Snoopy and the Devil.

Close up of Devil's Claw.

Snoopy Rock.

Yesterday, I decided to do a hike on the Chung Hom Kok Peninsula. This is a beautiful area on the south side of Hong Kong Island. To get there I took bus 6X from Exchange Square Bus Station in Central and got off at Chung Hom Kok Beach Road.

I was planning to hike up to the top of the peninsula and visit the Devil's Claw and Snoopy Rock. I knew there wasn't a proper trail and that the path would be quite rough. Everything I had read about this hike told me to start climbing up through the shrubbery at the path marked with ribbons. Unfortunately, I chose the first of these, but I should have chosen one further along.

The path started off not too badly, but then got more and more overgrown. The ribbons I was following got harder to find. Several times I set out following a path only to find myself surrounded on all sides by thorny branches and having to retreat. I quickly realised I was not on the correct trail, but even finding the same way back was hard, so I decided to press on and hopefully join up with the correct path later.

Follow those ribbons.

Knowing that the Devil's Claw Rock was further over but not at the top of the cliff, I kept trying to proceed further along the peninsula without going up too much. This proved to be impossible and eventually I came to a rock face where the only thing I could do was climb up or retreat all the way back down, so I climbed up. When I got to the top, the views were amazing. I could look out over Chung Hom Kok and its silvery beach. I could look out over Stanley and clearly see the lovely restored Blake Pier. It was very very windy up there, so I had to be careful not to go too near the edge.

Chung Hom Kok.

Looking towards Chung Hom Kok over the rocks.

Chung Hom Kok Beach.

Looking towards Stanley.

Looking towards Stanley.

Looking towards Stanley and Blake Pier.

I wonder if this fence marked the edge of the military camp.

It was windy. Can you tell?

I was pleased to see there was a clearer path up here and I started to follow it. At some points I had to go through thick shrubbery again and got lost once or twice. Eventually I came to a clearing with good views. I realised I could see the Devil's Claw. I wasn't far from it, but it was below me.

The trail. This is a relatively clear way.

Beautiful flowers.

The Devil's Claw is a beautifully weathered rock formation that looks like a cloven hoof or demon's hand. The way down to it was extremely steep and slippery with lots of lose rocks and gravel. I started going down to it, but decided it was too dangerous, so I just photographed the Devil's Claw using my zoom. There was no-one else around, but I have seen photos and videos in which people climb up the rock and stand on one of the prongs for the perfect Instagram shot. The pockmarked surface of the rock apparently makes good footholds. However, for me just the thought of trying to balance on there is terrifying, so there was no problem with not being close enough to do that.

Devil's Claw and Chung Hom Kok Beach.

Close up of Devil's Claw.

Close up of Devil's Claw.

After enjoying the views from this location, which included more views over the beach as well as views towards the Deep Water Bay area and towards Red Brick Hill, I continued further back along the top of the peninsula. I came to a rocky area with some interesting shaped stones. There were lots of areas that were difficult to pass and sometimes I had to clamber over large rocks and drop off the other side.

Sea View.

Looking towards Deep Water Bay.

Sea View.

Rocks, rocks and more rocks.

Beautiful rocky view.

Rocky View.

Rocky View.

Rocky View.

View through the rocks.

Later, I came to an unnamed rock that many bloggers have suggested looks like a rat's head, because of its sharp pointy shape and two sticky up bits that could be its little ears. I guess I could see the resemblance.

The rock like a rat head.

The rock like a rat head.

After that I had to go through more shrubbery and then I reached Snoopy Rock. Now not everyone can see the similarities, but I think the shape of the rock really does look like Snoopy lying flat out on the roof of his kennel. I rather liked this rock formation. Again there were good views from here.

Snoopy Rock.

Snoopy Rock Close up.

I reckon Snoopy Rock is based on this sort of image.

Snoopy's Head.

He doesn't look like Snoopy now.

He doesn't look like Snoopy now.

Looking down on a boat.

I thought the Snoopy Rock also looked interesting from the other side.

Snoopy's nose.

Snoopy's nose from the other side.

The trail continued to be difficult after Snoopy Rock. To my surprise I suddenly heard someone sneeze. I had not seen a single other hiker and I couldn't even work out where the noise came from. Suddenly a man appeared from the shrubbery below. It wasn't that he had been trying to stay hidden. It's just that the shrubbery is so dense and high anyone walking through it is completely concealed. We greeted each other and I continued on my way.

After going carefully down a steep slope and through more dense vegetation, I arrived at a trigonometrical marker. The fantastic views continued all around.

Trigonometrical Station.

Trigonometrical Station.

Selfie at the trigonometrical station.

Soon I arrived at a large steep sloping rock with ropes attached to help people go up and down. This walk really was like being on an obstacle course. I got past this one by sitting on my bottom and sliding down. I was seriously beginning to wonder if my clothes would survive this walk with all the getting stuck on thorns and crawling or sliding over things.

Use the rope. I slid down on my bum.

The next thing I reached was a beautiful old army pillbox. I always like it when I find some historical remains and here most of these are related to the military. This was the first of several military structures I would see on this walk.

Pill box.

Pill box.

Pill box.

From the pill box I had to go down yet another obstacle. This one was a very rocky steep narrow path. Again it had ropes to help people navigate it.

After the pill box.

At this point I had had enough of pretending to be Indiana Jones, so I was delighted to see a metal walkway leading to some steep slope maintenance steps. I climbed down two sets of these before arriving at a locked gate marked 'Private Slope Maintenance Only'. It was very easy to get around this and out onto the road. In fact it was the easiest obstacle I had encountered all day. I was right next to The Cheshire Homes Hospital and a residential block.

The way back to normality.

Slope maintenance stairs.

Slope maintenance stairs.

I knew that if I headed right I would eventually arrive back at the bus stop, but I decided to go left to see what was down there. I was glad I did, because I arrived at an old army battery. The most noticeable feature was a domed concrete structure. Apparently the domed structure used to cover the lower cannon at this site to protect it when the upper cannon was fired. I think all traces of the upper cannon have now gone.

Pill box under a dome.

I believe this battery was built by the British in the 1930's as part of their coastal defence plans. When the Japanese invaded Hong Kong in 1941, The Royal Regiment of Artillery’s 8th Battalion was guarding Chung Hom Kok Battery. They were ordered to destroy the cannons to prevent them falling into enemy hands then retreat to Stanley. A similar fate befell the Cape Collison Battery and the Bokhara battery at Cape D’Aguilar.

There was a lovely sunflower painting on the wall here. There was a bride and groom posing for wedding photos near the battery. I wandered down more steps to the sea. There were more old structures here and another bride and groom were posing on them. I cheekily took some pictures of them, but at least I kept out of their way, so I didn't photo bomb their shots. When I climbed back up the steps, the first bride and groom were making their way down. I think they were annoyed that someone else was using their spot and that they were in a sort of wedding photo jam.

Sunflower.

Bride and Groom.

Bride and Groom.

I walked all the way back to the Cheshire Homes Hospital and continued past it towards the bus stop. I saw many, many old army storage units lining both sides of the road. Some of these were clearly abandoned and others still seemed to be used for storage, perhaps by the residential block.

Army Storage Unit.

Army Storage Unit.

When I reached the bus stop, I decided to take a detour down to the beach. This involved walking down a different road at the roundabout and going down several flights of stairs. I've been to this beach several times as we used to come here on school trips. It's a lovely beach and generally quieter than Repulse Bay or Stanley.

Welcome to Chung Hom Kok Beach.

Plan your shelter round the trees, Chung Hom Kok Beach.

Lovely purple flowers, Chung Hom Kok Beach.

Chung Hom Kok Beach.

Chung Hom Kok Beach.

Chung Hom Kok Beach.

Chung Hom Kok Beach.

Selfie at Chung Hom Kok Beach.

From the beach I could actually see both the Devil's Claw and Snoopy Rock, though I couldn't really take a good picture of them from this distance. I re-climbed all the stairs and then took a 6X bus back towards Central. I was a bit scratched and bruised from my earlier hike.