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23rd December - The Hike
We set off from Sui Long Wo campsite at 1200 hours. A merry bunch, we were, able to shake off the chill and the instructors. The beginning route was largely road and challenged only those who ran uphill for the hour it lasted.
The road commanded a magnificent, yet hazy view of Sai Kung and it's waters. Ignoring the view, the scouts trudged falling behind me or rising ahead of me. Seperation of the scouts can have no state more natural than the seperation experienced during a long, arduous hike. There were four distinct groups. The guys, the slow, the girls and the really slow. The route was labelled as the infamous MacLehose Trail and some doubted whether they could really finish the walk without an overnight pit stop.
The track changed near the summit around Wong Chuk Yeung to a leaf covered dirt path. The fast were indeed fast and only disturbed leaves remained to point out their track. I caught up with them, long enough to take a picture but they ran away from me soon enough, stranded alone in the wilderness.
The view along the summit path was perfect. The sea licked both sides of the slopes and lush shrubs grew at the sides, shielding our legs from the fierce sun and dry winds.
Before reaching our checkpoint, we passed along the side of a massive lump of granite, clouded by haze. Believe your eyes, when I saw this colossus, I thought the walk would certainly aid our dimise.
We managed anyhow by taking a shorter route along a camel's back (a valley between two spurs). I could see the the others now, pacing along the dragon's back, so I stopped... and took this amazing photo before charging ahead again.
They
were miles ahead so I ran and ran until I saw them climbing
up this hill. All this running was draining my morning's store
of V power and I was growing impatient at the speed of the 'fast ones'.
'Slow and steady wins the race' I kept this going in my head and as I caught up with the leaders, I saw an facinating geographical feature. It was a granite outcrop butting out from the side of the hill's peak.
A
batholoith? No perhaps a sill. There are vast numbers of these granite
boulders all around Hong Kong Island but they're probable all covered
with shotcrete, the cement stuff they spray on the slopes to stop them
from falling down.
Realising the distance they left me behind, I trudged again. Geez, they were really rushing down the slope ^ !
We reached our halfway checkpoint at about 1430 hours, at least 30 minutes faster than the others. Being halfway down the road, I took out my last bottle of V. After drinking a can of V, the tradition is to twist it all the way giving the twisted figure on the right.
Emblazoned with energy, I sat around until all the others arrived. We all slept around minding our own and our friends' business when someone saw smoke rising from the North foot of the mountain we were resting on. I got up to investigate and discovered this.
With
the winds blowing our direction with speed and dryness, it was surprising
to find that the scouts who had not witnessed the spectacle were not nercous
at all. They sat calmly on the plateau above,
unaware of the crisis below. A couple of minutes later, some BlackHawk
helicoptors carrying buckets of water appeared from the other side of
the mountain to save the disaster that threatened our continued existence
on the mountain.
After a
refreshing rest, we were on our feet again,
the fast charging downwards and the rest pacing less quickly behind.
Recharged by the V, I experimented with lens flare photography styles and found the piece on the left to be the rather contrasting. Our destination, Gilwell Camp was discovered to be only another 7 km from our location, i.e. two and three quarter hours away. Along the way were many forked paths and our scouts paused often to check our orientation and possible locale.
Exessive
stamina and willpower drove our scouts over peaks, through valleys, past
narrow summit paths towards our goal. The skies were darkning now, at
about 1730 hours. The sun reduced in glare and cast rarely seen orange
and purple shades onto th skies. It would never have been possible to
see this at any urban site in Hong Kong but here it was, the beautiful
sky and the ever lurking danger of having to walk in darkness should we
fail to pace quickly.
The
path was getting omnimously dark now - and perilously cold. Scouts ran
off to take advantage of the last streams of sunlight. The ever increasing
distance between my comrades and I plus the lighting given stopped me
from acquiring any more photos of people, but it did not stop me from
taking this long exposure shot of
Shatin. The fast people have dissapeared now and I ran to prevent them
from causing any damage to themselves - but all in vain. I only managed
to catch up to those who had fallen behind. Hey, it's safer to walk in
larger numbers right? Regardless of perils and darkness, I reached Gilwell
Camp at 1945 hours and we waited for the others to dribble in.
Enlightened after the long and exhausting
journey
Ghosts
of Gillwell Camp taken using lights availible
The arrival at Gilwell signalled the technical end of our voyage but the literal is far from that. There remained a massive distance to the foot of the muntain if we wanted to go home. That took us more than one hour to complete and at the end, we sat like tired old horses on the side of the road.