We started stage 5 immediately after stage 4, and so far, this has been my favourite part of the Lantau trail. It is intense and tiring, but so worth the views. Even on the day we went, when it was cloudy and foggy, we still enjoyed the scenery of the hike.
The hike starts at the bottom of the Sham Wat Road, next to a camping ground. It immediately goes up hill, climbing the first of a series of hills.
While heading up you can enjoy the views of Shek Pik Reservoir to your left, Tai O to your right and Lantau Peak behind – but it was too cloudy when we hiked, so no picture to confirm this view. I took a picture after the first two hills, just looking back at where we came from, as you can see, quite a climb!
We met very few other hikers on the day we went (it was not the perfect hiking weather, very cloudy and humid) but we made new friends. A pair of oxes, just enjoying the grass on the hills. They watched us calmly and just let us pass. I guess they are used to seeing hikers regularly!
The trial goes up and down, across a number of hills. There are only very few houses dotted around the Lantau hills, but you can see Tai O in the background, which has many houses (it’s the largest village in the area). The hike took us across many mountain ridges including Keung Shan at a height of 459 metres…
… and then Ling Wui Shan at a height of 490 metres.
Overall we took 2,5 hours to finish the 7.5km trail section of stage 5. A nice hike, and I am sure it will be even nicer if there is blue sky and a view, so that you can see the sea and ships surrounding Lantau island.
Stage 5 ends after a bridge in a forest – and it just makes sense to continue on to stage 6, so that’s what we did.
bluebalu 