Bicycle NSW recently joined the Illawarra Ramblers on its signature Sydney bike ride, 10 Sydney Bridges. Over nearly 50 km, from Milsons Point in the north to Caringbah in the south, the 15-strong group experienced the best of Sydney’s new bicycle infrastructure.
It was a great opportunity to learn more about this relatively new Bicycle User Group (BUG), discuss new and planned cycling projects with its enthusiastic members, and answer questions about the trials and tribulations of getting good things built.
In this article, Ride Leader (and Bicycle NSW Advocacy Committee member!) John Groom shares the 10 Sydney Bridges ride report and highlights how the city’s high-quality, scenic and safe infrastructure is boosting the economy by attracting visitors.
John Groom (in yellow) leads the group around the scenic Pyrmont foreshore. Head to the Illawarra Rambled (Image: Bicycle NSW)
First things first. Why are Ramblers affiliated to Bicycle NSW?
The WEA (Workers’ Education Association Illawarra) founded the Illawarra Ramblers walking group in Wollongong in 1991. Within a decade activities came to include regular cycling and paddling events. In 2014 the club was divested by the WEA. While some of the 240 members live in the Shoalhaven, Southern Highlands and southern Sydney most are, as the name implies, residents of the Illawarra, from Stanwell Park to Kiama. Cyclists number just over 60. About half of those are also walkers or paddlers or both.
Ramblers at Oak Flats Skiway Park on our most regular ride - Lake Illawarra. Members of 3 BUGs are campaigning for a safe route around Lake Illawarra. Bicycle NSW is always on the lookout for projects large or small, and we hope it will help progress this proposal! (Image: Penny Howes)
The club has had a long affiliation with Bushwalking NSW. In 2023, we also became affiliated with Bicycle NSW as a BUG.
The comprehensive insurance for cyclists was our main reason for joining up. In addition, we knew that BUGs interact closely with Bicycle NSW, each assisting the other with training, safety, and other cycling matters.
However, we now realise the huge role Bicycle NSW plays in bicycle advocacy – for example, fighting to improve road safety legislation, being heard in public debates such as e-bikes on trains and significantly influencing NSW Government infrastructure planning.
Rewards for perseverance can be a long time coming but Bike Planner Sarah Bickford, her Bicycle NSW colleagues and Board Members plus many individual BUG members can be proud of the outcomes – which include some amazing new bicycle infrastructure.
Exploring far and wide
In the quest for different rides, the Illawarra Ramblers cycling fraternity has become very early, and repeat, users of new cycling infrastructure. Tumbarumba, Harrietville (Victoria), Murwillumbah, Casino, Narrabeen Lake, Parramatta River, Carlingford, Lake Macquarie and the Fernleigh extension are examples of places visited almost before the cement has set.
Only 2 days after the Inner West GreenWay was officially opened in December 2025, the Ramblers rode from Wolli Creek and took in the GreenWay and the Bay Run circuit. One of the more active route finders found the ride “really fantastic but not quite long enough!”
Enjoying the GreenWay vegetation (Image: Penny Howes)
Within weeks came the ribbon cutting of the so long-awaited northern ramp onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge Cycleway, and virtually simultaneously, but with less fanfare, the opening of a new path through the Scarborough Wetlands.
What has been achieved is connected cycling infrastructure to ride the whole way from Sydney’s Lower North Shore to the heart of the Sutherland Shire. it dawned on us out of towners that there is hardly a city in the world having the visual jewels of Sydney combined with a world class array of easily cycled bridges linking those jewels.
And so the 10 Sydney Bridges ride was born.
The ten bridges from north to south
- The Sydney Harbour Bridge
- The historic now vehicle-free Pyrmont Bridge
- The distinctive Anzac Bridge
- The ever added-to Iron Cove Bridge
- The smaller suspension bridge over Iron Cove Creek at the southern end of the Bay Run
- The new Lang Road pedestrian bridge over Cooks River
- The Illawarra Road/Homer St bridge linking Earlwood and Marrickville
- The Princes Highway Cooks River Bridge at Tempe, a major arterial route from the south
- The amazing shared path bridge connecting Rockdale and Kogarah in the Scarborough Wetlands flying over President Avenue
- The Captain Cook Bridge at Taren Point, gateway to the Sutherland Shire.
This ride has already been listed in the Illawarra Ramblers programm four times in two months! We have ridden it in both directions, catching trains between each end – Milsons Point and Caringbah - and the Illawarra.
About to set off. The Ramblers group gathered at Milsons Point under the new ramp, finally opened after a 40-year advocacy campaign by Bicycle NSW and BUGs. The now obsolete steps are in the background where a cyclist is demonstrating how difficult life used to be! (Image: Penny Howes)
Our 1st bridge, seen from the top of the new ramp. A great way to start the day! (Image: Bicycle NSW)
The treasures between these bridges include the ultra-wide shared paths from the Walsh Bay wharves around the whole Barangaroo precinct, its dining options, the Sydney Aquarium, the Maritime Museum and the 110+ year old Pyrmont hardwood wharves, some bearing reminders of the railways which came shipside.
Us out of towners in the big smoke enjoyed Pyrmont Bridge all to ourselves (Image: Bicycle NSW)
It is not easy to get a good shot of the wonderful Anzac Bridge from the ride. More easily done from the Fish Markets (Image: Lyn Ovens)
Once over Anzac Bridge, you can avoid the heavy traffic on Victoria Road by heading into the Rozelle Parklands. More tree canopy is needed but this greenspace will thrive with time.
The 3 ventilation stacks in Rozelle Parklands have been camouflaged with a sculptural cladding (Image: Bicycle NSW)
Next is 1km on the road to Callan Park. The section on Lilyfield Road should soon have a separated cycleway, currently subject to call for comments by Inner West Council. Sarah is onto that. The 64 hectares of Callan Park was once the site of a major mental institution with well-spaced heritage buildings, many repurposed for quasi-government and private use. The attractive grounds offer a choice of cycle routes towards the Iron Cove Bridge.
Onto the western side of Iron Cove. The Bay Run has defined how, with growing population density, Sydney residents want to relax and use their communal space. That same purpose has been replicated in the GreenWay.
With bells and whistles the GreenWay serves as a benchmark for active transport design. Bicycle NSW made a big contribution here too. Pedal-assisted commuting shares greenspace for families with playgrounds and exercise infrastructure while nearby food options creep in. Future growth will have administrators reflecting on the popularity of these innovations. More nitty-gritty for Sarah to advise on.
There are 3 crossings of the amazingly revegetated Cooks River to reach Wolli Creek and onto the Scarborough Wetlands, where Transport for NSW is grappling with the M6 Motorway construction. Despite the dramas underground, the associated active transport route opened in December, and includes an impressive bridge over President Avenue.
Ramblers descend the dramatic new spiral footbridge over president venue in Kogarah (Image: Bicycle NSW)
Parkland to the south of the cycleway’s current terminus is ripe for an extension of the active transport corridor to San Souci. The Kamay Greenway is in a pre-planning stage. Bicycle NSW and St George BUG have their eyes on this too!
Meanwhile, other than the above-mentioned work in progress at Lilyfield Road, the 400 metres of Robinson St connecting Scarborough Wetlands to Botany Bay is the only part of the whole 47km ride not yet designated as cycle friendly. Wow!
The bayside path can become crowded at weekends but is being progressively widened to create more space for cyclists.
The Captain Cook Bridge across the Georges River on the day we rode south to north. A grey day, but also a great day. We lunched at the new Fish Markets. (Image: Sam Garrett-Jones)
At the highpoint of our last bridge, the Captain Cook. Over everybody’s heads you can just make out the Sydney CBD skyscrapers, 40+ km of shared path away (Image: Bicycle NSW)
Within the Sutherland Shire there are equally good finish/start points at Caringbah or Woolooware railway stations.
Other than the famous path hanging under the Woronora Bridge, the hilly ‘Shire’ is not an early adopter of cycleways. It is now playing catch-up with quality roadside paths. The Gannons Road and Denman Ave link from the Shark Park and its adjacent high-rise developments to Caringbah will help encourage more local bike trips.
Why is this 47km ride so good?
- It offers around 40 mostly flat kilometres of waterside riding
- It is equally good from both directions. From the south, the bridges get increasingly interesting with the Sydney Harbour Bridge as a grand finale.
- It is safe, using virtually all shared paths. There are just 2 short, quiet on-road sections and these are designated bike routes.
- It connects so many employment centres.
- It could easily become a 2-day ride starting from either direction with a night in the city or the Shire. Overnighting brings real tourism benefits.
- Tourists for this ride will come from far beyond Sydney.
- Its growing use will encourage funding towards more healthy, active travel.
- Sydney’s new Fish Markets are only 400 metres from the route. Bicycle parking there is already overflowing. Another matter for Bicycle NSW to wade into!
- It can be accessed at both ends via well-served railway stations.
Readers should try the ride while it is still pre-iconic. For riders residing in Sutherland Shire, it could become a rite of passage.
The route can be found on Ride with GPS. This shows the first 10 Sydney Bridges ride. On the day we were joined by Sarah and Yvonne from Bicycle NSW, the route diverted off Victoria Road into Rozelle Parklands and then to Callan Park.
Come and ride with the Illawarra Ramblers!
The Rambler’s program lists all the activities. Cycling features on most Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Well over half the cyclists use their totally legal e-bikes. Walks take place on Wednesdays and weekends and paddles on Thursdays. Many of the walking and cycling activities include a train component to reach the start and finish. Cyclists often do 2 or 3 trips away per year, with walkers and paddlers also regularly hitting distant tracks and far off waterways.
As for new rides, where will the Ramblers be heading soon? Western Sydney International airport is on the radar when the planes start arriving and the coffee shops are open. We like airports, regularly coffeeing at the HARS Aviation Museum at Shellharbour Airport.
Before you pedal away…
Head to our Bicycle User Groups page to find out how to become a member of your local BUG or set up a new group. For more insights into BUG activities, dive into our archive of great stories about BUGs from across the state.
As John has highlighted, Bicycle NSW’s fingerprints are all over the 10 Sydney Bridges. You can read more about our influence and influence.
And make sure you join Bicycle NSW to support our advocacy and benefit from top-of-the-range insurance and a myriad of member discounts!