Wednesday 7 November- Today we travelled by bus out into the New Territories a region of wetlands, parks, forests  and mountains north of Kowloon for a cycling and hiking tour.  Our guide was a very tall Aussie who has lived in Hong Kong for many years, called Alex.

It was a another very hot day with the sun beating down, so plenty of sun cream needed.  We cycled out to Plover Clove, chained up the bikes and hiked on narrow trails through thick vegetation and trees to an area of lush green vegetation, steep sided hills covered by trees and isolated water falls.

Unfortunately at the first water fall we found a large party of college students.  So we hiked a little further along the trail until we came to second waterfall which we had all to ourselves.  I had planned to go swimming, but the water was not that deep and the floor was covered with stones and boulders, so I decided to give it a miss.  But it was lovely just sitting there listening to the water cascading down the mountain.

Whats amazing is that the New Territories is part of Hong Kong.  A place so full of greenery, so quiet and peaceful, not what most people envisage when they think of Hong Kong.

Our Scott did not travel with us as he was meeting with officers from the Hong Kong Police force at their headquarters on Hong Kong Island.

Tonight is our last evening in Hong Kong and the last evening of our holiday.  Late tomorrow evening (Thursday) we fly home, a 13.5 hour flight getting into Heathrow at 4.45am on Friday morning.  On our bike ride today the it was bright sunshine all day and a temperature which rose to 82f, the forecast for when we arrive back in Sheffield on Friday morning is 48f and for rain, some contrast.