View over Victoria Harbour from Victoria Peak

On the Peak Tram

With the midterms finished I was finally free to get exploring again.  My first stop was a hike along Victoria Peak - as possibly the top tourist attraction in Hong Kong, I felt that it had taken me far too long to get there.  Earlier in the month I bought a book called “Historical Hong Kong Hikes” by David Pickerell, so the routes that I took are those described by him.  After getting the peak tram up to the Peak, along with a load of elderly American tourists, I got some photos and then headed West along Mt Austin Road which follows the ridge of Hong Kong island.  After 20 minutes or so I came to another viewing point (this time with very few other tourists) which looked south over Aberdeen and the outlying islands of Hong Kong.  The walk up until this point had been fairly easy going - uphill, but along a paved road, and would therefore be worth doing for anybody at the Peak, just to get the view South as well as the standard view North.  From here I left the road and continued West, along a marked ‘fitness trail’ that began to head downhill to the Pinewood Battery, a British fort that had been designed to guard the harbour against invasion, but had fallen when the Japanese invaded Hong Kong in WW2 and has been abandoned ever since.  The shrapnel scars are still clear all over the fort.  The road continued downhill from the Battery and after about another 20 minutes I reached the University of Hong Kong where I was able to have a quick lunch with a friend that I had me at the British Council.  All in all the hike had only taken about two hours so was well worth it - though the latter section is all downhill on steps and is probably not great for anybody with bad knees.  A good introduction to hiking in Hong Kong - easy to follow and encompassing some important parts of the island.  Photos below:

View over Victoria Harbour (looking North)

View over Aberdeen and Lamma Island (looking South)

Pinewood Battery, abandoned since Japanese invasion in WW2

Another view of Victoria Harbour

The old Victoria City boundary

University of Hong Kong (HKU)