A Trek off the Track - The big walk review

 On the morning of 22 December 2018, an enthusiastic group of 14, with 4 bubbly children and one baby and 9 adults attempted the Big Walk, starting at MacRitchie Reservoir Park and culminating on our Bukit Timah Hill, after perhaps more than a decade. The four children, Anjali, Ananya, Sophia and Deepika have written a review on the walk. 

 

Rekindling the spirit of being fit was a big thing this December in the Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. On top of the monthly short walk, a few society members got together and did a 14 km walk through the parks and hiking trails of Singapore. The route went from Macritchie Reservoir, through the forest hiking trails and ended at the top of Bukit Timah hill where we had a picnic lunch.

 

 

Previously, the society had been doing long walks annually, but, due to a few changes, the tradition had been lost. This was the first walk after 10 years and was enjoyed by everyone who came.

 

In those who walked, I observed two different kinds of people. There were the children, who ran ahead, laughing and chatting with each other and the adults who walked slowly behind, but almost never got tired. Joining us this time, for half the walk, was even a 18 month old baby! 

As we went through fun and muddy paths and easy flat roads, we saw a variety of flora and fauna such as monkeys and squirrels. The monkeys were playing on the streets. The climb up Bukit Timah hill was challenging as we had to walk up a steep slope and we were tired from the long walk. However, we persevered and made it to the top, while taking a few breaks along the way.

 

 

We were elated that we had reached the summit. We had our delicious picnic lunch and took a photo as a remembrance to achieving our goal of walking all the way from Macritchie Reservoir to Bukit Timah Hill.

 

After being well rested and re energised, we decided to head back down. We took different paths to see if they would lead back to the same destination. While the adults took the road, the children were determined to challenge themselves and took the rocky, muddy path. 

 

In the end, when we took the rocky path, we realised that we had met a dead end. So, we had to head back and take another path leading us back to the road. We then ran down the steep slope and finally met the others at the end. 

 

In summary, we all enjoyed the trip and would like to keep up to this tradition  with even more participants to enjoy the company of our family & friends throughout our walks in the future.

~ Anjali, Sophia, Ananya & Deepika