I feel a little bit of accomplishment. LOL
I’ve nailed a new 5km route from my new rental flat in Tampines. It’s about half sidewalk (Tampines Avenue 1) and half park (Bedok Reservoir Park) along its northeastern stretch.
Basically, I start off right in front of the main entrance of Temasek Polytechnic (TP). I take this footbridge to cross to the other side so there are fewer people (since we are practising physical distancing right now).
It’s an easy warm-up jog on the sidewalk in front of TP. You’ll reach a series of condos that sit on the edge of Tampines which is also where one of the major roads spill onto. You’ll notice the sidewalk signs indicate you’re on the Park Connector Network (PCN). Follow this along the edge of the condo wall and it brings you to the northern part of Bedok Reservoir Park. Here, you’ll enter the park through Bedok Reservoir Carpark B.
Because it’s circuit breaker, the park is only open to joggers who need to get some fresh air and to take in the lovely scenery. I mean, fine, it’s man-made. But I’ll take it over running in tiny circles near my HDB block.
Bedok Reservoir Park includes a jogging path that is made of gravel. This is one of the unique features of this park. If I understand correctly, the gravel path is unbroken around the entirety of the reservoir lake.
However, I didn’t realise there was a non-gravel path available as well if you don’t want to dirty your shoes. This wider path is the standard in Singapore and it is shared with bikers, dog walkers, and people on rollerblades.
I noticed the park had a reasonable amount of activity-goers (the “approved activities”) this early evening. It’s nice that the government even has the technology to detect if a park is crowded or not.
I did both the non-gravel and gravel path. When you reach the Forest Adventure attraction (ziplines), it’s obviously closed. But they’ve also closed the gravel path for a certain stretch due to redevelopment of some sort. This is also where the dragon boats are at Bedok Reservoir.
Back onto the non-gravel path, it leads toward the “main entrance” of the park which has Wawawa (the nice restaurant at this location which I can’t wait to open again for cocktails and pizza). This is also where Carpark A is. Mindful I wasn’t going to hit my 5km goal if I headed back to Tampines Avenue 1… I circled the main park area a few times while taking in the purple sunset. YES. A purple sunset this evening. Like a painting.
Exit through Bedok Reservoir Carpark A and make a hard left back towards Tampines town. A large construction site is there which is the future site of Tampines GreenGem. An exciting new HDB development that will have a view of the reservoir.
This would be around the 4km to the 4.5km mark. Great to spot the Tampines West MRT station at the intersection. This is also where “Tampines town” begins. I make a hard left on the side of TP to finish the loop at 5km right in front of the main entrance of TP.
I noticed my energy levels and pace reach optimum around the 4km mark. I enjoyed getting into my stride again. I try to run 3-5km at least three times a week. I used to do this at Marina Barrage. I’m happy I’ve found an easy route right outside my rental in Tampines.
I’m planning to tweak this route into a 5.5-km or 6-km if I do one loop around Bedok Reservoir Park (the actual body of water) + TP. I’ll update again in a future post.
For those reading from outside Singapore: What is Circuit Breaker?
NOTE: Circuit breaker encourages the public to stay at home at all times. We are only allowed to go out to buy essentials (groceries, takeout food) and to do some exercise which is what I did. Wearing of masks is mandatory unless you’re running, biking, or doing some form of solo streneous activity while outdoors. I had my mask with me the whole time and I would wear it once I started walking.
However, people at the party thought we were from USS Callister on Black Mirror.
