The Dragon's Back, Hong Kong Island, 20.1.2019 (See 25 Best Day Walks in Hong Kong by Martin Williams).
This was my last day in HK and it was a half and half day with overcast clouds at a humid 20c. My intention was to do what is often quoted as the finest short walk in HK. Basically I caught the metro from Causeway Bay to Shau Key Wan MTR station. Here I caught the no 9 bus (8HKD) to Shek O village and did the route in reverse as to what it is in the book.
After a morning coffee I started at south beach and headed NW on the road until you come to Big Wave Bay. Here there is a car park and in the far corner you see the first sign for the HK trail (which basically forms the dragons back route too). You simply follow the trail signs through the village and you start to head towards Pottinger Peak. In simple terms you just follow the trail signs on a rough but maintained trail north until you get to Pottinger Gap where the path veers off right on a wide concrete type path/service type of road around to the base of Mt Collinson. The views were virtually none existent at this stage but I still enjoyed the hike.
Once at the base of Mt Collinson there are some toilets and there is a path that heads right or north towards Tai Tam Gap and another path that is signposted ‘to the Dragon's Back’ heading south. Heading south the weather starts to clear somewhat and I got some half decent views. It is about half an hour until I come out on the ridge proper and it is a nice ridge at that. The views of the surrounding hills and bays are quite cool by now and even though it is a weekday it has become quite busy. The ridge undulates until you get to the concrete summit marker of Shek O Peak summit (a blood curdling 284m high). The views are nice but I would imagine they would be much better on a nice clear day.
After Shek O Peak you simply follow the trail steeply down and after about half an hour you come out on the coast road. Dead opposite the egress onto the road is a bus stop and hey presto within ten minutes the no 9 bus comes along again and I retrace my route back to the hotel to prepare to go home.
All in all today was a 9.3km day with only 335m of height gain done in 2hrs 20mins. However it had been a really pleasant hike. Low clouds spoiled the views somewhat but I had enjoyed my little far eastern adventure.