As I had so much time left to play with and staying in the city was expensive I decided I would do another long distance hiking trail, this time the Maclehose Trail. I planned it so that if I left on Sunday morning, I would return on the Wednesday ready for the England v Croatia game. At 100km in length the Maclehose Trail was described as taking in 8 different country parks with landscapes including rugged peaks, remote valleys, and ocean Coastlines. The trail started in a place called Pak Tam Chung, which was served by buses only on Sundays. Like with the Lantau Trail, there were marker posts every 500m, and the trail was split into 10 sections. I arrived into Pak Tam Chung about 11am, and after looking round the visitor centre I set off.
I soon entered the Sai Kung East Country Park where I followed this road along the edge of the High Island Reservoir. There were some great views along the way of the reservoir with the backdrop of the hills, as well as occasional views of the many harbours and coastline the other side. I eventually reached the East Dam which was home to some rather impressive geological features including this huge wall of reddish hexagonal rock columns, a legacy of volcanic activities 140 million years ago. Part of the cliff even showed the effects of earthquakes with the rock columns noticeably bent! There was also a sea cave and a large stack near the dam too.
I then headed up and over this hill to Long Ke, getting a great birds eye view of the cove as of descended down to the beach. I stopped there for lunch. I then had my biggest climb of the day to the 314m lookout of Sai Wan Shan which presented me with more brilliant coastal views and also some views of the reservoir from above. I then dropped into Sai Wan which is often referred to as ‘the back garden of Hong Kong’, due to its turquoise waters and pearly white sands although I instead had a massive downpour upon arrival so it more like black clouds and empty beach. It did clear eventually and I pressed on towards to this stream which had these waterfalls you could jump off. It was very busy there though so I continued onto Ham Tin where I had a nice swim in the sea to cool off there instead. I also set up camp there with the beach permitting freedom camping, although I did have several dogs and cows for company!
The next morning I set off relatively early, soon arriving in Pak Tam Au. En route I got more great views of the coastline, although when passing through this abandoned village I got stuck behind this group of cows which were walking single file down the narrow path. From Pak Tam Au I began some more serious climbing, heading up and over 4 mountains around about 400m high. There were brilliant views looking out towards some of Hong Kong's more remote islands. I did have a slight mishap on one of the descents though, taking quite a nasty fall whereby I fell forward on this rocky decline and hit my head on one of the rocks. Luckily I survived with just bump on the head and a few scratches, but it certainly could have ended a lot worse!
I eventually decended into Kei Ling Ha for lunch. I had a little scare shortly after lunch however, nearly treading on a snake. I'm glad that woke me though as not long after I came across another much larger snake which I soon found out was a cobra, something you definitely do not mess with. Unfortunately I had to mess with it as it was blocking the path, and after making my presence known it eventually went into the bushes, although I don't think it was very happy as it was hunting this frog so I probably interrupted it's lunch. After those small mishaps I continued climbing up the eastern face of Ma On Shan, where the views were absolutely stunning when reaching the saddle. I followed the ridgeline from the saddle, where the views just kept on coming and coming in all directions. I made it to my campsite late in the afternoon in the end so it was quite long day, although not long after arriving it started pouring with rain so I was stuck in my tent all evening.
It pretty much rained all night but luckily by the morning it had stopped somewhat, although it was still pretty overcast. I set off early once again with a big day planned, snaking my way along this ridgeline via Tates Cairn and Temple Hill. There was however a massive downpour which I got caught out in, although luckily by the time I later reached the 495m peak of Lion Rock it cleared and I got great views looking over the city, the closest the trail reaches proper urban Hong Kong. I continued along the ridgeline via Beacon Hill, the city skyline visible for large parts, before decending down towards this reservoir.
The following section just followed this road along this reservoir, before leaving the road and heading over to the Shing Mun Reservoir. I saw lots of monkeys along the way, as well several war relics including these old tunnels which were all named after streets in London. I stopped for lunch at the reservoir, and also to dry my tent out as by that point the sun was well and truly out. After lunch I began climbing again up to the 534m summit of Needle Hill which was incredibly steep, before decending down to this road which I then followed up to the 647m summit of Grassy Hill. It was a really draining couple of climbs as the humidity was really bad so it took a lot out of me.
From Grassy Hill I decended down to the Lead Mines Valley. The 957m summit of Tai Mo Shan which was my next climb looked very daunting as I decended, which was the highest mountain in Hong Kong. Tai Mo Shan is meant to be wettest and coldest part of Hong Kong, although I was lucky enough to have completely blue skies. The climb was actually pretty gradual which was nice, and the views up top were absolutely stunning. I'm pretty sure you could see the entirety of Hong Kong, and you could also just about see the skylines of Macau, and the cities of Shenzen and Zhuhai in China. I then decended down the other side to my campsite, and I had the luxury of a stream to swim in unlike the previous night which was definitely much needed! I was pretty spent upon arrival though, although on reflection I covered a pretty considerable distance and did a lot of height gain in what was very intense heat and humidity.
I left not long after sunrise the following morning, and much of walk was relatively flat through nice and shaded woodland which meant I barely broke a sweat. As it was so shaded there wasn't really much to see, but later on in the walk I got some great views of the Tai Lam Chung Reservoir before finally following this water catchment path above the town of Tuen Mun. I eventually dropped into the town and that marked the end of the trail, finishing just in time for lunch. After lunch I caught the metro back into the city where I just relaxed for the rest of the day, heading out to watch the England v Croatia game later that evening.
As the England game was one of them 2am kick offs again and it went to extra time it was another particularly late night, and I didn't really feel like doing much the following day. My legs were actually quite stiff as well after the hike so it was nice just to relax. On Friday the weather was awful so I couldn't really go very far, and the following day it was still a little iffy but I decided I would just go out and face it as it was my last day, catching the ferry over to Hong Kong Island where I looked round the Causeway Bay area as well as exploring some of the areas I visited before. There were constant showers all day though which prevented me from going back up Victoria Peak again to see the skyline at night which was a shame, although I did treat myself to a nice meal in the evening instead.
On Sunday morning I started my journey back to London to surprise everyone which I managed to keep a relatively well guarded secret. I informed most people I was going to Manila which was true, but from there I connected to another flight bound to London. The weather in Hong Kong was still horrendous though when leaving but it was a pretty smooth flight and when landing in Manila I transferred without any major problems, although they did scan my luggage a further two times so security was pretty tight! The flight to London was actually really comfortable with on flight entertainment and nice food by plane standards, getting 3 meals during the flight to add to the 1 meal in the previous flight. I also ended up watching 4 films by the end!
When arriving into London at about 8pm there was basically no security so I just walked straight into the country. I forced myself to stay awake on the entirety of the flight which meant by the time I managed to get some sleep it was during UK night time despite my body clock thinking it was Hong Kong morning time, hence minimising the effects of jet lag. It wasn't the most comfortable of nights though! I booked a cheap bus from Heathrow to Victoria Coach Station a few weeks prior and headed there not long after sunrise. When arriving at Victoria I had a little wander round London before waiting my prebooked train from Victoria to Lancing up in wetherspoons. Typically it was cancelled although luckily I managed to get on the one before without anyone questioning me, arriving home by the afternoon to surprise everyone!
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