10.2k in 4.5 hours- not bad for newbies on a trail rated difficult!
Section Three crosses some of Hong Kong's least visited
uplands -- the hills and peaks between Pak Tam
Au and Three Fathoms Cove (Kei Ling Ha Hoi).
Here the Trail runs through Sai Kung West Country
Park (3,000 hectares).
From Pak Tam Au the route climbs towards Ngam
Tau Shan. Once in the uplands there are memorable
views in almost every direction: east to the ocean
coast, north across Tolo Channel, west to Tai Po,
and south to Ma On Shan. Section Three includes some
very strenuous climbs over three mountains, each
almost 400 metres high: Wa Mei Shan, Lui Ta Shek,
and Kai Kung Shan.
Scattered through these uplands are Hakka villages.
Hiking the region today, the land seems far too
steep for growing crops. However, throughout the
hills, half-hidden under grasses or shrubs are
the remains of stone-walled farming terraces. On
them, not so long ago, tea and indigo grew on the
higher slopes, peanuts and vegetables lower down,
and rice wherever water was plentiful.
These uplands, once very remote
from the central New Territories, were the last
parts of rural Hong Kong to be settled. Until then,
like most of the region, the area was wooded; but
Hakka villagers, settling and farming the land,
cut back the native forests. The resulting loss
of habitats led to a decline in fauna, especially
of larger mammals such as South China tigers, barking
deer and wild boars. Smaller mammals, such as badgers,
civets, pangolins and porcupines retreated into
the remaining woodland areas.
Source:www.hkwalkers.net
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