A charity walk of 100km from Sai Kung to Tuen Mun, nonstop. This is the first understanding of the Trailwalker to me. This event was somehow brought up in our fortnightly meetings with our colleagues. I went to a discussion group later that week and decided to join this event with 3 other close colleagues. It sounds as though it’s impossible to complete but we’re all willing to give it a try!

We went for our first ever training on the Saturday 20 June and we’re scheduled to walk Section 7 of the MacLehose Trail. We got there a little late for breakfast but had a really quick bite anyhow. Because otherwise we might be out of energy during the walk.

As we got to the start

It was a very sunny day and we were all fairly excited about the walk. The first thing we noticed is that our gear wasn’t that right to begin with. Our backpacks were too heavily loaded and that we might not have enough water. Anyhow, we were already there so let’s start!

Let's go!

I have never walked the MacLehose Trail ever before and was really excited about it so I brought my camera with me! Lucky I did! Was not expecting such beautiful landscape and views in Hong Kong!

Heading to the starting point of Section 7

Nice tower...

The reservoir

Starting point of Section 7

2 of our teammates!

That's me!

Up to this photo, we’re still pretty strong. Because it was only like 15 minutes of walk and it’s not even going uphill yet. But after taking this shot, we were in deep trouble! The uphill was so tough and there were moments were we’d rather be dead. We haven’t had these kind of training before and it’s been a while since we’ve exercised. After a long struggle, we finally managed to get to the mountain top! The views were magnificent!

We made it to the top!

What a view!

The cows invasion

After taking these photos, I put my camera down on the rocks and had a quick smoke hiding near the rocks. Suddenly a patrol jeep came by and I was worried about the smoking fine so we were kind of hiding and sneaking away at the same time. Meanwhile, my camera was still sitting on the rocks. And we started walking again. I’ve been taking photos of various signs along the way and we came up to this sign where I was hesitating whether I should take a picture of it or not. I didn’t bothered. It was such a long way down the hill and we were joyfully hopping our way down. After about 30 minutes of ‘hopping our way down’, we came to this check point where Section 7 ends and Section 8 starts. So I opened up my backpack and started looking for my camera. NOT THERE! THE CAMERA WAS NOT THERE!! HOLY SHIT!! I MUST HAVE LEFT IT ON THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN!! I did another thorough search and still no luck. Without hesitation, I started my way back up the steep mountain. I feel like I can die any minute as it was around 11:00 – 12:00 mid-day. The sun was not friendly at all. I soaked myself completed wet with a dripping towel beforehand and i was completely dried half way up. There were people coming from the opposite direction and I would ask if they saw a camera sitting around and have picked it up. No one saw it.

Gary, one of my teammates called me on my mobile as I took my last step up the mountain. I could barely talk but I managed to tell him that I’ll call back when I can talk. I was approaching the rocks where I’d left the camera. From a distance, I could see this black ‘thing’ on it. You cannot imagine how relieved I was when I picked up the camera in my hands again.

First photo after finding my camera

This was my way up...

The sign I didn't bothered taking a photo of...

I’m so not going to leave anything around ever again! Especially on a walk like this! What a lesson to learn… T.T

I finally got back to where I left my teammates. It took me about an hour up and down again. Thank you so much for their support!

Starting point of Section 8

We’ve decided not to do Section 8 because it was our first training and it would be too hardcore for us beginners. So we headed towards the city (where we could take the mini-bus or taxi) which still takes another 2 hours to reach.

Beautiful little creek

Beautiful...

We got back into the city at around 15:00, found a restaurant, had a quick meal then I headed straight home to sleep. I got up around midnight and my teammates and friends asked me to go for a massage in Shenzhen. Of course I won’t say no! I was exhausted!!! Got changed then left home around 03:00. Spent the whole night at the massage place then had dinner with my family in Shenzhen the next day since it’s Father’s Day.

The 1st training was challenging enough already! Hope we’ll get better and walk longer each week.

PK Lai