Nature pedals

Landmark day: first cycle ride since my life changing 2008.

We hired bikes at the start of East Coast Park. The 22km path skirts the sea, sometimes dipping into forest, taking you up to Changhi and the tip of Singapore.

It was not the most picturesque of days; it had been a stormy morning and rain was still falling intermittently from the colourless skies. The benefits were that it was cooler, and that there weren't so many people out and about.

Very liberating to be cycling. Under a canopy of green we whooshed past fishermen; the odd family/group of friends enjoying picnics and the not so clean sea; eventually passed Changhi runway (where we donned invisible anoraks and watched the planes take off and land, including a Lufthansa A380!). A few km on and we stopped for an ice cream; the poor guy's kiosk had taken a hit from a fallen tree in the morning's storm. But it could have been worse, it could have flattened him; the roots stuck out grotesquely from the ground. Little did we know that this was the first sign of the devastation that was to meet us when we cycled round the corner, the storm had torn down and uprooted hundreds of trees. It was a terribly sad sight and you could actually smell the exposed sappy wood.
Some of the casualties had fallen across our path - to say that it had become an obstacle course was an understatement. But we were determined to get to the end of Sing, so on we ploughed until we finally reached Changhi point where we dipped our toes in the sea and watched the bumboats travel back and forth to the little island of Pulau Ubin.
Then it was the 22km return ride, in slightly increased humidity! The food court towards the end of our journey was a wonderful reward.
Exhausted ... but ... Wow! Feels GREAT to have done this today.