Lamma Island Walk

I have done more walking in Hong Kong than I anticipated. Jos route marches everywhere in his rubber Crocs. He wanted to show me the island of Lamma and he certainly succeeded in that. Sunday was planned as a shortish walk to the other side of the island for lunch. The whole family – Jos and Sarah with Finlay (9) and Zander (6) – set out with me in tow around 10 am. We were meeting up with friends at a beach about 15 minutes away, then walking (or so I thought) in a leisurely way to Sok Kwa Wan, about 30 minutes on from the beach.

We waited at the beach and drank an awful cup of coffee then set off with the friends. What I didn't realise was that Jos and the friends had other ideas and on reaching what I thought was our destination a bit early, we diverted onto another path right over the top of the island. We walked and walked and walked. The path, concrete all the way – Hong Kong seems to be largely constructed of concrete – wound up the mountain in the centre of Lamma. There were fantastic views over the sea on all sides, but it seemed to go on forever. The stamina of the kids was amazing – they hardly complained, leaving the bulk of that to me, as my feet became ever more sore and I wondered if I would get to the airport or perhaps this was a cunning plot to keep me in Hong Kong.

When we reached to top, marked by a trig point, the way down seemed to drop into the abyss, with a million concrete steps disappearing into the vegetation and boulders strewn over the mountain side. My knees, my calves and my hips were complaining bitterly as I staggered down, wondering (a) if there was to be any lunch (b) whether I'd catch the plane Sydney and ( c) whether I would simply collapse by the side of the path like a retreating soldier staggering back from Moscow (this casts Jos in the role of Napoleon).

In the event I did manage to complete the long march, we did get lunch (albeit somewhat hurried) and then I was hit with the final surprise of the day. It had been planned to take a sampan back to Jos and Sarah's house. I had imagined myself having a delightful trip back across the bay, stretching out my tired legs with my shoes off. But, it being Chinese New Year, all the sampans had vanished with their owners. “We'll have to walk,” said Jos, and I could swear I saw a slight gleam in his eye. So my tired feet had another 45 minutes of walking and now I am sitting on the plane, with various bits of my body tingling and throbbing, exhausted from what should have been a leisurely two hours that turned into a gruelling five. Even Jos admitted “It was quite a day, really”.

But it was a wonderful five days in their company, surrounded by kindness and the warmth of a happy, though energetic, family. Thank you.