There's little better than to excape from work a little early and take off into the hills round the village.
This trip involved a short haul up a much-overgrown path I last took with Buster some two or three years ago, poor old fella. He didn't quite make it that time. I doubt anyone has been up this path since. I may take a machete to it over the winter to open it up again -my shins are ripped to shreds!
I love the solitude of the park. Today, not a soul seen but for the cadet squaddies carrying what looked like toy rifles. That spooked Ronnie (the puppy) and she took off home faster than I could catch her. That left me with Squid and Barka. This kind of walk is new for Barka, but he kept up.
The climb is always worth the reward. The Sai Kung Country Park has so much to offer. The weekends are very busy with the walkers hiking off to Hoi Ha, but just off the beaten path is, to my mind, some of the best the park has to offer.
The great Tang poet Liu Zongyuan 柳宗元 (773-819) in his wonderfully evocative poem River Snow, perfectly relates some of the feelings of solitude,
錢沙蔦飛珏.
三重萬宗景仁
A thousand peaks: no more birds in flight.
Ten thousand paths: all trace of people gone.
Tap Mun Island and China beyond: there's just so much more out there than our daily domestic experience will allow. This link is a little vid of the wonderful Long Harbour:
Here's a little vid of the view (takes a little while to download)
Not so very long ago a Hong Kong policeman disappeared up in these hills. His remains were never found. It always astonishes me that people can get into trouble up here: there are very few places that are truly tricky and may cause one to come a cropper.
This is better than work!
Finally we come back to the snakey ribbon of the Hoi Ha Road. The descent is easy and we're back for tea. Very satisfying.
Ah well, back to work...
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