At 958 metres Tai Mo Shan might be the highest mountain in Hong Kong, but conquering it is, thankfully, not too hard. We start our walk at Shing Mun reservoir, where we follow the gently climbing old Tsuen Wan – Tai Po Road (now closed) to Lead Mine Pass probably spotting a few monkeys along the way.
After a brief break at the pass, the assault on Tai Mo Shan starts in earnest. A long flight of steps partly in the shade help us gain altitude. This is then followed by a relatively flat high plateau. At first we look down towards Tai Po, Tolo Harbour, and the Pat Sin Leng range. Later Lion Rock and, if the weather is clear, Hong Kong island come into view.
At the end of the plateau, the path drops a little, before steeply – but “steplessly” winding its way up to the summit of Tai Mo Shan, while offering views over the Shek Kung Valley and the Lam Tsuen Country Park. The actual peak itself is covered by a radio transmitting station, but you can’t legally get any higher than this in Hong Kong. With nothing blocking our view, we will take a well-deserved lunch break here to soak it all up.
We descend Tai Mo Shan along a well maintained, but little used road – negotiating the hairpins as they come along while looking down at Tsuen Wan, Tsing Yi and the new bridges. In the distance we pick out Castle Peak, the airport and the peaks of Lantau Island.
Just before we reach the end of our hike at Route Twisk, we drop in at the Tai Mo Shan visitor’s centre. We might also want to sit down for a minute or two at the refreshment kiosk, before starting the journey back to the city.