A Dull Walk on an Okay Road: Checkpoint 3 of the Coast-to-Coast Trail
Last Updated on April 13, 2024 by Adam Watts
Today we’re continuing our journey across Singapore as part of the coast-to-coast trail. If you need to catch up, check out checkpoint 1 here (featuring Jurong Lake Gardens) and checkpoint 2 here (Bukit Batok Nature Park).
But I’ll be honest with you, friend, checkpoint 3 is for the die-hard fans only.
If you’re here looking for instructions on how to navigate checkpoint 3 of the coast-to-coast trail, just walk along Bukit Timah Road. That’s it. Even the most geographically-challenged people should be able to manage it.
If you’re here hoping for, oh I don’t know, some comedic writing about travel, you’ll have more fun reading about near-death experiences on Death Road in Bolivia or getting severe burns after a motorcycle ride at a castle in Haiti.
But if you insist on being here then we might as well get going on this pleasant walk on a flat road.
Checkpoint 3 of the coast-to-coast trail starts at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, which we already covered in some detail here.
After the nature reserve, you’ll be walking on Bukit Timah Road for pretty much this entire section of the coast-to-coast trail. As you might’ve gathered already it’s not an exciting road, but I’ll do my best to make this an entertaining post. Maybe I’ll make up a car crash or a mysterious, blood-stained doll in a bush.
This is Bukit Timah Road. As roads go, it’s fine. Functional. Perfectly adequate.
The path for pedestrians, joggers, and an irritating amount of cyclists is several feet away from the actual road, and for huge stretches is covered, protecting equally from the rain as the sun.
Like I said, this isn’t an arduous journey.
Bukit Timah Road, and especially adjacent Sixth Avenue, has some extremely expensive, luxury homes like the one below, which has taken the concept of being “at one with nature” a little too far. It’s a couple of broken windows and a burnt-out car away from appearing on the set of The Walking Dead.
I said Bukit Timah Road was fine. But in parts it’s way more than that. It’s beautiful. Two sides of the road are separated by a small canal, over which giant trees sprawl. If you ignore the sounds of traffic you could easily forget you’re in one of the most densely-populated cities in the world.
After about 4km along Bukit Timah Road you’ll come to Bougainvillea Park. Situated right behind Tan Kah Kee station, Bougainvillea Park could be copy-pasted from any other residential park in Singapore: kids’ play area, adult gym equipment, some benches, plenty of trees and bushes and plants. Check, check, check and check.
Wait, what’s that? There’s something in that bush over there. Let’s get a closer look. Wha-what, it’s a mysterious, blood-stai–
Nope, sorry, can’t do it. Let’s embrace the lack of excitement and wallow in it.
Oh yeah, nothing beats a good wallow.
Despite the fact that you’ve only crossed the road to get to Bougainvillea Park, you’re technically now on Dunearn Road, with traffic traveling east. But don’t let this confuse you, poor geographically-challenged person! Keep walking in the same general direction and you’ll soon arrive at a big intersection.
On one corner of this big intersection is Adam Road Food Centre, one of the most iconic hawker centres in Singapore, and right outside you’ll find checkpoint 4 of the coast-to-coast trail.
Whether you’re doing the whole coast-to-coast trail in one day or, like me, you walked checkpoint 3 to checkpoint 4 one chill afternoon, Adam Road Food Centre is worth a break to get some nasi lemak or chicken rice from any of the many fantastic stalls. I personally recommend the Thai place in one corner.
We made it! Checkpoint 3 has been the simplest section of the coast-to-coast trail so far. Checkpoint 4 is a different beast altogether (featuring literal beasts!) so stay tuned for that!
I should also say that very close to checkpoint 4 is Singapore Botanic Gardens, the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Singapore. It’s a huge, interesting, and beautiful place, and one that deserves its own post*. If you have the time, definitely don’t miss it!
(*I’ll get to it eventually.)
To revisit the previous posts in this series, check out:
