Lantau Trail stage4

The easiest way to the start of the trail is by bus to Ngong Ping (perhaps from Mui Wo - so taking the Best bus ride in Hong Kong). Here, perhaps visit the Buddha and the monastery; then on, along the path through the old Tea Gardens.

Here, you pass the somewhat ramshackle Tea Gardens restaurant - a good place for a drink and a simple meal, where there's also chance to try making the water splash in the Lucky Pan (the secret's in the rhythm; and yes, I can manage it).

There are farmyard geese here, too; adding some entertainment for people who take photos, but watch the geese don't peck them.

Just beyond the Tea Gardens is a rather curious, newly erected Stonehenge type thingy, made of telegraph poles with graffiti. (OK, so it's Buddhist calligraphy, carved on timber - yet really, shouldn't religious artefacts be created for religious purposes, not for tourism, drawing groups of tourists who get yelled at by guides with megaphones?)

Almost unnoticed by at least some of the tourists (that I've seen), there are tremendous views here, dominated by the magnificent craggy cone of Lantau Peak. (And yet, former Tourism Board chairman Selina Chow said Lantau is not too good for tourism as lacks "products"; oh dear, what to say, given the hills, the ravines and streams, the beaches and headlands and so on)

The Lantau Trail drops down from the peak, and you can start on it, as it drops again from below the telephone poles, to angle down the hillside above Shek Pik Reservoir. Just before a steep waterfall (only good after heavy rain?), the trail turns right, down fairly steep rock steps.

Then, the trail becomes almost a level, hugging contours below Ngong Ping (seemingly far, far from the crowds at the Buddha).

Glance back at times, for fine views of Lantau Peak, now not appearing as a cone.

The trail passes through secondary woodland - good for shade.

You cross a small stream, with views down over the reservoir.

Signs warn that this stream can be dangerous when in flood. But it's usually placid, especially in late autumn - making this a pleasant place to linger, before walking on to the road, to catch a bus (to Mui Wo, or Tung Chung).