Cloudy Hill and Pat Sin Lei

Saturday, October 31st

Team Members on call: Joan and Chloe
Walk with Ian's crew - Stages 8&9 of the Wilson Trail

elevation: +1,340m, same negative
length: 17K
time: 6h

We decided that the best way to celebrate Halloween was to join Ian's crew for a 'long and tough' hike, as advertised in Ian's invitation email...
We started from Tai Wo station (KCR East Railway) up to Cloudy Hill that we found quite similar than the hike up to Needle Hill. From the top of the mountain, there are beautiful landscapes on the right, and surreal views on Shenzhen skycrapers on the left...
We continued down to Hok Tau Reservoir.
A warning board announces the beginning of Pat Sin Lei, advising unexperienced hikers to find another way... But nobody looked too scared about it (halloween mood?) and the group happily took the path. The way is long and tough before actually reaching the 'Pat Sin Lei' or the 8 Immortals Range, named after the 8 hilltops to climb and rechristened 'the 6 virgins and the 2 bitches' by the group, who suffered the most on the 2 tricky last hilltops....
The hike offers sumptuous views over the Country side and the Chinese bay, and we can even catch sight of Tai Mo Shan (section 8 of Mac Lehose, the highest hill in HK).
We came back to civilization (= beer) down the 8 hilltops, at Luk Keng village, where it's easy to find food, drinks and transportation back to Central.

Conclusion: very good training hike, beautiful landscapes but don't go there if you're not well equiped!