Port Phillip Bay is so large that from its northern shore you cannot see the other side, and the stop is right on that shore, along the beaches between Elwood and Brighton, a few kilometres south of Melbourne's centre. As a base for setting out and coming home it works well: the city is close, but the bay gives a sense of space, and on a summer evening, with the light going gold over the water and people swimming and walking their dogs along the sand, it is hard to feel stressed.
Brighton is famous for its bathing boxes, a row of small wooden huts on the beach, each painted in bright colours and stripes, many of them decades old and changing hands for astonishing sums. They are one of the most photographed sights in Melbourne, especially at sunset. A little to the north, St Kilda has a long pier where, at dusk, a colony of little penguins comes ashore among the rocks of the breakwater.
Beach Road, which runs along the shore, is a favourite with cyclists, especially on weekend mornings, when large groups ride along it in tight formations. Be patient and give them space. The road is otherwise easy, with traffic lights, roundabouts and views of the bay. From here, the rides lead north-east to the Yarra Valley and the Black Spur, a winding road through towering mountain ash forest, and west to the Grampians, a range of sandstone mountains rising abruptly from the plains of western Victoria.
There are fuel stations, cafés and restaurants all along the bayside suburbs, so getting coffee and breakfast before setting off is easy. Melbourne's weather is famously changeable, sometimes described as four seasons in one day, and a hot northerly wind can be followed by a sudden cool change from the south-west, with a dramatic drop in temperature and gusty winds. Always carry an extra layer. At the end of the day, if the weather is warm, a swim in the bay is a fine way to cool off.