head to Padstow Heights where the Woronora trail awaits.
A post on this part of Sydney follows https://cyclesydney.wiki/2021/08/10/sans-souci-to-oatley-and-more/
Rookwood Cemetery
The Cooks River trail is an important way to get across Sydney and the best way to get to the Cooks River Trail in the west is to arrive at Strathfield and ride across to the start of the track through Strathfield. This is a nice ride past some big and interesting houses. This is not the only way way as there are three other train stations that are with a few easy kilometres of the head of the trail on Ada Avenue next to the Strathfield Golf Club. These other three stations all require you to ride through the gigantic and interesting Rookwood Cemetary, a great place to ride a bike at a modest pace. See trails on in the Rookwood area >>
Lidcombe Station You can connect from Lidcombe Station to the Cooks River. This gets a lot of Express trains and could be a good choice for some. If you arrive at this station, you are going to ride through Rookwood Cemetery as follows. Head through the shops down Joseph Street, angle across the small park to James St and head toward Rookwood as safetly as you can. Turn right on East St next to the cemetary and ride a couple of hundred meters down the road till you come to the main entrance. Head into the cemetary and becuase its so big and there are so many roads, you may get lost, doesn’t matter you are riding a bike on easy roads. Ride on the main roads and aim in a south easterly direction. You actually want Necropolis Dr and you want to exit on Weeroona Rd. Exiting on Weeroona Rd and cross the busy Centenary Drive will bring you to a wall with small exits. The one on the right gets you on the roads that lead to Ada Avenue. Historic Lidcombe Hospital The historic homes around the Brooks Circuit Park in Lidcombe south are really beautiful. Find them on the map here on the light purple trail >>
Ride through Lidcombe South to the historic hospital
Regents Park Station This station provides a longer and reasonable ride to the southern end of the Rookwood area. The direct route is down Amy Street which turns into Weeroona Rd. Amy Street is a little busy and has narrow footpaths. I suggest heading north from the station thru Guilfoyle Park and turn right into Kent. After Kent, head into Kibo and follow that to the edge of Carnarvon Golf Club. Turn right and head down Nottinghill Rd and then jump on the cycle way down Amy around the golf club. When you get to Rookwood, turn left and ride a hundred metres and enter the cemetary and head for the Weeroona Rd exit in the east. If you are in a hurry to get to Lidcombe, head down the road to Berala Station cross under the tracks and then head north to Vaughan Street and west to Lidcombe. This is all roads but its only 10 minutes.
There is a park called Muluga Passive Park nearby that has bike trails and looks fine for kids. Its a modest size and there are some ducks. A few of the trails are bumpy. Of more importance is that you can cycle onto the Bankstown Veledrome (Dunc Gray) and then down to the Georges River cycleway.
Duck Creek You can ride back roads from Guildford Station (see Guildford to Canley Vale) quite safely as follows. Head for Merrylands Station, turn right at Locksley Rd, head across Granville Park, cross the busy Woodville Rd and head east down Meadows St in an Easterly direction till you come to the Duck River track. Go south on the Duck creek till you get to Mona Rd. Cross duck Creek and head under the road and south again along Duck road. The concrete path is old and has many bumps and may not suit racing bikes. When you get to the Auburn Botanical Gardens cross the road and head along the Rosnay golf course to St Johns rd. Follow that to Beralla Station and your kid could ride the footpath on this road, you will need to stay on the road. Here are the trails in the Rookwood Cemetary area >>
Adjacent Areas
Adjacent areas include Oatley Park in the Woronara Area, Chipping Norton Lake in Liverpool Area, Cooks River and Prospect Reservoir.