Sharp Peak

The cool weather called for a hike.

I had been out hiking in Sai Kung country many times, but I had never walked out further towards Sharp Peak.

For the views and enjoyment given, it wasn't a difficult hike at all.  There weren't many sections that were too steep or taxing and there were nice spots to stop to enjoy it all.  Near the top, the views opened out expansively and you could see out along all the breaches and out towards the nearby islands.

We made our way down towards Ham Tin beach for a very late lunch.  Somehow, a couple of our friends managed to get completely lost.  They walked down towards the shore and attempted to circle around the rocky coastline to get to us before giving up and doubling back and over the ridge again.

 

None of us wanted to walk out again, so we arranged for seats on the speedboat out.  The waves started to come in hard just as it was time for us to all board.  Everyone boarded quickly as the boat captain and his assistants fought to hold the boat steady.  For some incomprehensible reason, the last couple to board seemed to ignore all the instructions and refused to sit, just standing at the back of the boat as the captain yelled at them to sit down.  There was a clear stress in his voice as his tried to keep the boat from being thrown towards the beach.  

Windy Moors

The lightening tour of the English North was continuing and I was now in Ilkley.  I didn't have the same time afforded to me as when I was a young backpacker, but I now thankfully had the means with which to take more efficient and fast transport.  It would still have been nice to have had longer, but it was at least one less impediment to visiting friends in far flung places.

This was an opportunity I had wanted for a long time. I had never been outside of London in all my years traveling to the UK, so being able to visit Charlie in his home was the perfect chance to change all of this.  The game in Sheffield had been fun, and the aftermath of it all had probably been even more fun.  We had made our way further North to Charlie and Sian's home in Ilkley where we had a lovely dinner together and then I passed out from a combination of exhaustion and jetlag.

I woke very early the next morning.  The sun hadn't risen yet and there was a mist hanging over the ground.  Charlie clearly heard me rousing and he woke as well and suggested we go up to the local ridge to watch the sun rise.  Jumping in his car, we drove up towards the ridge in the chill of the morning air.  We reached the ridge in no time at all and were soon walking around the moors of Yorkshire.

It was exceptionally beautiful.  As the sun slowly rose, it bathed the entire landscape in a bright golden glow.  The wind was blowing hard and I could feel it cutting through my jacket, but I was enjoying myself.  I wasn't sure if I was annoying Charlie, but since I was standing on a windy moor, I incessantly hummed and sang Kate Bush's song "Wuthering Heights".  It seemed to be the most apt song for the occasion.

We kept walking along the ridge, slowly climbing up to the top of the "cow" which gave us truly incredible view.  We could see all the way across the valley towards the other ridge.  We could even see Charlie's house from this spot.  The air was fresh and clean.  I missed this.  Living in Hong Kong is fun, but one thing that isn't fun is the lack of fresh air.  There's a constantly haze in the air and it never seems to be as fresh as it could be.  Here, I could feel my lungs clearing.

We slowly started to walk down and we met some local friends who were also enjoying the morning.  I was too slow with my camera, but we were also lucky enough to see a grouse as it flew around us.  It landed a few times, but each time I tried to capture the image it immediately flew off at speed.  It seemed to be teasing us.  

Back in Ilkley, Sian had woken up.  The bite of the morning cold was gone and it looked like it would be a nice day.  We changed into nicer clothes and made our way into the beautiful town centre.  The town is a lovely example of a historic old English spa town.  The buildings were grand and the streets all neatly laid out.  We walked around the markets and fairs that were open.  The shops in the town all felt like what you would expect from such a quaint little town as well, full of delicate baked goods and small handmade goods and crafts.  I bought some soaps for Veronica as well as some biscuits.  It seemed to be a good representation of the region.  As it approached lunch, we started walking to the restaurant.  We had a booking for a Sunday roast dinner which I was very excited about.  Being in England on a cold day, nothing felt more appropriate than a nice roast. 

Lunch was delicious as I had hoped.  The idea of a roast dinner seems quite simple, but ever since I was a child it was something I enjoyed.  My parents seemed to develop a fondness for it as well, and it soon became a regular meal in our home.  Here we were in far fancier surroundings and the roast was accompanied by delicately made sides and a bottle of Argentinian red.  

After a very filling lunch and more drinks afterwards, we made our way back to the house.  It was already dark by the time we arrived, with winter approaching fast.  We sat in the living room drinking tea and talking.  We were too full from lunch to think about a substantial dinner and so I went and got the "fat rascal" that I had bought earlier in the day to tide me over before sleep.  It had been a very English day.

The Eight Immortals

Pat Sin Leng Country Park is a mountain ridge which sits in the north eastern part of the New Territories.  It's not as far north as up around Plover Cove, but it's not too far away.  It was once considered to be a far off wilderness, but the last few decades have seen significant development and growth closer to the water in areas like Tai Po and Shatin, so it all now feels much closer to civilisation.

The ridge itself is famous for having eight peaks along the ridge, and so the name translates to the "Eight Immortals".  These legendary beings from Chinese mythology were each represented by one of the peaks along the ridge of Pat Sing Leng.

We started off our hike in one of the small villages in the middle of the New Territories. Every time we come out to places like this, we are reminded of how rural the whole area must have once been.  Even now, it's quite amazing that with the metropolis that is Hong Kong just a short drive away, that such lush greenery and scenes of simple farming life could still exist.

As walked further up through the hills, we were given an even more incredible sight.  It was probably the clearest day I have ever experienced on any hike in Hong Kong.  The visibility was completely unobstructed and we could see clear into China.  It was a strange sight to see, the more rural and green parts of Hong Kong, with the background of the enormous and modern city of Shenzhen.  None of this would have been there only a short twenty years ago.

As we walked further, we found ourselves above the tree line, walking through open landscapes of rock and grass.  It was a beautiful scene.  The air was fresh and the sky was perfectly blue.  Temperatures were low too so the whole experience was perfect for hiking.

We hadn't arrived yet at the actual "Eight Immortals", but the views we were getting were already incredible.  Walking along the top of the ridge, we could see towards the ocean as well as back over towards the middle of the New Territories.

Every section along the walk provides almost completely unobstructed views.  It had taken me a long time to get here and I was glad I had finally made it.  Eamon mentioned that this was still one of the best hikes he had ever done in Hong Kong and he had hiked most, if not all, of Hong Kong's official trails.

Finally we arrived at the actual "Eight Immotals".  Turning around, we could see back along the ridge we had just hiked.  It was impressive to look at.  The high ridge line seemed almost sharp against the sky.

In front of us there were these eight peaks we had to complete to finish our hike.  From a pure distance point of view, it didn't seem to bad at all.  We had completed most of the hike already so this was actually just the final third or so.

Though short, it was a bit harder than I expected.

Given the distance we had already travelled, the next eight and frequent ups and downs put quite a bit of strain on the calves and the glutes.  None of the little ascents and descents were particularly tough, but doing them so quickly one after another turned this into a strange form of interval training.

As always, we were going at a quick pace and so we passed by group after group of people who were taking a more leisurely stroll along the ridge, stopping at each spot for far longer than us to enjoy the views they saw.

Not for us though.  We continued on.  It was certainly worth it as well.  Even though we were truly spent by the end of the hike, it had been everything promised and given some of the best views I have seen in Hong Kong.

Down South

With the coronavirus restrictions back in full force in Hong Kong, we were also back to our weekly hiking.  We discussed our next destination and we all quickly decided to go to Po Toi Island.  This was a place on everyone's list of "must visit" so this seemed like as good as any time for us to all head there.

We all woke up early and gathered down in Stanley.  Po Toi Island is sparsely populated and so there are only a few ferries to and from the island on the weekend.  We weren't the only ones with the idea either and there was a long line to board the boat.  We got our seats and the boat quickly filled up.

Po Toi Island is one of the southern-most islands in Hong Kong.  Of the small islands around Hong Kong, it's probably considered middle sized, with not enough space for it to have been developed, but apparently it was home to more than a thousand people at one point.  Not too many people remain these days other than those there to run the small shops and restaurants catering the visitors like us.

Once we were off the ferry, it was fairly simple to follow the trails straight up.  As always, a group of the guys were on their hunt for "peaks" and so they had already pre-planned some of the key locations that we needed to reach.  It was a bit mechanical at times to be chasing the peaks with these boys, but on the flip side, it did mean that there was always a motivation to go out and explore some of the further out parts of Hong Kong.  On the whole, it was definitely a positive thing.  It also didn't mean that all we did was just run towards peaks and nothing else.  On this hike, as we made our slow ascent up towards the first peak, we made a slight detour off towards "Mo's Mansion".

The crumbling ruins of Mo's Mansion were what was left of what would have once been an impressive and large house.  We walked through what was left of this home.  It was built in the 1930s and survived several decades until Mr Mo apparently fled after a failed kidnapping attempt.  Now, it is slowly returning to nature, with signs everywhere of people exploring the site and possibly camping in it as well.

We kept walking and eventually reached the first peak we needed.  There was nothing particularly special about it and the views from the top were not memorable.  We looked at our map and noticed that there was a large peninsula if we kept walking.  We had time, so we decided to push on for a bit.

This decision to keep going further was a good one.  As we continued over the crest of the hill, the large peninsula came into sight and it was something spectacular.  It was a wind swept and barren piece of land that sat isolated from the rest of the island.  On this area, we could also see dozens of small tents, with what must have been more than a hundred people who had decided that this was the perfect place to do some camping.  We walked closer and we found a set of stairs.  With over 1000 steps leading to the bottom, this rivaled the infamous "Twins", but the scenery was infinitely better (the Twins is easily the most overrated hike in Hong Kong).  This little peninsula was as windswept and isolated as any part of Hong Kong I had been on.  There are many stark and barren parts of Hong Kong that make you feel like you're in another part of the world, but standing on this spot, my friends were generally of the view that this felt like Scotland (I'll trust their word as I've never been).

We turned back after doing a loop and went straight back up the stairs we had descended.  All 1,000 steps without stop.  I thought back to all the times I had done the Twins before and how much more enjoyable this had been.  The wind was strong and there wasn't anything impeding our view.  Everytime I turned around and looked out, all I saw was the enormous sky.  I was an inspiring view.

We looped back towards the fork in the road that we had encountered on the way up to the first peak and headed in the other direction towards the next peak.  Along one of the ridges overlooking the main bay where all the ferries and boats stopped, there were hundreds of little cairns built up by visitors over the years.  It was a little bit surreal to see all of these little structures, but we had no time to stop so we kept moving.

Eventually, we reached the second peak.  There wasn't much of a view at all.  Looking at the map, there was a THIRD peak not too far away that was on a separate list that the guys were considering.  A couple of us laughed and thought that this was more than we wanted to do.  So the group split in two, with some of the boys heading off towards another peak and the rest of us heading back towards the bay and the comfort of the restaurants.

Along the way back, we decided to stop for a longer look at all the little cairns which had been erected.  Walking amongst them gave us an opportunity to make some of our own and to take some photos.  The breeze hadn't slackened and standing exposed on the edge of this ridge, there was an amazing "refreshing" feeling.  You could feel your lungs clearing as you looked out towards the distance and we all happily agreed that skipping the last peak had been a good idea. 

We ended up at one of the restaurants in the bay.  Sitting, eating and drinking, the other boys eventually joined us having run to and from the final peak.  They looked exhausted, having gone through thick bush to get to that last peak.

Mount Stenhouse

Eamon wanted to climb the highest peak on Lamma Island, so I found myself back on the island after less than a week.

He thought it would be a fairly simple hike and that most of it would be paved, so I didn't bother bringing my water bladder or wearing any more specific hiking clothes.  Shorts with cotton t shirt and a backpack with a few bottles of water.  That all seemed to be enough.

As usual, I was foolish for believing my friends.

Rather than a simple walk up a paved path, I found myself in dense scrub, fighting up paths which were barely cut through the vegetation.  My legs were scratched, my arms slightly bloodied.  Thankfully, I had decided to wear proper hiking shoes instead of some runners, so I was able to at least bound up the path without slipping and hurting myself.

Still, it was fun all the same.  A good whack through the bushes in the Hong Kong jungles and paths is usually an enjoyable day out and you get all the benefits of the exercise as well.  The hike ultimately wasn't that long, but it definitely had some trickier and more taxing sections.  When the scrub closed in, there were sections where you could feel the air thickening and breathing became more difficult with the humidity.

The views were as you would expect, stunning once you reached the highest points.

At various points in the distance, I could see back to where Veronica and I had stayed only the week past.  Further off once you were higher, you could see all the way back to Hong Kong.

It's always one of the stranger feelings you get when you go on these hikes in Hong Kong.  You feel like you have fought through the wilderness, through parts which are remote to others and isolated from civilisation.  Then you look up a bit and you realise you are just on the neighbouring doorsteps of on of the most densely populated metropolises in the world.

Quiet streams and secret waterfalls

With the constant work from home these days, there's a bit more time in the mornings.  Without having to make the journey into work, it seems that you effectively get an extra 30-45 minutes in your morning if you are able to manage the timing.  This doesn't seem like much, but if you are able to wake up a bit earlier, it means you really can fit in some extra activities that would normally be much harder to accomplish.

So the last few weeks, I made it a habit to catch up with my friend Candy.  She lived not too far from Quarry Bay and had been doing short morning hikes in the hills in the area.  The hikes up didn't take long, only about half an hour, but what was special was a little turn off that we would take to a secret little waterfall in the area.  It was a serene and idyllic location. The water formed into a small pool before flowing further down and it was nice to be able to sit and dip your feet in whilst relaxing.

On this weekend, I thought it would nice to bring Veronica up to see where I had been hiking.

On some of the walks up and down, we would also find ourselves meeting some of the neighbours.  There were several families of wild pigs in the area.  Completely fearless, they would sometimes be fast asleep on the ground, snoring and farting after having eaten their fill.

Every now and again, you would see the skyline of the city through the canopy of the forests. 

It was a reminder that even in these natural surroundings, we were still in the city.

Night time hiking

The weather was starting to warm up, so hiking season in Hong Kong was slowly coming to a close.  It didn't mean that people would now stop hiking, it just meant that the prime period for hiking was coming to an end.  With this warmer weather, one of the boys suggested we go for a night time hike.  I had never been hiking at night before, so I was very eager to give it a try.  It was CNY eve as well, so given I wouldn't be celebrating this CNY because of my grandmother's passing, it seemed like an excellent alternative.

We took the MTR to Choi Hong MTR station to get as close as possible to the start of the hike.  We had decided to climb up to Suicide Cliff, along the ridge and then go up to the top of Lion Rock all in one night.  I had been up to Suicide Cliff before during the day, albeit from a different direction, so I was quite keen to take this different and steeper route to get to the top.  The views from the top during the day were incredible and so I was looking forward to the evening views.  

The hike up was fun.  It was steep, but it wasn't anything overly taxing or uncomfortable.  At the start of the hike, some friendly and helpful hikers had actually set up a series of ropes to help people get up the steepest section.  We pushed through the dense vegetation for a little bit, but it didn't last long.  Soon it cleared and there was nothing but fully open and panoramic views back towards Kowloon and Hong Kong.

It was entirely as advertised.  The views were stunning. 

Certain sections of the hike were a bit narrow, but with our head lamps, it wasn't anything too difficult or dangerous.  At the top of Suicide Cliff, we stood around for a while, looking out into the distance.  The sheer brightness of Hong Kong against the dark backdrop is something to behold and this steep cliff created an additional sense of drama.

After that stop, we continued on our way.  It was a few kilometres hike to get over to Lion Rock.

The views along that walk continued to be as spectacular.

Eventually we reached the bottom of Lion Rock.  Looking up at the signs, we were a bit undecided as to whether we should continue to the top or to call it a night and go get some food and drinks.  Our decision was made for us as Eamon started to walk up.  We all slowly started following after him as he disappeared off into the distance and then around a corner.

I had hiked Lion Rock before as well, it wasn't too long a hike, but this felt much harder given we had already come up from Suicide Cliff.  It was a silent hike up.  There weren't any others on the trail and after a little while, all of us got lost from one another.  I found myself hiking along trails without anyone near me, I would jog ahead a little bit, wait a little bit, and no matter what I couldn't seem to find anyone.  It didn't matter too much as we all knew our final destination so I pressed on.  At the final turn before reaching the top, I found a couple of the guys waiting, with others still to follow.  The final steps up were a pain on the legs, but we made it up.

The views were good.  Very similar to those as Suicide Cliff, so from that perspective it may not have been necessary to do both of these peaks in the same night.  But it was still lovely to be here.  To stand in the quiet, looking out at the lights of one of the busiest cities in the world.

Hanging Lantern

My friends and I had been enjoying hiking in the New Territories.  Many Hong Kongers rarely come so far out to hike, often discouraged by the "distance" it takes to reach the various locations, but this is just an example of how lucky we all are in Hong Kong.  It is incredible that a thirty or forty minute car ride is considered to be an inconvenience for some and it really does demonstrate how lucky we are to have so many options available.

This was the first hike I had ever done this far north.  In fact, I think it was very possible this was the furthest north I had ever been in Hong Kong.  We were doing a very difficult hike around Plover Cove Country Park that was about 16km in length.  Some of the boys had become a little bit obsessed with "peak hunting", and I was being taken along for the journey.  We started off near the famous "Bride's Pool" (though we walked straight past it without looking at it) and immediately started our ascent to the ridge.  Within a short time, we could see out across to Plover Cove. 

It was a pretty sight to see.  The area is tranquil and undisturbed by the developments and construction in the rest of Hong Kong.  In the distance, we could see the damn that had been created to create a fresh water reservoir for Hong Kong.  Over the last few years, there has been discussion about draining the entire reservoir and using the filled in land for more housing for Hong Kong.  It would seem a shame for this all to be developed into more housing, but beyond that point it feels very far away from the city for such a development to be convenient and useful. 

The day was far hotter than I expected.  We had been fortunate up until this day with cool temperatures which made hiking easy and comfortable.  After about an hour, I was struggling.  The others looked a bit more haggard than usual, but my legs were screaming at me.  Luckily, we reached a peak, and we started our first descent towards the old village of Sam A. 

Walking along the water and the mangroves, we were now far away from the hilly terrain we had been climbing earlier.   There was a cool breeze and there were now people everywhere.

There were clearly easier options for arriving at this location and it seemed to be a very popular hiking location with families.  It was understandable.  It was fun to walk and there were lots of different things to investigate and explore.

After a walk along an artificial walkway built up to protect small enclosed waterway (was it a damn or a dyke, I wasn't sure), we could see across to part of the village of Sam A, sitting in the shadow of Tiu Tang Lung.  It was one of the more picturesque scenes I had come across in my time hiking in Hong Kong.  This small village was once the home to one of the local clans in Hong Kong, but circumstances and lack of work had forced the clan members to leave searching for work.  On weekends, some members would come back here to this beautiful location to open the restaurant for hikers and other visitors.  Unfortunately for us, we could only stay for a short time (just enough for a drink) before we had to push on.  If were going to climb up and over Tiu Tang Lung, we didn't have any more time to spare.

The hike up was extremely steep.  We scrambled up the side of the peak, at times using our hands to drag ourselves up.  Every now and again, we passed small groups who were going the other way and heading down the side of the peak.  I wasn't sure which was the better idea.  It was tough going to get up, but going down some of the more slippery sections definitely seemed more than a touch dangerous.  Once reached the peak, it was clear that the effort had been more than worth it.

This was one of the best views I had seen in my hiking.  We could see far off into the distance towards China as well as all of the surrounding islands in the northern parts of Hong Kong.  In Cantonese, Tiu Tang Lung, roughly translates to "hanging lantern".  With the unobstructed views in all directions, I could get the sense of why it had been given this name.  It stood out in the surrounding areas and from here, it would be definitely been able to act as a focal point for finding your bearings.

At the top of the peak, there were several instagram models who were getting ready for their photos.  They had come up an easier route, but still looked exhausted nonetheless.  They looked at us curiously, all of us covered in dust and dirt.  We kept on walking as we needed to get down the peak before it got too dark.  My legs were now starting to give out.  The long hike had completely drained me.  I could feel my left quad cramping and I had lost all strength in my hamstrings.  By the time we reached the bottom, my legs had no energy left.  Even if I had wanted to climb another set of stairs, my body would have said no.

Sweeping vistas

I had seen Lam Tsuen from a distance whilst on the MTR one day.  It looked strange.  A desolate and barren set of peaks with deep and bright trails etched into the ridges.  It didn't seem to be a natural part of the lush greenery of Hong Kong.  Rather, it seemed to have been picked up from some northern European country and dropped into Hong Kong.

I convinced the guys that this was the next hike we needed to do.

A short uber drive left us in the middle of nowhere, in the "suburbs" of Hong Kong, far away from the skyscrapers and the crowds.  We were standing next to a car yard looking for the start of the trail which turned out to be a barely signposted set of steps up into some bushes.  After a very short walk of about five minutes, we were clear of this cover and we found ourselves walking through a large country park which seemed almost completely devoid of any trees or shrubs.

It was beautiful scene which we were confronted with on this hike.  It wasn't like anything which we had encountered before in Hong Kong.  We had grown accustomed to lush greenery, so to be walking through this barren and stark landscape felt akin to being in a foreign country far from home.

It was still relatively cool weather, but the lack of any cover still meant that we felt the sun far more than we otherwise would have.  It was a draining hike.  The dust started to swirl as the winds blew, but it all just seemed to add to the wonder of this place.  

The path of the hike rose up and down along the ridge.  It's undulations took us up to high points, then dropped us slightly again, giving us a wide variety of different challenges.  It also gave us an ever changing view that seemed to become more spectacular as we went along.

It was a great hike.  Definitely one of the best I have ever done in Hong Kong.  We had timed it well too.  The weather wasn't too warm yet so as not to overpower us.  I couldn't imagine trying to do this hike during the middle of summer under the intense sun.

Once we reached the top, it was time to go down.  Eamon and the others were peak hunting and so wanted us to go down a different route to the one we had come up.  A far steeper route was taken straight down and towards the next peak.  It was one of the most bizarre experiences I had ever had.  It was far too steep to merely walk down, but there was little to not plant matter to hold onto on any of the sides.  Instead, I found myself half falling, half sliding down the dusty slope.  It was an inelegant way to finish off a hike.

This hike was one of the furthest North I had ever been in Hong Kong.  It was also the closest I had felt to being back in the deserts in my entire time in Hong Kong.