| Location | 3 Ravens Brewery 1 Theobald Street, 260 Dundas St, Thornbury VIC 3071 |
| Route | 23km circular route Thornbury, Ivanhoe East, Buleen, Heidelberg |
| Coffee Stop | Heide Kitchen 7 Templestowe Rd, Bulleen VIC 3105 |
| Make a day of it | Nearby recommendations Heide Museum of Modern Art Artiga Specialty Coffee Darebin Parklands Banksia Park Moondog World |
| Mary’s Rating | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🥑 |
| GPX/Strava | https://www.strava.com/routes/3397720026295237112 |
| Date ridden | 5 September 2025 If you have ridden these route and have any updates that need to be made, then leave a comment on this post. |
The weather was looking a bit better than the previous day’s ride. We started our ride at Thornbury, as that was the closest microbrewery to the Heide Museum of Modern Art. We were all keen to see the Man Ray and Max Dupain exhibition – a comprehensive exploration of these leading 20th century photographers.
This route connected parts of main Yarra Trail with the Darebin Trail to make a loop. We started out at 3 Ravens Brewery headed down the side road to connect in with the Darebin Trail. But we didn’t get very far until we had an urgent need for coffee. Fortunately the locals, Mary and Caroline, were all over this and took me to Artiga Specialty Coffee. We located ourselves outside near our bikes. This outside area was soon to be used for the local story time. An ideal location for story time. But we didn’t stay as we needed to get a wriggle on to see some art.
After traversing the Darebin Parklands we deviated from the Darebin Trail to make our way over to the main Yarra Trail. I can advise that there is a large and healthy population of kangaroos out that way.
We had an early lunch at the Heide Kitchen before visiting the Heide Museum of Art. There are not many crossings of the Yarra. To get to the Heide Museum of Art requires you to leave the main Yarra Trail and to cross the Yarra. This is done over the Banksia Street Bridge – a busy road bridge without separate cycling infrastructure. We chose to take the footpath across the bridge and the use trail that avoids some sharp bends (this is the route on the GPX). The area is also subject to some tunnelling road works. So, take it slow and carefully – the conditions are likely to change over time.
After our cultural reflection, we continued on the main Yarra Trail for a few kilometres. To get back to the start we headed into the suburbs of Heidelberg and Heidelberg Heights. As I planned this route I could not help myself from taking a deviation into the Warringal Cemetery. Upper Heidelberg Road, after the cemetery, is quite busy. So I have re-routed so you are closer to the nearby traffic lights.
After a few more suburban blocks, we found ourselves back on the Darebin Trail coasting towards a rewarding post ride beer at 3 Ravens Brewery. Melbourne’s oldest microbrewery!
The route taken is shown below.
