Overseas Walks: Lamma Island paved wilderness walkways
Iwas invited to my niece’s wedding, held in Hong Kong at the end of November, 2018. I debated this for some time thinking that one week was too short. It turned out to be a good time frame.
Flying out from England were my sister, my brother-in-law and their other daughter. We all met at the airport, our flight from New Zealand arriving within half an hour of the one from England.
My niece found an apartment for the four of us on Lamma Island, a pleasant 25 minute ferry ride from Central Hong Kong.
The island is very popular with commuters and tourists on weekends.
It has a very laid back feeling due in part to there being no vehicles on the island apart from emergency vehicles and motorbikes (with a trailer attached) used in the construction industry or delivering food stuffs from the ferry to shops and restaurants.
Watch your back as the drivers often drove at break neck speeds. Therefore many people use bicycles for getting around. At the ferry there are bike racks for maybe a couple of hundred bikes. There is also a height restriction of three stories on any buildings. My kind of place!
The weather was very similar to the weather we had in New Zealand at the time I left. I departed New Zealand in drizzle and there was steady rain when I arrived in Hong Kong. There was intermittent rain over the next two days.
The temperature was pleasantly warm. I had packed one pair of jeans which I didn’t wear, just lived in shorts. The morning of the wedding the rain only just held off.
There are lots of walkways on Lamma Island, with the majority being paved. These were put in by the Gerkas. It seemed very strange to be walking in a wilderness area on mainly concrete or cobbled paths.
At several places there were pavilions in the style of a Chinese temple. These were places of shelter, rest and sometimes they had BBQs.
At some of them there would be a vendor selling much welcome drinks or ice-blocks. Most of the paths we followed were of a reasonable gradient with some very steep inclines thrown in to keep you honest.
Unfortunately some of the beaches were not a pretty sight as
there was lots of rubbish littering them. I hope this was due to the typhoon that had been through six weeks prior to our arrival and not to a lack of concern for the environment. (There were recycling bins in town).
One of our walks took us past the Kamakazee Caves, where the Japanese hid their speed boats during WW2. There was water in the caves with lots of debris; needless to say we didn’t venture in.
Another day’s walk was to the south east of the island. We had lunch on a giant rocky outcrop. We met an elderly Chinese woman and