Go west, young man

I don't really have to go to work today, so I am thinking about trying to find my way down to Macquarie Links (we have friends down that way). It's an easy drive - you get on the Great Western Highway (M4), turn left at the Light Horse Exchange, and drive down the M7. Simple - by car.


It's not so simple by bike. The M7 appears to have a great bike path running alongside it - the M7 is a new road, and those sorts of things are being built into new roadworks these days. However, the M4 is not so well provisioned. I know how to get to Parramatta from here, which is about halfway to the Light Horse interchange, but there is then a "missing link" of about 20km. I have a map of the route, but it's pretty useless. I'm just going to have to rely on The Force.

By bike, thanks to all the detours and meanders that one is forced to take, it is probably a 50km trip each way. I'll be happy if I get a few km past Parramatta. I think this is going to be one of those exercises like the crossing of the Blue Mountains - you get to a known point, then try a route for a few km. If you run into a dead end, you backtrack and start from the known point again, attacking a different route.

It only took, what, a decade for explorers to get through the Blue Mountains that way. I hope it won't take me that long to get to the Light Horse. If all else fails, I'll get J to drop me off at Macquarie Links, and I'll do the reverse route. I'm sure it will be easier to find my way back (just head towards the city) than to find my way out.

Whatever happens, I'm sure I will sleep well tonight.