serendipity

I first cycled along Ma Tso Lung Road several years ago, shortly after the closed-area status of the frontier road was rescinded. I cycled the full length of the road as far as its junction with Ho Sheung Heung Road, where I turned left onto the latter on my way to the village of Ho Sheung Heung. There was a very obvious problem.

Both roads carry a lot of industrial traffic to and from premises on each road, and I did not like having to mix it with big trucks, even though their average speeds are not high. However, it didn’t take me long to find a suitable alternative. The northern part of Ma Tso Lung Road has few industrial premises, and where these sites begin to proliferate, I found an unnamed road that led to Ho Sheung Heung Road beyond the point where one might encounter trucks and other industrial traffic on the latter road.

However, on one occasion last year, this road was blocked by a large truck unloading something or other. I had no idea how long I might have to wait, so I wondered whether I could find an alternative. I could. I discovered the alleyway that I originally described in Serendipity #1. Although I started my original exploration from Ma Tso Lung Road, we now tackle this section starting from Ho Sheung Heung Road (this starting point is directly opposite the exit from heart of darkness).

There are a number of paths branching off #1, not least serendipity #3, which we rarely did simply because it meant missing out the best part of #1 (the hill), but shortly before returning to the UK earlier this month, I worked out a way to do both, together with a few other variations. I set out to shoot a video of this reworked route through the alleys, and what follows is a series of video stills of the route. I haven’t uploaded the video to YouTube though, for reasons that I will explain when I come to it.

The start of #1 is straightforward:

The next two images show a path that branches off to the right and is followed later in the sequence:

Straight ahead appears to be the better option here, but it’s a dead end:

The next image shows the start of the hill, with the start of #3 to the left:

A short distance up the hill, a path comes in from the right and is accessed via the path that I referred to above:

There is another path at the top of the hill:

It actually leads all the way back down to Ho Sheung Heung Road, which would be fairly pointless, but as you will see, there are other options. I decided to assign #4 to this alley.

The path starts by passing a row of squatter houses. The second image shows that one occupant has decorated the outside of their house with crude but colourful artwork:

The left-hand option in the next image leads to the grave with bas-relief panels that I described in Photographic Highlights: 2018–19, so turning right is the way to go:

It leads to a steep and narrow path:

Turning left here leads eventually to Ho Sheung Heung Road, while turning right takes one back to the start of #1:

There are quite a few twists and turns:

…before rejoining #1:

The next image shows exactly why the video didn’t come out as planned:

I would eventually reach #1 again, but I knew that I would do so before the cyclist in the wide-brimmed hat, and I would therefore have to stop to allow him to pass.

This next sequence shows what the new path looks like:

The turn shown in the last picture leads to quite a rough section:

Having been forced to stop, Paula was slow to restart, so the following sequence of #3 shows me as a mere speck in the distance:

Serendipity #3 emerges onto Ma Tso Lung Road directly opposite the start of #2 (not shown in this final image):

I don’t think there are any more options hereabouts to explore, but shooting a video of the combined serendipity alleyways (sequence: #1, #4, #3, #2) is a high priority for the coming winter.