Windsor Nature Park

Visited Windsor Nature Park in the morning, as part of our weekend exercise routine.

Pleasantly surprised that there were plenty of parking lots at the entrance of the park, and it was free parking (unlike the limited parking lots in Springleaf Nature Park, which is not free even on Sunday).

The entrance to the various trails in Windsor Nature Park

There are several short trails in the park, one of them lead all the way to Tree Top.

As we walked from the entrance into the park, the initial segment of the boardwalk cut through marsh-land with a stream meanders beside.

The boardwalk leading to the entrance

We ventured into Venus Loop first, then walked along raised boardwalk @ Drongo trail, followed by Squirrel Trail. The entire loop took us about 2 hours (we stopped on-off to take some photos).

Walking along Venus Loop is akin to venturing into a mini-forest - trees and shrubs line both sides of the trail, with bird chirping away happily in the distant. We even spotted a rooster foraging for food among the shrubs. 

It is an inconspicuous narrow path that leads to Venus Loop further down

The road is much spacious once we negotiated the narrow path earlier on

Fresh air

The raised boardwalk @ Drongo trail was a pleasant surprise. It leads one to Tree Top further up the slope. One short segment of the boardwalk is "guarded" by a few monkeys, sitting on the railings. There are some interesting spiralling tree branches near the end of the trail.

The raised boardwalk @ Drongo trail

It is an easy walk along the boardwalk

Monkeys guarding their territory

Winding path (paved road) cut through the shrubs/trees in Squirrel Trail (leading to the car-park).

Not bad at all for such a small park - the loop trails more than make-up for the short walking distance. One can venture all the way up to Tree Top from Windsor Park (instead of using trail from Mac Ritchie Reservoir).

Definitely worth a visit.

Springleaf Nature Park -> Lower Seletar Reservoir

Meant to visit Thomson Natural Park this morning. However, I mistook it for Springleaf Natural Park. I only realised my mistake after having enter the car park and read the signboard!

We examined the visitor map, and noticed that Springleaf Natural Park is a rather small. Luckily, it is connected to Lower Seletar Reservoir nearby. Since we haven't visited this place before, we decided to "go with the flow" 随缘。

The park connector from Springleaf Natural Park to Lower Seletar Reservoir is not shedded. Fortunate for us, we reached there quite early in the morning (and right after a heavy rainfall last night, where several low lying places in Singapore was caught in flash flood), and the weather was fairly cool (with fog in the far away trees/reservoir). 

It is a man-made park/park connector, hence, not as "wild/natural" as Chestnut Natural Park or Mac Ritchie Reservoir. But the view along the park connector (water lilies, trees/rivers), and Lower Seletar Reservoir (observation deck, post-card view of MRT track, kayaks) more than make up for the "artificial" elements.

We spend about 1.5 hour all in all - stopping for photo shots along the way. 

SPRINGLEAF Natural Park

Park connector leading from Springleaf NP to Lower Seletar Reservoir 

Water lilies dotting the river bank along the park connector

Boat and water lilies

work in progress

                                              

reflection

Bridge that divide the park connector into 2 segments

LOWER SELETAR RESERVOIR

MRI track adjacent to Lower Seletar Reservoir

Fishing at the reservoir

Fishing from the deck

The reservoir with MRT train on its way from Khatib station to Yio Chu Kang station

Leisure kayaking

kayaking

Observation deck in the reservoir

Another view of the deck

Kaya docking station, available for rental

Lower Seletar Reservoir

My wife and I visited Lower Seletar Reservoir over 25 years ago, when we were still "pak-thor" 拍拖。I just bought a canon camera then, and came here to take some photos.

The reservoir itself is still the same, but the park and walkway surrounding it has been upgraded and beautified.

回眸一笑

view from the deck

Chestnut Nature Park

Visited Chestnut Nature Park last Sunday, as part of weekend morning exercises for my wife and I.

It was our first visit to the park, which is the largest natural park in Singapore, and the only one with separate hiking trails and bike trails.

Reached there near 8am. The car park (which was relative small, probably can accomodate fewer than 20 cars) was already full. Had to park our car along the road about 100m wallking distance from the car park. There were already about 10 cars parking along the road side before us.

Entrance point - Chestnut Point, a meeting point for hikers/bikers, with restroom facilities.

Meeting point

                            

                              

The hiking trail was paved with cobble stones initially, followed by mud road as we prodded along. 

Cobble stone trail

Mud trail

Hiking and biking trails are separated, to avoid clashes between hikers and bikers. But beyond the Chestnut Tower, it seems that both hikers and bikers share the same trails.

bikers on separate trail from hikers

another biker

Chestnut Tower
(should climb up to the top of the tower, to have a view of the surroundings)

  VIEW below from the Tower

This seems to be the point where hikers and bikers converge; beyond this point, both bikers/hikers share the same trail

Aerial view of the surrounding from Chestnut Tower

The bikers zoomed pass us quite fast at times. Fortunately, they were courteous enough to shout "BIKE" when they approach any hikers.

Did not see any wild animals or birds while hiking along the nature trail. Nevertheless, the trees, withering leaves, fresh air, view from Chestnut Tower were definitely worth the trip. We spent about 2 hours in the park (yet had not completed the whole trail). 

Overall, if you enjoy hiking in the nature, this will be a good place to visit (apart from Mac Ritchie Reservoir).