This section starts off the Hong Kong Trail in style.
The hike is of medium difficulty overall, though this is mostly due to the second part. The first part on Lugard Road is very easy (flat, paved road) and offers spectacular views of the city. If you're only looking for a short excursion from The Peak, you can walk Lugard Road and then walk back to The Peak on Harlech Road.
The whole section is 7 kilometres long and takes about 2 hours to walk.
If you want to go straight to the photos, see Photos: Hong Kong Trail, Section 1.
The trail starts at The Peak, one of the most iconic attractions in Hong Kong. Naturally, there are plenty of options to get here: The Peak Tram, Bus, Taxi... I want for a walk this time. Usually when I walk to The Peak I walk up Hatton Road, also known as the Morning Trail. It's a bit longer but less steep compared to the Old Peak Road. Beware that it's still a relatively tough walk up.
Looking down at the city from The Peak, the beginning of the trail is on the left hand side of the Peak Tower (the building which has the lookout platform). There is an intersection with four roads, the rightmost one starts the trail. Signs with the texts "Lugard Road" and "Hong Kong Trail" help showing the right way.
Many people that have lived in Hong Kong for a while will recognise this part of the section. The road stretches along the northern slope of Victoria Peak and offers spectactular views of Victoria Harbour.
Trees mostly cover the view for a the first few hundred meters, on the other hand the local flora and fauna is well-documented on plates along the route.
This part of the trail is easy to follow; just stay on the main road (Lugard Road). There are a few offshoot roads leading uphill to the actual peak which are not part of the trail. The first few vantage points on the trail offer views towards the east parts of Hong Kong Island.
Walking on the main road for a while more, you'll get to the main vantage points with the best views of Victoria Harbour.
After passing the lookout points, the road turns in to the forest a bit and stretches past a few residential houses. Not very far from there is the end of Lugard Road, where there is a park and another road coming from right/behind. The trail continues after a sharp right turn; the path to Pok Fu Lam Reservoir is clearly marked with a sign.
Right after the sharp right turn, there is another intersection where Hatton Road goes down to the city. The trail continues straight.
The trail gets a bit narrower but it's still an easy, paved road. It starts to go downhill westwards towards Mount Davis, and the view of Victoria Harbour gradually diminishes as well as the city sounds.
After a small walk, the end of the road is reached at Long Fu Shan Viewing Point. From here you get an overlook of Kennedy Town, Mount Davis and Pok Fu Lam as well as quite a few outlying islands if the weather is good. This particular day was rather smoggy, so I didn't see all the way to the horizon.
After this part of the section, the real hiking begins. The trail continues where there is a path of stones leading to a stairs going down.
The way down will be steep at first, and mostly stairs. From the path you can see the western parts of Hong Kong Island with Lamma Island in the background. After a while the trail gets flatter.
After some walking, there is a choice to either follow the trail straight or turn right and head down to the reservoir. I chose to turn right here and walk the rest of section 1 backwards from the other side of the reservoir.
The main trail offers a longer walk through the forest with plenty of streams (making for a nice hike), while the reservoir route is shorter and has a few historical buildings. You can only see a small part of the reservoir from the main trail.
The road down to the reservoir goes past a big building and some old air vents, which are declared a Grade II Historical Structure in Hong Kong. From there it continues to the left.
The first thing you see when you come down is the Former Watchman's Cottage and the reservoir itself. From here you can go right to see some more historical structures, however being a bit short on time I skipped that for this occasion and went left instead.
Walking along the reservoir you'll see some streams leading down to the water. I also saw a couple of people fishing, which is at the time of writing permitted from September 1 to March 31. A license is required but only costs HKD 30 for 3 years (Source).
Continuing the path eventually leads to a few waterworks installations and after that it goes uphill again. Not far away is a roundabout, which marks the end of section 1.
Walking backwards on the main trail, the road goes uphill for a while. After a left turn there is a small stair on the left hand side of the road; this is the trail. The paved road goes back to The Peak.
The trail winds back through the forest with plenty of streams and small bridges crossing them. Overall this is the most soothing part of the walk.
After a couple of kilometres through the forest, the point is again reached where I turned down to the reservoir and the hike is complete.
I chose to walk back to Hatton Road and walk home from there, but the main means of transportation from here is probably to take the bus from the "Pok Fu Lam Reservoir Road" station. It's reachable by walking down to the reservoir and turning right after the Former Watchman's Cottage.
A pleasant hike clearly divided into two parts, the first offering terrific views of the city and the second a more soothing experience. I agree with the medium difficulty, due to the second part which can be a bit narrow and steep at times (but nothing too bad). It's almost only downhill, so don't expect a cardio workout from this section.
For more photos, see Photos: Hong Kong Trail, Section 1.