North Eastern Riverine Loop

I learnt this from Wikipedia. Punggol, also spelt as Ponggol, means "hurling sticks at the branches of fruit trees to bring them down to the ground" in Malay. Who knew that one single Malay word could have that much meaning!

Anyway, Punggol used to be full of farmhouses engaging mostly in chicken, pig or fish farming with the odd bit of plantations thrown in for good measure. Those days are long gone with the last pig farm closed down since 1990. In their place, high-rise HDB flats have sprung up in the past 20 odd years. It is also literally packed with seafood eateries but we're not talking about that today.

So why talk about Punggol then?

I have been bringing the family to various parks (East Coast, West Coast, Pasir Ris) for cycling and while I was trawling the web for new cycling trails, I chanced upon the North Eastern Riverine Loop. That's quite a mouthful ain't it?

As you can see from the pictures below (was indecisive, couldn't decide which was better so both pics made it into this post), it's a wonderful loop around the Punggol Estate, with many options for each family to tailor to their preferences.

From the NParks website

From the WeLovePunggol website

We were intrigued and today we cycled part of the trail, from Punggol Jetty to Lorong Halus Wetlands. We wanted to cycle over to Coney Island but the gates were sealed. The weather was a killer today, scorching hot but the trail was great. Long, quiet stretches of cycling without the crowds of East Coast Park, without the ships dominating West Coast Park and better cycling tracks than Pasir Ris Park. We spent a total of 2 hours plus there and we only covered 15% of the trail. I honestly can't wait to get back and explore more of the area!

Ah, I almost forgot. If you're into the beach lifestyle though, this cycling trail is not for you. Despite the trail bordering waterways along its whole loop, I had yet to see a single stretch of sandy beach and I doubt I would even if I had completed the loop.

It was that deserted ... maybe it had to do with it being a weekday, albeit a school holiday weekday. One more thing, it'll be so much nice in a few years when the trees are grown and providing shade.

Maybe the fact that it was noon was also a factor ...

Sunrise Bridge

Supposed to dismount and push your bikes over the bridge

Picture taken from the Lorong Halus Wetlands side

Cna you get this at West Coast Park? No, I didn't think so.

If you have children with you, it'd be worth mentioning too that there's a playground at Punggol Point Park and several more around the Punggol Waterway Park. Not too sure where else you can find bicycle kiosks but there's one near the seafood eateries at Punggol Point Park.

All in all, I think the residents of Punggol are really blessed with a wonderful cycling trail. Would that be enough to make up for the lack of shopping, hawker centres and other basic amenities? I can't answer for you but personally, shopping centres can be found everywhere, a cycling loop bordering so much nature is not easy to find in Singapore.

Heh, as for not talking about food? Well, I can't resist. On our way back we passed by the House of Seafood (near Point Walk) and as they were still open for lunch, we ordered up one black pepper and one chilli crab and some hot plate venison for the children. The damage was decent around $80+ and the food was delicious. The restaurants there close by 2 pm or thereabouts so get there early if eating is your aim. House of Seafood let us in at 2 pm, took our order and we left the place by 3ish. You just have to get your order in before 2 pm.

Happy cycling!