Changxing Island Grand Loop: 55 km of Dike, Reservoir & Shipyards

Start at Kaiyuan Mingting Hotel (开元名庭酒店, 潘圆公路2389弄), the ride camp the community recommends for its free parking, toilets and shop, and set off east along Pan Yuan Highway (潘圆公路), the island's metasequoia-lined east–west spine. Smooth asphalt, few traffic lights and weekend club-ride traffic make this the ride's fast, sociable warm-up. The Country Park gates pass on the north side at the start, Shanghai's largest country park, free with reservation, and then the spine's signature moment: at the 潘圆公路立交桥 the road passes under the G40 approach, the elevated concrete of the tunnel-and-bridge system sweeping overhead on its way from the river tunnel to the cable-stayed span. This is the bridge-underpass photo stop the community rides all stop for, and the Yangtze River Bridge itself stays visible to the north through the whole leg.

Photo suggestion: The underpass at the G40 crossing is the spine's signature shot, ride through once for the photo, once for the geometry.

At the Yuge Road junction (渔歌路×圆展路) the circuit turns south toward the island's south-east corner, the corridor community logs call the riverside greenway (江边绿道): a reported ~16 km of mostly motor-free riding along the Yangtze's bank, with giant white wind turbines and reed beds between the saddle and the water (exact entry points and closures, confirm at the gate, and the greenway itself is not on AMap's routing network, the drawn line rides the parallel roads). The corridor's anchors are the working harbour, Changxing–Hengsha Fishing Harbour (长兴岛横沙渔港), with farm restaurants around 渔港环路, and the First Beach of the Yangtze (长江第一滩), the harbour's ~800 m promenade and the island's reported sunset spot, with a closing time commonly reported around 16:30. The paddy-field gravel sections around 渔歌路 are the mountain-bike option; the main line stays paved.

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

West of the harbour the corridor becomes the island's industrial shore: 1865大道 and 长兴江南大道 run past the working yards, and the ride's history stop sits among them, the Jiangnan Shipyard Showcase Hall (江南造船展示馆, 长兴江南大道988号), which tells the 1865-to-present story of China's oldest modern shipyard: founded in Shanghai in 1865, relocated its core operations to Changxing, and listed since 2023 on the city's industrial-tourism circuit. Note: the hall sits inside the shipyard campus, so access is reported via the industrial-tourism circuit rather than open gates, confirm the current opening, hours and reservation flow before planning the stop (older 江南造船博物馆 listings may differ). From the public road the yards themselves are the show: cranes, hulls and gantries working between the corridor and the river, the island's industrial identity at full scale.

Photo suggestion: The yards photograph best from the public corridor at a respectful distance, no close-ups through gates.

Past the shipyard corridor the road opens onto the western sea-dyke (海堤), the continuous flood-dike along the Yangtze, flat, open and wind-exposed, with the river's working surface on one side and the reclaimed fields on the other. This is the leg the brief warns about: the dike is working flood defence first and a cycling lane second, the wind is the day's constant companion, and there are no shops between the shipyard corridor and the ferry terminal. The dike lane itself is not on AMap's routing network, so the drawn line rides the parallel 金岸路 corridor. Majia Port (马家港码头, waypoint 7) closes the leg: the Wusong ferry terminal, with its buses, benches and the day's first reliable water point since the harbour, and the turn north for the reservoir miles.

Caution: The western dike is exposed, pass quickly at midday, hold the wind line, and carry water for this leg.

From Majia Port the circuit swings north, 凤凰公路 to 潘圆公路's west end, then north on Qingcaosha Road (青草沙路) to the ride's landmark: Qingcaosha Reservoir (青草沙水库), opened in 2011, which supplies a large share of Shanghai's tap water from the Yangtze. The perimeter greenway is the point of the leg, community logs describe a ~20+ km ring (the ride uses part of it), but the reservoir itself is a protected water source: the ride is the perimeter road, never the works, and current public access along the full ring is, confirm on-site (AMap cannot trace the perimeter, so the drawn line rides 青草沙路, 先凤路 and 凤凰支路). From the perimeter's east the north shore opens out, flat farmland running to the river, with the Yangtze River Bridge, the G40 cable-stayed span, crossing overhead at its south landfall: the north shore's landmark and the day's second bridge moment.

Caution: The reservoir is a protected water source, stay on the perimeter road and do not approach the works or the water's edge.

The last leg closes the day's history arc: 凤凰公路 south to the Country Park, where the Shanghai Changxing Island Museum (上海长兴岛博物馆) sits inside the park's west side, the island's local museum, its hours and content, confirm on-site, and the natural partner to the shipyard hall as the industrial-history close. From the park the road drops south on 秋柑路 to Pan Yuan Highway, and the final miles ride the metasequoia avenue west back to the start hotel, the same spine that opened the day, now in the long afternoon light. The circuit is done: ~50–55 km by community measure, a full day with the stops, and the hotel's parking lot exactly where the wheels left it.

Photo suggestion: The return on 潘圆公路 in the late afternoon runs into the light, the metasequoia rows photograph best from the westbound lane.