My normal route design tries to include most of the best that areas offer. Obviously, that leaves out some of the possibilities. MacRitchie is ‘covered’ by the big green bob at the heart of the little red dot. This time round the objective was to figure out how much trail possibility the reservoir area actually offers. Continue reading
Jurong looms large in the Singapore story, and rightly so. In many ways this is where the from rags to riches turn around happened. Having said that, the industrial heartland also has an ulu image and although it figures prominently in URA’s new draft master plan for the future, in the here and now it is a bit off the radar of all who don’t live here. Continue reading
My general aim with the routes I post is to show their sections connected in ways that allow you to design your own route. The individual descriptions provide you with sufficient info about what each section has to offer in terms of sights, diversity, facilities, etc. That info in combination with your preference for route length, and start/end points that suit you, are the building blocks I offer for that personal route design. But none of my routes on their own can show you all the options. A very obvious indicator of that is that some routes literally connect at a particular place like an MRT station (e.g. the various routes meeting at Raffles Place mrt). But even beyond that, routes often have sections that are in close proximity and could be connected in other ways than I suggest and different routes could easily be connected at places where they run close to each other. The aim of the below master map of routes is to help you be creative with exploring all these possibilities for your own route design.
Lamenting the scarcity of trails in Singapore, and ranting about the default upgrading policy in place, lets us users too easily of the hook. I’ve written about the seemingly unused trail opportunities in Singapore before, and am repeating myself here, but the reccees for route I’m currently working on – the South and Southeastern coastal route – take me on so many kilometers of grass and sand without ever encountering another runner that it is a message that apparently needs repeating and repeating and repeating…. Continue reading
The advantage of being an outsider/newbie is that one is not (yet) habituated to the local normal. I notice stuff locals have become so used to that they don’t realize anymore that the wider world doesn’t necessarily considers it ‘normal’. As Johan Cruijff, our Dutch Yogi Berra, used to say, every disadvantage is also an advantage, and my advantage is thus rooted in a huge disadvantage. I haven’t got much clue about the reasons behind what stands out for me. Continue reading
This route tries to make the most of the central catchment/Bukit Timah nature reserves and their buffers. It doesn’t try to cover everything, ignoring the rail corridor on the West (which in future deserves a route description of its own), and various ‘stand alone’ parks in the East (see my thoughts on the need for unimpeded connectivity here). This green blob is Singapore’s trailrunning epicentre. It dwarfs the other two designated nature reserves in size. My aim was to design a route without too much retracing your steps over the same section, and to include some segments that are either less-known or at least less used by runners. Not all is trails, but that a 70k green circuit like this in Singapore is possible at all is amazing. Continue reading
This short extension follows some very faint, unmaintained, partially overgrown and steep trails, and in wet conditions is certainly a real challenge. It visits two ‘forgotten’ sites (three if you your really determined) on the South-face of Mount Faber, and takes a dead-end road back up connecting to the final section of the Southwestern coastal route.
When thinking about a running route, especially in an urbvan habitat, it is necessary to keep in mind that days of the week and times of day can matter a lot for what to expect on particular parts of the route. Continue reading
A good route is not enough for urban exploration. It’s a good start but without an exploration mindset you’ll have trouble connecting with and immersing yourself in the cityscape. Continue reading
City infrastructures are a pretty determining way in which their history makes for lots of what sociologists like to call ‘path dependent’ consequences. Once you’ve build your expressway it is not so easy, to use a strong understatement, to reconnect the two sides of the city that this expressway divides it into. Continue reading
Pedestrian Singapore 