Thursday, October 18, 2012

Hiking the Lantau Trail Stages 5 & 6




With a slightly getting-warmer weather and maximum height of 490 meters, technically this is a two booter, but quite a tough one.  The walk is about 15-18 kilometres and has few good ascents.  At the beginning, the trail was relatively flat walk hugging the coast.  Then we headed inland and hiked over the hills towards Man Cheun Po and further.



Twenty four trail walkers turned up at the meeting point. We took a bus to Tai O and luckily did not do the prison tour so by 12 noon we were on the trail.  We huffed and puffed our way up the hills and stopped for a short lunch just below the summit.  We did a short detour to the Flying Dragon via a monastery.  It was a beautiful day with blue skies and few clouds with the temperatures just about perfect.  This part of the Lantau trail meanders around from one summit to the next with clear views of Lantau Peak. 



We reached Sham Wat Road around 4:30pm and several trail walkers left.  Three decided that they would make a head start with the beers at the lovely Stoep seaside restaurant while 8 of us continued to Ngong Ping.  The trail is usually an easy 1 hour uphill hike or that’s what the elders sold to the newbies – yeah right!  Trail walkers hike is incomplete if we don’t get scratches or get muddy of bush whack.  The government has closed the trail due to recent landslides and this made the trail really exciting.  At several places the trail is totally washed away and we had to make our way over loose rocks.  At one point, Elise decided to demonstrate how to sit in various impossible positions for 15 minutes on a tiny precipitous ledge.  The view in the evening light was glorious with the sun coming down over the hills.

We capped the recent Lantau hike and a perfect hiking day with a fantastic meal at the Stoep.


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