serendipity #3

I concluded Serendipity #1 with this photo of an alleyway leading off to the left from the main through route I was describing:

Although I would normally check out an alley like this on my bike, the next time I might otherwise have done so, it was far too cold to even think about cycling. But I wanted to take some photos, so this alleyway was actually explored on foot the first time I ventured down it, which explains Paula’s presence in a couple of the photos below.

This may look like a T-junction, but the apparent right turn leads immediately to a gate:

There is another apparent T-junction coming up, but on this occasion the left turn is the illusion:

We noticed some abandoned pig farms along this stretch, which you wouldn’t spot if you were riding a bike:

I often include photos in this kind of report not only to illustrate the route, which isn’t particularly difficult, but also to show some of the oddities I see along the way, like this discarded gas hob:

In fact, there is nothing technically difficult along the entire alley:

…before the path joins a rough track wide enough for motor vehicles:

The first time I came this way on my bike, I turned left and immediately found the way blocked by a truck that appeared to be loading stuff but was aligned across the track. I therefore turned right. The track went on for quite a distance but eventually came to a dead end, so I had to retrace my steps to the path described in Serendipity #1. The one good thing about this is that the turn onto that path is technically quite difficult because it is uphill.

The problem here is that this junction is what mathematicians call an ‘odd node’, which means that it is impossible to traverse this path, and the paths described in Serendipity #1 and #2, without retracing one’s steps at some point, unless, of course, one starts from and finishes at this junction, which is just silly. So, although I’m more likely to continue up that hill in the future, because it’s far more challenging, there is a reason why I could choose to follow the path described in this report. This is where the track emerges onto Ma Tso Lung Road:

The start of the alleyway that I described in Serendipity #2 is almost directly behind the camera! Coincidence or what?