It was D's birthday yesterday, we attempted Lantau Trail Stage 7 & 8, with a detour onto Fan Lau Country Trail (between Stage 7 and 8) to check out Fan Lau Fort built in 1717 during the Qing Dynasty.
Weather was lovely, 20 deg celsius, a cloudy day, which was good for us because these trails are almost entirely exposed to the elements...hardly any shades along the way.
We started the actual hike at Tai O at 10am, passed by Yi O beach, the deserted Yi O Village, Fau Lau Sai Wan, Fan Lau Village, Fan Lau Miu Wan, Fan Lau Fort, Fan Lau Stalagmite, Fan Lau Tung Wan, Kau Ling Chung and ends at 4.45pm at Shek Pik...about 6hrs 45 mins excluding bus rides time. The trail on the first half was pretty tough, with lots of overgrown plants and uneven rocky dirt path, we hiked along the beaches quite abit too. The last 6km of the hike was very mundane, it was along the catch water road to Shek Pik with no view... We completed 16km on Lantau Trail stage 7 & 8 and also another 2.5km on Fan Lau Country Trail, that made it a total of 18.5km. Gosh! I felt so worn out after this hike...
the deserted Yi O beach full of rubbish!
End of cemented road...beginning of dirt road
Yi O village
Deserted house @ Yi O village
oh boy! turn left or right?
ruins @ Yi O village
thrashing my way through the overgrown path
ouch! my face..
hey! wait up!
another 5km to Kau Ling Chung (halfway thru stage 7 which is 10.5km)
This small island is Kai Yet Kok (translate : chicken wing hill)
beach @ Tsin Yue Wan
Happy Birthday D!
beautiful pink rocks all over the place
Fan Lau Sai Wan
Fan Lau Village
the entire population of Fan Lau village - an old man and his two dogs.
Fan Lau School
way to Fan Lau Fort
Fan Lau Fort
Fan Lau Fort
Fan Lau Stalagmite
Help! I can't hold the rock anymore!
on the way down to Fan Lau Tung Wan
Fan Lau Tung Wan
Kau Ling Chung in the distance
inching nearer to Kau Ling Chung
end of stage 7, beginning of the anti-climax stage 8 trail to Shek Pik
Catch water road all the way to Shek Pik
the only interesting feature of stage 8 trail
End of hike at Shek Pik
