Changxing–Hengsha Double-Island Ride: Two Ferries, Two Islands

The day opens at the Changxing–Hengsha ferry pier (长兴对江渡客运站, on 长兴合作路), the day's critical path in concrete form, since everything else bends around the ferry's rhythm. From the pier the ride heads north onto Pan Yuan Highway (潘圆公路), Changxing's metasequoia-lined east–west spine, and rolls west through the island's orchard interior, smooth asphalt, few traffic lights, the weekend club-ride corridor. The spine's signature moment comes at the 潘圆公路立交桥, where the road passes under the G40 tunnel-and-bridge approach: the elevated concrete sweeping overhead on its way from the river tunnel to the cable-stayed span, the bridge-underpass photo stop that every Changxing page shares. The metasequoia rows resume beyond, and the spine carries the ride to the dike corridor's western end.

Photo suggestion: The G40 underpass on the spine is the morning's first landmark shot, the light is cleanest before the wind picks up.

At the corridor's west end the ride turns onto the island's signature stretch: the south-bank greenway and dike line that community logs call the riverside greenway (江边绿道), a reported ~16 km of mostly motor-free riding along the Yangtze, with giant white wind turbines and reed beds between the saddle and the water. Note: the greenway and the dike lane are not on AMap's routing network, so the drawn map rides the parallel roads, 金岸路, the 1865大道/长兴江南大道 corridor and 渔家乐路, and the true motor-free line needs on-site confirmation. The corridor's anchors pass in sequence: the Jiangnan Shipyard Showcase Hall (江南造船展示馆, 长兴江南大道988号), telling the 1865-to-present story of China's oldest modern shipyard; the First Beach of the Yangtze (长江第一滩), the harbour's ~800 m promenade and reported sunset spot; and the working Changxing–Hengsha Fishing Harbour (长兴岛横沙渔港) with its farm restaurants around 渔港环路.

Caution: The corridor is open and windy, hold the wind line, and expect occasional farm and maintenance traffic.

The third highlight of the Changxing leg is the groin (丁坝), the stone jetty jutting into the Yangtze from the island's north-east dike. Community reports cite it as a filming location of the film 《悲伤逆流成河》 ('Sadness Flows Against the Stream') and describe it as a cinematic long-dike photo stop, both claims are community lore, reported as such. One mapping note: AMap's only 丁坝 POI sits on Chongming's east end at 揽海路1号, not on Changxing, and the film groin itself has no AMap record, it appears in the text and name pills only, not as a map marker, and its exact position and access need on-site confirmation. The north-east dike itself is the open, wind-exposed flood defence the whole series describes, flat miles with the bridge's towers on the horizon.

Caution: The groin is an unmarked rural structure on a working dike, access on foot from the dike road, and never climb the working flood defences.

Back at the pier, the day's hinge: the 长横对江渡 ferry across to Hengsha, a reported ~15-minute crossing on a scheduled service (first sailing reported ~05:40, ~30-minute intervals; fares and winter changes, confirm at the gate). The crossing is itself a highlight: mid-river views of the two islands, the estuary's working water and, on a clear day, the bridge and the city's skyline on the horizon. Bikes are reported to ride aboard on both ferry systems (bike fares, confirm at the gate), which is what makes the two-island day possible at all. This is also the moment the schedule becomes the day's spine: check the return sailings before committing to the Hengsha loop, and keep the last ferry time in hand for the whole afternoon.

Photo suggestion: The crossing's mid-river view is a one-take shot, camera ready before boarding, since the best angle passes in minutes.

Hengsha Island (横沙岛) is the car-lightest of the three islands, reached only by ferry, no bridge, and its main ride spine is Fumin Sha Road (富民沙路), a metasequoia-lined farm lane where the traffic is a handful of village vehicles a day. The contrast with Changxing could not be starker: where the sister island builds some of the world's biggest ships, Hengsha farms, villages, wind turbines, reed-lined channels and flat green fields running to the shore. The lane's rhythm is slow and rural, with the island's working life close to the saddle: farm gates, drying nets, the odd electric tricycle. It is the 'slow-rural counterpoint' the community guides promise, and the loop's quiet heart.

Photo suggestion: The metasequoia tunnel on Fumin Sha Road photographs best late morning, when the lane is empty and the light is even.

Hengsha's landmarks close the loop's eastern arc. The Small White Tower (小白塔) is the island's classic photo stop, a small white structure rising from the lanes near the north-east shore, cited in every community guide though the naming varies between 小白塔 and 小白房 (confirm the current local name and access on-site). The lighthouse the guides mention has no AMap POI at all, so it stays text-and-pills like the groin. The southern leg then reaches the Yongfeng Art Farm (上海永丰艺术田园), the paddy-field art farm (稻田画) whose seasonal designs, summer to autumn is the reported best window, turn the island's fields into a canvas visible from the lane. Confirm on-site its current status, opening and any fees before the day, since the art is seasonal and the farm's facilities vary by year.

Caution: The paddy art is seasonal, outside summer–autumn the fields are working farmland, and the farm's opening and fees, confirm on-site.

The day closes by reversing itself: the Hengsha loop returns to the island's pier, the 长横对江渡 carries the ride back across the ~15 minutes of estuary, and the final miles ride from the Changxing pier back along the morning's route to wherever the day began. The return is where ferry discipline pays: with the last sailings in hand, the loop is a relaxed closing spin rather than a race against the schedule. Total riding is community-reported at 80+ km with the two crossings, AMap's road routing measures ~52.8 km of riding legs (Changxing ~30 km, Hengsha ~23 km), the difference being ferry-linked shuttling and the community's longer dike lines, and the day works best when the first ferry is early and the last ferry is never a question.

Caution: Never ride the dikes after dark, the return must clear the last ferry with daylight to spare.