Trails In The City
Singapore lives up to its reputation as Asia’s Garden City, where pervasive greenery is an inherent part of its urban landscape. Health wellness and fitness advocate Amanda Griffin Jacob shares with WS the day she explored Singapore on foot, traversing the 36-kilometre Coast-to-Coast (C2C) Trail, one of the few walking attractions offered by the National Parks.
“Singapore has been my home now for seven years, but I have only truly started to get to know the country since the Covid-19 pandemic started.
One of the principal benefits of living in Singapore is the fact that it is an international travel hub, and I definitely took advantage of this. I was literally on a plane every 2-3 weeks, which did not leave me much time to really explore and appreciate what Singapore has to offer. Now that I have been grounded, I decided to fully dedicate my time to tick off as many SG highlights and attractions as I can.
I am a wellness and fitness advocate, so when I discovered that NParks (National Parks) had launched the 36-kilometre Coast-to-Coast (C2C) Trail I knew this was right up my alley. I recruited Karmela, a like-minded girlfriend, who is fit, adventurous, and good company to join me on this slightly daunting undertaking.
Walking 36km is no joke. In fact, we ended up doing over 38! I am a runner, and while this definitely helped me, it didn’t really acclimate me for long distance walking. Karmela was much better conditioned for the trail because she walks a lot every day.
The C2C Trail stretches from Jurong Lake Gardens in the west to Coney Island Park in the northeast, with demarcated 10 checkpoints (CPs) in total. We started at 6:30 a.m. from Lakeside MRT Station and ended around 4:30 p.m. at CP9 on Coney Island. This is approximately 38km and excludes CP10 at Rower's Bay.
If you are like us and want to finish the trail in one day, the earlier you start the better. Of course, when we began it was still very dark, which meant we weren’t able to see the beautiful pagodas on Jurong Lake or much of anything until the sun rose. We were treated to a spectacular cotton candy-hued sky as light emerged over Singapore.
Initially, it was mostly road walking until we arrived at Bukit Batok Nature Park, which was a welcome juxtaposition to all the noise and cars we had just been exposed to. It was nice to navigate these routes on foot because I drive everywhere and am not too familiar with walking in Singapore.
With our goal of reaching MacRitchie Reservoir to rest, refresh, and refuel, it became painfully obvious how hot it was (we were actually lucky as it was overcast for most of the day). One of the unusual places of interest on this route was seeing the Bukit Brown Cemetery. As we were walking I suddenly noticed gravestones jutting out the hillside. The now-defunct cemetery is home to ornamental gravestones that are ensconced in trees, vines, and grass, which conceals them from the passing cars.
We finally reached the reservoir, which is always a favourite of mine to run in and take in the splendour of nature as well as the golden silence (can you tell I have small children?). It is also the perfect rest stop for the C2C Trail.
In all honesty, the section after the reservoir was my least favourite part of the whole trail. Getting to checkpoints 5, 6, and 7 were the most challenging for me mentally because it’s all road and construction sites, and there wasn’t much of a breather in the way of parks and natural surroundings. This was when my eyes really started to hurt because of all the dust whirling in the air from all the construction. We did manage to make a few mistakes here and there, but were always able to find our way back to the trail quickly. It is signposted meticulously. So even if you do veer off in the wrong direction, you won’t go far before you realise you haven’t seen a sign and must not be on the right track.
From CP7 Sengkang Floating Wetland (Sengkang Riverside Park) onwards was what I expected the whole trail to be more like. Showcasing the beauty of Singapore’s waterways, wetlands, and rich biodiversity. We were transported to a different zone where everything was tranquil. On this sector we encountered many different animals including monkeys and huge monitor lizards, much to the alarm of Karmela.
We passed through Punggol Waterway Park, which is built around the section of Punggol Waterway. I was so impressed with this park. It has promenades on either side of the waterway with tracks that are perfect for running, cycling, and walking to really enjoy being amidst the verdant greenery. Even though we had 30km under our belt at this stage, we were both infused with the energy and excitement to go on and finish the trail.
After an exhausting 9-hour walk, burnt to a crisp, with no more water, and starving we finally arrived in Coney Island – CP9! Coney Island Park has coastal forests, grasslands, mangroves, and casuarina woodlands. It is home to a wide variety of fauna and flora. If we had had any more energy at that point we would have ventured into the park and explored. But after all the walking and the searing sun and humidity of Singapore, we were pretty spent! We were jubilant that our hard work and preparation had paid off and we were able to check the C2C Trail off our SG Bucket List. As a reward, the skies opened up and doused us in a torrential rainy celebration to cheer our triumph.
Do I recommend this trail? Absolutely! I think everyone should do it once (you really don’t need to repeat it, unless you want to cycle it). It’s a much different perspective to getting to know Singapore. Preparation is crucial! But the most important key to success is your mental attitude. You should plan to complete the trail, always keep positive, and have fun along the way.”
Amanda Griffin Jacob | guest contributor | ws
More info: NParks C2CTrail | Walks and Tours