We left the Riverland to spend Easter in Adelaide. It seemed the only thing to do as every accommodation and campsite was booked out on the river for this time - on the drive into Adelaide, the holiday-makers streaming out formed one continuous line of traffic. By contrast, Adelaide was relatively empty and we easily found a place to stay in a leafy street of North Adelaide.

The accommodation had complimentary bikes and, as Saturday is normally our cycle class day back home, we decided to hop on these and have a Saturday ride out from North Adelaide to the seaside at Henley Beach. Our route was the River Torrens Linear Trail - a cycle path that follows Adelaide's only river to its exit in St Vincent Gulf. Our accommodation was well positioned to do this, as it was only a short ride down the leafy street, a quick crossing of parkland and railway and we were on the Linear Trail.

It wound its way down a narrow shady corridor of green that rimmed the Torrens (more a creek than a river). On either side of the corridor lay suburban houses - we envied them their location as we pedalled by, a slight breeze keeping conditions cool.

After eight kilometres, the corridor opened out into a wetland area followed by long creekside horse paddocks. Ahead, a road bridge framed the blue of the gulf waters and soon we arrived at its entrance. From here, we turned north to ride along the esplanade bike path up to Henley Beach and Joe's Café - time for lunch in the shade and cool breeze looking out over the beach. Barely a ripple of a wave on the flat gulf waters and surprisingly few people in swimming, despite the warm sunny day (I suspect many of them were up in the Riverland).

After a quick wade to prove that we had reached the sea, we headed back, this time following the cycle path on the southern bank of the Torrens - a slightly different aspect. The only hiccup occurred when the fair Nello picked up a rear tyre puncture with two kilometres to go and we discovered the complimentary bikes did not have a complimentary repair kit. Nontheless, it was a very pleasant ride and it felt good using our legs as engines after three days of arm work-outs paddling in the Riverland.