Stuart O'Grady Bikeway to the Barossa Trail


It is claimed that this route is now complete but the signage is still very variable and you need to know some of the turns as they are not adequately marked. It is just under 11km and contains 150m of elevation gain.
A copy of the GPX is available through this link.
 
8305608874/sob2barossa
 

SOB to Paternoster Road


This part of the route is fairly uneventful with blue and white "Gawler Cycleway" signs (only one mentions the Barossa Way though) but the start is in a bike lane littered with debris. Starting at the end of the SOB, turn right onto the slip road to the Gawler Bypass and then left onto Two Wells Road. Crossing over the Gawler Bypass (and ignoring the other slip road) there is a sign indicating that you should turn left onto Paternoster Road. Paternoster Road has a signed speed limit of 60km/h but is also a road with "sharrows" so make of that what you will! Continue up it and turn right into Richardson Drive.
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End of the Stuart O

End of the Stuart O'Grady Bikeway

Turn left onto Paternoster Road

Turn left onto Paternoster Road

 

Paternoster Road to Gawler Netball Courts


Continue up Paternoster Road and turn right into Richardson Drive. There is an unsigned path to the left before the road bends to the right. You can take this path (see the kink where I filled by bidon). It is a steep drop (my Garmin claims it is 17%). If you think this drop is too steep there is another route that leads to the shared path further along Richardson Drive but it seems no better as it drops to an intersection where you need to make a u-turn and then climb up to reach the same level as the shelter on the first path. In both cases there is a now a water fountain (with dog bowl tap which is useful for bidons) next to the entrance off the road. There is another path from further up Paternoster Road via Chignell Circuit which is possibly less steep. The council has built a shelter at the bottom of the first drop, just past another "Gawler Cycleway" sign (no idea why they put it there rather than at the road).
Just follow the path and eventually you will reach a bridge over the Gawler River. Turn left and ride under the old freight railway line and then under the Gawler Central railway line. Turn left and cross the bridge and then turn left and take the path under the railway line (again) with the "steep" warning sign rather than the one leading to the show grounds. The path enters the car park of the netball complex (more sharrows). Continue past the Gawler Oval railway station.
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Right turn onto Richardson Drive

Right turn onto Richardson Drive

Note the black water fountain on the left

Who needs signs (apparently)

The other entrance to the path also has a water fountain

The other entrance to the path also has a water fountain

Down the first path, the second path enters from the right

Down the first path, the second path enters from the right

Turn left after crossing this bridge

Turn left after crossing this bridge

Turn left and cross the bridge

Turn left and cross the bridge

A sign here would help, right goes to the showgrounds but go straight

A sign here would help, right goes to the showgrounds but go straight

 

Gawler Netball Courts to Main North Road


This part seemed to be overly out of the way but it goes under Main North Road rather than cross it so I assume that is the reason it goes this way.
After the bowling club there is a sign with directions to Gawler Central, Gawler Town Centre or Drury Street. If you go straight to Gawler Town Centre down Victoria Terrace then you will need to cross Main North Road at an uncontrolled pedestrian crossing. If you take the Drury Street option it will take you under Main North Road but it also takes you over one of Gawler's narrow pedestrian bridges. Hopefully they are planning on replacing it with something wider, and flatter. If you follow this route then on the other side of the bridge there is no "Gawler Cycleway" signage and multiple paths but fortunately only one is a shared path so take that towards the bridge that takes Main North Road over the river.
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Head to Drury Street

Head to Drury Street

 
Narrow bridge

Very narrow bridge

Some signage here would help

Some signage here would help

 

Main North Road to Pioneer Square


The shared path emerges at Drury Street and we are back to sharrows, north on Drury and then right onto Barber Street and another blue sign pointing to the shared path next to Burrows Street. Curiously the sign also points straight ahead towards Gawler Central station, which seems weird as it must direct you onto Murray Street rather than use the shared paths that head in the same direction.
The path takes you to Flinders Street and there is a shared path to your right but you don't want to take that as it will take you back towards Gawler Central Station. Keep on the path and cross Murray Road and follow the path to the right to Edith Street instead.
Another blue sign, this time mentioning the Barossa Trail (and sharrows) pointing you down Warren Street. There is now a shared path crossing of the railway line and by the look of the handrails there are no plans to have trains on this track ever again although they didn't remove the rails.
Continue up the street and the left around Pioneer Square. On the eastern side of the square there is another "Gawler Cycleway" sign pointing right for Pioneer Square and the Gawler Central Railway station and straight ahead for Barossa Trail. Straight Ahead takes you to Lyndoch Road and no helpful signage. There is a carpark on the other side of the road and that's where you want to go! Ride straight through the carpark and in the south eastern corner is an escape path to David Street.
As an alternative to Warren Street and Pioneer Square you might continue on Edith Road and follow it to the right after the railway line. This will take you to an intersection with Lyndoch Road which might be easier to cross. Continue straight across and along Daly Street before rejoining the route at Kemp Street (note there is no sign here either, sadly).
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From Barber Street turn right onto the shared path next to Burrows Street

From Barber Street turn right onto the shared path next to Burrows Street

Turn right onto Warren Street

Turn right onto Warren Street

Flash new crossing. Still with railway tracks but the fence doesn

Flash new crossing

Towards Lyndoch Road we go

Towards Lyndoch Road we go

 

Pioneer Square to Bishop Street


I believe the original plan was to cut through the Pioneer Park car park and cross Lyndoch Road into High Street and then use a private lane next to the council's car park to get from High Street to David Street but that is closed due to a dispute between the council and the owner of the lane so you need to cross Lyndoch Road at Union Street and use the car park to get up to David Street. No signs to tell you to do this though.
As you come to the top of David Street at Daly Street Kemp Street is just to your left. I would have hoped for some signage to indicate where the "Gawler Bikeway" passed through Daly Street but no such luck.
Go straight up Kemp, there is some traffic calming in the middle, at the top follow the sign and turn right onto East Terrace and then left onto Rusby Drive. Most of this part of the path relies on sharrows for navigation (and not always on the road you are on but on the one you turn onto which is a bit sad).
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Passed through the gap in the car park fence and looking down the blocked line

Passed through the gap in the car park fence and looking down the blocked lane

 
Going up Kemp Street

Going up Kemp Street

Top of Kemp, at least we are heading in the correct direction

Top of Kemp, at least we are heading in the correct direction

 

Bishop Street to Eucalypt Drive


Mostly just follow the sharrows.
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Another blue and white sign on Cheek Avenue

Another blue and white sign on Cheek Avenue

 

Eucalypt Drive to Sunnydale Avenue


The Barossa Valley Way (road) is a gentle climb but Eucalypt Drive drops down (~8%) and then the shared path at the end gradually climbs back up to Sunnydale Avenue.
The Gawler Cycleway sign at the Indian restaurant says that the Barossa Trail is 2.4 m (10 min) away but the sign at Sunnydale Avenue 100 metres later claims it is the "Barossa Trail".
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Approach to Sunnydale Avenue

Approach to Sunnydale Avenue

 

Sunnydale to the Barossa Trail


This is the new piece of shared path. I'm a bit suspicious of some of the small creek crossings, the railway line is a lot higher than the new path (and doesn't go up and down) but hopefully they won't flood.
At Railway Terrace you are onto the original Jack Bobridge Trail into the Barossa, where you would have entered it if you had come up Calton Road.
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New shared path at Sunnydale Avenue

New shared path at Sunnydale Avenue

An original sign on the Barossa Trail

At Railway Terrace