Lantau rocks. Its one of the few places in Hong Kong that feel a bit mountainous, as opposed to simply hilly. Its a subtle distinction but an important one in terms of the feel of a run and its a sensation which I miss being based here. The trails by and large are better than most on Lantau, with a nice mix of smooth trails and more rugged sections. I suppose thats why a number of the mountain runners in Hong Kong choose to live there. Of course there are plenty of the dreaded steps here too but while the trails have been, and continue to be, vandalised by the AFCD concrete country park policy it remains one of the best places to run in Hong Kong.
I started the day by getting the MTR to Tung Chung which always makes for a bizzare start to a day in the hills, sharing as you do the train with the hordes on their way to Disney Land. I remembered from the HK Top 10 race a few years ago that there was a great trail heading directly up from Tung Chung connecting onto the contour trail leading to Lin Fa Shan which didnt involve that many steps but until now I had never quite bothered to go back ot check it out again. I managed to find it pretty easily and soon all thoughts of the MTR were forgotten on the stiff but enjoyable grunt up into the hills. As in common in Hong Kong, if you look ahead on this climb you think about hills and nature, but all it takes is glance behind to be reminded of reality, in this case with views panoramic views over one of the busiest airports in the world sitting proudly on its own man-made island.
A critical planning oversight revealed itself shortly there after when the sun came out. When I left base it was overcast and the thought had not occured to me that it is now technically summer. As soon as I started running of course the skies cleared, and the direct sunshine turned the place into a burning sauna. And naturally I'd neglected to put on my factor 50. Within 45 minutes I already knew my shoulders, arms and neck were in trouble but there was no going back.
I stayed on the pleasantly snaking trail towards Lin Fa Shan, cursing as I past the extra ridge line which I was diverted onto during the Lantau 50 as I passedI was soon also lamenting the new addition of yet more unnecessary concrete steps on the section shortly there after. I eventually deviated off of the main trail to hike up the overgrown path up the the summit of Lin Fa Shan to check out the views down over Mui Wo and over to Discovery Bay. By this point I was already well cooked from the sun but fortunately a bit of respite was starting to arrive in the form of intermittent cloud cover which thankfully was to last for the remainder of the afternoon. After clambering up onto the trig point and taking a few snaps it was down the steep decent towards the Lantau Trail intersection. From here I took the familiar path up towards Sunset Peak passing the various 'Mountain Camp' huts on the way (being HK, naturally there are made from concrete and resemble pill boxes) and stopping at the rain water reservoir to refill my bottles. I'm usually wary about refilling out on the trail from natural sources here but this reservoir is fine most of the time, especially today after the heavy rain we had the previous week. From here it was down to Pak Kung Au where I snuck a gel as I crossed the road in preparation for the slog up Lantau Peak.
Climbing Lantau Peak in this direction is always fun. Its the more pleasant and runnable of the two main access routes with some great views and I much prefer it to the haul up the stone steps on the otherside. By now I was feeling the heat a bit so going was slower than usual. Upon reaching the summit I figured I'd sit down for 5 minutes and sip some water though there wasn't much of a view. As usual I was sharing the summit with a number of overly geared up hikers who seemed to be treating it as if they had just summited the Matterhorn. Its a strange phenomenon of excessive outdoor consumerism which seems to be pervasive here.
With nothing much to see I headed off hopping quickly down the steps leading to Ngong Ping and the Bhudha, trying not to slip on my arse like did the last time I was here. Ngong Ping is a tourist trap nightmare on weekends and not really somewhere to hang about but I made a quick detour to the 7-Eleven to refill my bottles and legged it out as fast as I could, dripping sweat on the floor as I left. From there I had originally been planning to head back over Lantau Peak but by now I was too cooked to face the wall of steps so I took the path down towards Tung Chung thinking of calling it a day. Half way down I had a change of heart half and detoured via the Tei Tong Tsai trail back to Pak Kung Au. This was a new trail to me but it presented a enjoyable alternative to hoofing it back over the peak and had numerous streams for a cooling splash or two. I think I'll be using this route again. At Pak Kung Au I sqeezed down another gel before hitting the fantastic long contour trail back to Nam Shan. This has to be one of of my favourite sections of easily accessible trail in Hong Kong but today it was slower going than usual. A few restorative pitstops at various streams along the way and I cut through Nam Shan and stumbled down the Old Village Path back down to the ferry at Mui Wo. A quick sprint to the Park N Shop for some sweet soy milk ( my recovery drink of choice) and I was straight onto the departing slow ferry back to Central.
A decent meandering afternoon out all things considered. It was only the next day that the extent of my exposure to the sun revealed itself through burned and blistering shoulders and impressively Glaswegian tan lines making me look like I am wearing a white singlet. I'll spare you photographs.
