June 9, 2010
MacLehose Trail Stages 1 & 2
The MacLehose Trail (麥理浩徑), named after Hong Kong's longest serving gonverner Crawford Murray MacLehose, is a 100km long trail that runs east to west across the New Territories, cutting across some of the finest natural scenery in Hong Kong. It was MacLehose who established the country parks - he was an enthusiastic hiker himself.
Every year in the third weekend of November, there is the Oxfam Trailwalker charity hike/run where 500 teams comprising of four members in each, hike/run the trail to raise funds for charity. For the event, the MacLehose Trail is divided into eight stages. All four members of the team are supposed to do the entire course together and support teams will be stationed at various points to give them food and water as refuel.
Initially I thought of doing it this year, but then decided that I couldn't risk destroying my already weak knees at this age. Moreover, my body type - fat - isn't really suitable for running. There'd be too much impact on my knees what with the undulating hills throughout the trail. So that thought was banished.
Instead I chose to do this trail in stages. On Saturday I hiked Stages 1 & 2 of the trail and with that I've done all eight stages of the trail on separate occasions. Hurray! Here are some snapshots from Saturday's hike.
The start of Stage 1 in Pak Tam Chung (北潭涌). You can get there by taking bus 94 from the Sai Kung bus terminus in the Sai Kung town centre. Or if you're in a group, just grab a taxi.
Stage 1 of the MacLehose Trail follows a road that runs along one side of the High Island Reservoir. You're walking on paved road all the time and the terrain of Stage 1 is very flat - not a very interesting part of the trail.
You might also come across free roaming cows. But don't worry, they're very tame and won't hurt you. Just be careful of the large mounds of turd they leave in their wake along roads and trails. Haha.
Basalt rock formations in their characteristic hexagonal columns.
Not far into the initial stages of Stage 2, you'll come across Long Ke Beach. It's a beautiful beach with soft clean sand and it's worth a trip if you'd like to go to an easily accessible beach. I loved the view of the water's azure and turquoise colours from the top! You just have to take a taxi and tell the driver to go to Long Ke Village (浪茄村). Bet you never thought such lovely beaches existed in Hong Kong, did you?
View from our lunch spot - the High Island Reservoir in view.
Sharp Peak in the distance
A cafe at Sai Wan (西灣), another beach along the trail. This is another popular beach in Sai Kung and also a nice one to head to for a day out. We stopped for a drink and I was so tempted to go swimming. But no, I had to focus on the mission at hand, i.e. to complete the first two stages of the MacLehose Trail - all 25km of it.
The trail runs along several types of terrain - beach, mud tracks, paved roads, dirt paths etc.
Ham Tin beach
Up for some surfing, anyone?
The end of Stage 2 at Pak Tam Au (北潭凹). No, I'm not heading back in that direction! Done for the day! I was completely exhausted by the time I reached Pak Tam Au. The last 5km seemed to go on forever! There is a bus stop just about 30 metres down the road and you can take bus 94 back to the Sai Kung bus terminus.
When we got back to the Sai Kung town centre where the Sai Kung Pier is, there was a floating fish market going on. The fishermen bring their catch to the pier and customers banter prices with them from the pier.
Live fish, crabs, lobsters, eels and a whole lot of other seafood for your picking. I love this floating fish market - really delightful!
The Sai Kung peninsula is one of the loveliest parts of Hong Kong and is definitely worth a trip out. You can hire a ferry from the pier and tour round some of the islands. Many of the islands are designated ecoparks with some spectacular rock formations. There are also many seafood restaurants at the pier, but these are generally expensive and tend to be tourist traps.
For information on getting to Sai Kung, click here.
Posted by DSD at June 9, 2010 9:09 AM