Green Corridor

This trip is originally a LCSG ride that ends at Rail Mall. I could not miss the opportunity to complete the entire route since the weather is just perfect and that  I am already muddy from the first part of the trip.

The trip starts from Silat Ave near SGH. The route is continuous till Hill View Rd. It is rainy season now thus the route is filled with mud. The path is narrow as can be seen here.

Some times you can see a dual lane path due to the first path is muddy and cyclists uses an alternate path instead.

You can see how muddy it is in the picture below.

At one point one cyclist on a foldie goes right into a pot hole that is half the height of the 20" wheel. Luckily he is skillful enough to remain standing. I almost fell along a narrow ridge with steep slopes on the other side. My bike slides down into a shallow pot hole and I end up almost sliding down the steep slope on the other side. Luckily the soft grass died (uprooted about half a meter of grass under my foot) to keep me from sliding down. It is at least 2 meters down.

The Bukit Timah Station is a surprise as I never know that it exists. It is probably that the train never stops at the station since there is no immigration check point there. Three short section of the tracks are preserved there so is the track switch room.

There are nice plants growing among the stone pebbles. Unfortunately the Flora Fauna Web is down for maintenance thus I could not find its name. (Other plant resources does not have this plant too.)

The paths are usually going under roads. The first overhead bridge path with rails still intact is over Dunearn Rd near Riffle Range Rd. It is scary as the path is narrow and that bridge is meant for trains thus there is not much fencing on the sides. We had to ride across loose stone pebbles to get through.

The bridge over a stream with rails intact is less scary but again there is scanty little fencing there. At best the path is wider to cycle through.

We reached out destination at Rail mall. Muddy and dirty. Since the rest are still far behind I took a detour to a small park near the exit. The white Hibiscus hybrid grows beautifully in the park.

I went back on to the track to wait for the rest of the cyclists. It is then I noticed this Bush Clock Vine flower growing plentifully over the trail.

I found this small Camwood flower besides the vine. I was unable to do a close up of this flower on my last trip (Pasir Panjang to Kent Ridge Park). This time I am satisfied. Since it is small, I took a long time trying to get a nice sharp picture of it.

As the LCSG cycling offically ends at Rail Mall, and I have not heard any one mentioning about continuing the trip, I decide to go solo to complete the rest of the route. The part that is north of Rail Mall is not so pleasant as it is not a continuous route. There are a few broken links along the way.

The first thing is to cross the Bukit Timah Rd with the rails still intact. Again it is a narrow pebble path with little fencing on the side.

The bridge at Hill View Rd has been dismantled. I have to literally climb down a small slope on the right side of the track. There is a path on the left side but I was following a route from a map, I took the right side instead. After crossing Hill View Rd, I had to squeeze between the hill side vegetation and the fence of the old bank building to get back on to the track.

Further down, The Gombak Dr cannot be crossed due to fencing. I had to push the bike down to the junction and back in order to continue the route.

At Chua Chu Kang Rd, Again I had to push the bike on the pedestrian walk to the junction to cross it. The path is still there across the road but it will not be passable due to the bridge being dismantled across the drain further down. I followed the instruction given by a route author on Google Map to cycle along Upper Bukit Timah Rd till I reach a Heavy Vehicle parking lot after the drain. I then goes into the parking lot and cut right across it to reach a small drain. Took a wrong turn there and found the crossing but it is fenced up. Had to go further down to get across the drain where there is a opening across the drain.

The path back up north along the drain is very narrow and is overgrown with vegetation. If not for the instruction on the route map, I would never find my way back to the route. The author also suggest an easier route by going on the Pang Sua PC to go to Chua Chu Kang North 5 and then go back to the trail.

The road link to Woodlands Rd at CCK North 5 is not blocked but you have to look out for vehicle traffic as there is not pedestrian crossing here.

If I remember correctly, the Sungei Kadut Ave road crossing is block by a center divider. You have to push your bike across it.

The route after that is bumpy but at least it is quite dry. When you reach Kranji Rd you will see this two sign boards. One of the sign board says "Kranji Army Barrack". It is being demolished. You can see the tractor in the back ground.

Well, this should be a good end point as the route ends abruptly at Mandai River. I continued on just to to go to the actual end. There are fencing right across the path on the other side of the Kranji road. I had to carry my bike across a small drain at the end of the fencing to get back to the route.

At the end point I saw a few worker fishing on the river there (its Sunday). To my surprise there is a Foreign worker lodge near by and there is a path to it near the river. I decide to go on it as the route map did not say anything about the lodge. There is a nice bridge across the river near the lodge. It is clearly visible at the Green Corridor. That bridge leads to a car park. I managed to reach Woodlands Rd from the car park. I terminated the route recording here. The whole route is about 24KM (my recording shows 25 KM but it is due to the detour at Rail Mall).

The WikiLoc route map is here.

As all the pictures are already shown here (except some plant pictures), I will omit the Picasa Album.