The most beautiful hiking trail in Hong Kong - MacLehose Trail (1)

Before going hiking in the MacLehose Trail, I did really have no idea there was such a beautiful hiking trail in Hong Kong! MacLehose Trail is quite popular among travel enthusiasts in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. This hiking trail is named after the former Governor MacLehose and was officially opened to the public on October 26, 1979 with a length of 100 km. this trail takes Pak Tam Chung as a starting point, bypasses the High Island Reservoir, across the New Territories from east to west, and takes Tuen Mun as the end point. It is divided into ten sections, MacLehose Trail go through 8 country parks of the 23 country parks in Hong Kong. And visitors need to climb more than 20 hills. Although it has great difficulty walking throughout the whole trail, but because most of MacLehose Trail is near to the coastline, we could see fantastic views.
The M001 measured mile pillar is the first pillar along the trail. Here is the starting point of MacLehose Trail. The measured mile pillars are represented by M and M represents Maclehose Trail. M001 represents 500-meter distance. If we have to walk through the first and second section of the trail, which is 24 km, we need to pass 48 measured mile pillars. That means we have to walk thought M48. These columns not only gauge the distance the travelers had walk and will walk, but also is easy for travelers to explain their position in case of emergency alarm.
MacLehose Trail begins with a cement road. In addition to taxis on this road, there is no vehicle. But we choose to get off the taxi at Beiyao Station and started to hike. 
Suddenly, what catches our eye is the sapphire -like reservoir, which is the Hong Kong Island Reservoir. It is said that when the construction of it spent 1.35 billion Hong Kong dollars. The water storage of the reservoir is about 273 million cubic meters, being the largest source of drinking water in Hong Kong. At first we got a glance the blue water; we thought it was the sea water. After asking the local people, we knew that it turned out to be fresh water. Around the reservoir, yellow sand exposed on the bank for the low water level, which is eye-catching under the sun.
Approached the West Dam of High Island Reservoir, you can see Liangchuan Harbor, the opposite of which is the Tau Chau. We could see the sea all around and we can see Sai Kung Country Park at a distance. And there is a viewing platform here, visitors can take pictures here.
When we reached the eighth column, we saw the Liangchuan Reservoir, which is a subsidiary of High Island Reservoir. Today, here it is Chong Hing Water Centre. It used to be a big refugee camp, then have specialized shelter influx of Vietnamese refugees. After the refugee problem resolved, here became aquatic center.
The first paragraph of MacLehose Trail is basically around half of the reservoir. We could always see the blue water. Seeing such beautiful scenery, we could help to take pictures again and again.
By noon, we have not yet come to the East Dam of High Island Reservoir. But we felt a bit hungry, so we found a shade roadside and had lunch. Some of our guy bought pretty abundant food, including different kinds of fruits. 
At Two o'clock in the afternoon, we reached the Long Ke Wan! I went to the edge of the cliff and took plenty of photos. With fine white sand beach in the backdrop of the deep blue sea, tthis place is extremely eye-catching. There are still small white flowers blossoming in full bloom in the edge of the grass land.

If you want to know my whole travelogue of this tour, please find it on the next travel blog.