a morning walk

In a recent post, I mentioned being unable to ride a bike as a result of aggravating a long-term lower back injury, but at least I can walk, meaning that when I finally get back on my bike, I won’t have to deal with quite the same degree of loss of fitness as I had to put up with after enduring a tedious 21-day quarantine when we came back to Hong Kong in September.

Although we have quite a few walking options from where we live, in a village a short distance east of Fanling, we usually head south or east. However, Paula had said that she wanted a longer walk, so I thought that if we headed west, following the Ng Tung River, and return via the Shek Sheung River, then that should meet her requirements.

Unfortunately, our local river isn’t quite the scenic delight it was a year ago, with work on the so-called Fanling North bypass now steaming ahead:

To say that this bypass is unnecessary is an understatement. Ma Sik Road, which runs alongside the line of high-rise apartment blocks that you can see in some of the photos below, is a dual carriageway that joins Sha Tau Kok Road, also a dual carriageway, which is the main road east out of Fanling. Where’s the need for another bypass?

Anyway, the first new obstacle to be negotiated on our way downstream is a temporary footbridge:

I have no idea why part of the bridge has been caged off, which makes the usable part uncomfortably narrow if you happen to meet someone coming the other way. The sign reads ‘Please dismount and push’ and is repeated every 2 metres across the bridge—an injunction that the majority of cyclists ignore:

It feels very strange to walk along too: the red, black and grey sections are made up of rubber pimples of different sizes!

Having crossed to the north side of the river downstream (see below), the new road will recross the river just upstream from the temporary footbridge. This is a shot of the work done here to date:

It is still possible to capture a few picturesque scenes as we make our way downstream. This is a view of the first permanent footbridge from the south side of the river:

…and this is a shot of the river, looking downstream, from that first footbridge:

Construction work on the downstream crossing point of the bypass, next to the second permanent footbridge, can be seen in the distance. And this is what it looks like from a much closer viewpoint:

This is an even closer look at the construction work here, first on the north bank:

…then on the south bank:

There is currently no construction work downstream from this point, but there will be, eventually. This is a view of the river from a point downstream from a minor road that crosses the river:

The high-rise buildings in the distance are in Shenzhen.

And this is a view of the bridge carrying Man Kam To Road, a major highway into China, looking back upstream:

The section downstream from Man Kam To Road is quiet and peaceful, but it eventually comes to an end at the main railway line into China. However, it’s possible to cross the railway via a tunnel:

When I first started exploring ‘out west’, this is the way I came. Being on a bike, I didn’t notice whether there was a sign here, but on foot, you have time to check out this kind of thing. The sign on the left reads:

WARNING
TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS
PLEASE STAY AWAY

I remember when I first started using this tunnel, I wrote to the local district council to ask whether it could arrange for the floor of the tunnel to be concreted. It is broken and rife with potholes, but nothing was ever done to rectify it. However, the tunnel isn’t the problem here. This is:

I estimate the slope angle at around 35 degrees, but the difficulty on a bike here is not just the steepness. It’s a 90-degree turn onto the start of the ramp, so it isn’t possible to hit it with any momentum, and if you do stray offline and hit one of the lumps on either side, you will stall immediately. In fact, the first time I cycled this way, I assumed that it was impossible, so I would get off and push my bike up the slope, but I eventually gave it a try, and to my surprise, and delight, I managed to ride up the ramp.

I wasn’t always successful though. It didn’t help that my tyres were often wet after riding through puddles in the tunnel, and I occasionally failed to hold the line and ended up hitting one of the lumps. Anyway, I found a much better route west years ago, and I no longer cycle this way. However, I still pass the exit point, and I’ve noticed that it remains popular with recreational cyclists, so I assume that accidents do happen here. I’m not about to disclose the alternative though, because it involves cycling through a squatter area, where large groups of cyclists would be a nuisance.

The path then emerges onto a Drainage Services Department (DSD) access road just downstream from the confluence of the Sheung Yue River (right) and the Shek Sheung River:

Until a few years ago, we used to see a feral buffalo regularly further up the Shek Sheung River, and, naturally we called him ‘Bill’. I took a photo every time we saw him, which you can see in Buffalo Bill, although, sadly, he’s no longer around.

Had we been cycling home from this point, we would simply have followed the cycle track that starts where the DSD access road ends, but being on foot, I thought that we should cross the railway via a footbridge that leads to a tight cluster of nine villages that now form part of northeastern Sheung Shui. My aim was to show Paula the historical buildings in the area, which I’d visited several years ago but I knew Paula had never seen. These will be the subject of a future post, but here is a view of the front of the Liu Man Shek Tong Ancestral Hall, which was built in 1751:

After our tour of the local history, our route home would take us across the forecourt of Sheung Shui Fire Station, and just as we were about to cross, we became aware that a fire engine was about to pull out:

I did think that more appliances were getting ready, but we had time to both cross the forecourt and the road. Then I looked behind, and a second appliance was on its way out of the station:

After taking this photo, I put my phone away, but I should have known better. I knew that the standard protocol for urban fires is for multiple appliances to attend, no matter how small the reported fire. Had I waited, I might have captured a photo of three fire engines in a line roaring off down the road.

The rest of the walk home was uneventful.