Coast to Coast Trail - Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5
Monday, 1 May 2023 - On this day three years ago, I apparently decided to go for a nice long walk on the Coast to Coast Trail, which runs in Singapore between Jurong Lake Park in the west (not on the coast by any stretch of the imagination) to either Rowers Bay at Seletar or Coney Island, technically both coasts, but not the coast you expect. I'd done this walk before, at least once, but this time I decided I'd do it a bit differently.
Usually, you would pick a direction, east-to-west or west-to-east, and walk the trail end to end. However I happened to live practically on the trail, and very near smack in the middle of it. So any direction I chose, I would spend the first hour and a half in the early morning, prime walking time, on public transport, heading to the start. Which seemed pretty silly to me. So instead I decided I'd walk the trail in two halves:
- My doorstep to the western end
- The eastern end to my doorstep
After arriving at the eastern end, I'd have lunch, and then make the long, slow journey to the western end, conveniently spending the hottest part of the day indoors or on public transport, and completing my entire walk at home, where I could pop into the shower without any fuss.
This photo was taken during the second half of my walk, as I was making my way home. By this point I was pretty tired, and entirely focused on making it to my destination as quickly as possible. This is usually my least favourite part of any walk, because by this time you're not really enjoying it anymore. You're just walking. But there is something simple and meditative, which can be its own kind of freedom.