Listen! Do you want to know a secret?

Happy again.

I have just discovered a wonderful secret and if you are very good, I might even share it with you.....

First, on a completely unrelated matter, we had a lovely night out with our friends: Jason, Linda and Jonathan, in the Aussie Grill in Central on Thursday. They have all been away for the summer and have only recently come back.

Jason, Peter, me, Linda, Jonathan.

However, back home, as usual I was moping about moaning about the heat and wishing I could do a hike, even a short one. Well, I was looking up something hike related, when I came across a reference to The Central Green Trail. "The what?" I said to myself. I had never heard of this, so I looked it up and discovered it's a walk leading from Central all the way up to the Peak. If you are unfamiliar with Hong Kong, Central is the main business district, which is very crowded and built up and the Peak is the tallest mountain on Hong Kong Island and is well known for its spectacular views and exorbitant house prices - some very wealthy people live up there.

I have been up the Peak lots of times and have done the walk between the Peak and Aberdeen and between the Peak and Pokfulam. Basically there are several ways to walk up the Peak. I've even read articles entitled six ways to get up the Peak and so on, but never once had I heard of this trail. When I read reviews of the trail, they were written by people who said things like: "I've lived in Hong Kong for ten years and regularly go hiking. I can't believe I have only just discovered The Central Green Trail." So, it's not just me.

The Central Green Trail.

I have absolutely no idea why this trail is not better known, because it is brilliant. It's filled with greenery, tranquility and history. It really is delightful to walk. First of all, let's be clear about one thing, it is currently very hot here and I am not crazy, so I did not actually walk up the Peak. I took transport up to the top and walked all the way back down on the Central Green Trail. If I ever do it the other way round, it'll have to be a lot cooler than 32 °C.

To get up the Peak I boarded a number 15 bus in Exchange Square Bus Station. It was a very busy bus. Crowds are back in Hong Kong again. In fact, at one stop, lots and lots of people got on, went upstairs and stood, as there were no seats left. You are not allowed to stand upstairs on buses here, because it's dangerous. (I actually can't remember if you can in the UK or not, but in Hong Kong it isn't allowed.) The driver pulled over and played a recorded message on a loop in Cantonese, English and Mandarin saying: 'It is forbidden to stand upstairs on this bus.' This went on for about ten minutes before the people finally got the message and went downstairs. For a while it seemed that none of us were going anywhere.

View from where the bus stopped for ten minutes.

I took a couple of shots out of the window on the bus ride up. It was a cloudy day, threatening rain and, although I didn't know it, the thunderstorm warning was up, too.

View from the bus.

View from the bus.

Now I say The Central Green Trail goes up the Peak, which it does, but it doesn't go all the way to The Peak Tower at the end of the number 15 bus route. The trail runs from the Peak Tram terminal in Admiralty to the former Victoria Hospital on the Peak. However, it is very easy to walk from the Peak Tower to the former Victoria Hospital and thus to the trail.

Before starting my descent, I had a short wander around the Peak itself looking at views. The big plus point nowadays is that the Peak Tram is running again. It was closed for refurbishment for fourteen months.The refurbishment cost HK$799 million. It included new tram cars, new rails, and newly refurbished termini at each end. I'm sure it is excellent, but I didn't have any intention of queueing up and paying lots of money to go on the tram. I have already been on it several times, but I do enjoy watching it. If you come here as a tourist, you should do it at least once though.

View from the Peak Galeria Mall looking down towards Pokfulam Reservoir.

The Peak Tram Terminus.

A Peak Tram about to leave from the Peak terminus.

I went to the Lions Pavilion Viewpoint. During COVID, I often had this totally to myself. Now it was crowded.

The Lions Pavilion.

The view from the Lions Pavilion.

The view from the Lions Pavilion.

The view from the Lions Pavilion.

The view from the Lions Pavilion.

I decided to continue on past it a bit and found there are other good viewpoints just slightly further along, too.

Selfie on the path at the top.

The view a bit further along.

The view from the top.

Then I returned towards the Peak Tram Station and headed down the little path next to it. This is known as Findlay Path. Findlay Path is named after Alexander Findlay Smith. He was from Scotland and in the early 1880's he came up with the idea of building the Peak Tram. This path descends quite steeply next to the Peak Tram line. In fact the trail I was on follows close to the tramline in quite a few parts.

Findlay Path.

The tram going down Findlay Path.

The tram going down Findlay Path.

The view from Findlay Path .

The view from Findlay Path.

The view from Findlay Path.

I passed some pretty purple flowers on my way down. I remembered a blog written by someone who walked down this path at night. It would be very dark here and easy to fall, but what interested me was that they kept disturbing lots of porcupines who seemed to be in plentiful supply here at night-time.

Flower on Findlay Path.

After walking for just five or ten minutes, I reached Barker Road. There is a tram stop here. I don't actually think the tram stops at these intermediate stops any more, but historically when the Peak Tram was used for transport rather than tourism, they would have done. I hung around the tram stop to take pictures of the trams passing through.

Tram station on Barker Road. You can go through the tunnel to reach the tram stop, but it's the other direction for the walk.

Information at the station.

Barker Road Station.

In Barker Road Station watching a tram pass by.

In Barker Road Station watching a tram pass by.

In Barker Road Station watching a tram pass by.

And one coming up.

To connect to the Central Green Trail from the bottom of Findlay Path continue on the right and walk along Barker Road. Barker Road is named after George Digby Barker, a former military commander who was acting administrator of Hong Kong between May and December 1891. There were parts with no pavements on this road and while there wasn't much traffic, it is necessary to walk with care. There are also some amazing views.

The view from Barker Road.

The view from Barker Road.

The view from Barker Road.

The view from Barker Road

The view from Barker Road.

The view from Barker Road.

I soon arrived at the site of the former Victoria Hospital. The year 1897 marked the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria and The Jubilee Committee started to raise funds to celebrate this event. Some of this money was used to build a hospital on the Peak. It was known as the Victoria Jubilee Hospital. It was a hospital for women and children. Its foundation stone was laid in 1897 and it was officially opened in 1903. This hospital had two general wards, a children's ward and four private rooms. In 1923 a maternity ward was built to the west of the main hospital building. The Japanese seized control of this building during World War II. Unfortunately, the hospital was very badly damaged by bombing and looting during the Japanese occupation and had to be demolished. Only the maternity ward could be saved. It was renovated into flats now known as Victoria Flats. These are used as accommodation for government officials. A building currently known as Victoria House was built on the site of the former hospital. This is now the official residence of the Chief Secretary of Hong Kong. I saw the flats that were built from the former maternity ward and the foundation stone of the hospital. Next to the memorial stone there is a weeping fig tree. Online I found an old picture of the original hospital building.

Victoria Flats.

Weeping fig tree.

Foundation stone.

Old photo of the hospital taken from the internet.

On the other side of the road from Victoria Flats is the Central Green Trail. It starts on Chatham Path. This is named after William Chatham, a Scottish-born engineer and government official, who was the Director of Public Works here from 1901 to 1921. I wandered downhill and was soon surrounded by greenery. All I could hear was the chirping of birds and the buzzing of insects. The city felt far, far away. There are several information posts on this walk. Some of these concentrate on nature and some on the historical sights that you pass. I noticed a rather impressive looking old wall jutting out at one point and wondered what it was. I later found out that when the maternity wing of Victoria Hospital was being built a lot of earth was removed and dumped on the other side of the road. It was later decided to level this heap of earth to make a tennis court and that necessitated building this retaining wall to stop the tennis court falling down.

Chatham Path Sign.

Stairs down

The curved wall that supports the tennis court.

Blissful greenery.

Fruit.

Ferns.

Later I saw an old mossy stone marker saying: 'No. 457 Mrs J.F. Macgregor Private Path, 私家重地﹐閑人莫進'. The Chinese means, 'private and no trespassing.' Apparently this path once led to the home of Jack and Dorothy MacGregor. He ran Caldbeck MacGregor, Hong Kong. This was established in 1864 and traded in wines and spirits. She was the daughter of Mr Shelton-Hooper, the first managing director of Hong Kong Land. Their house was called Inverdruie. Again the house was seized by the Japanese and ended up uninhabitable by the end of the war. The site was sold after the war and is now home to a residential development called Knightsbridge Court. I continued down the path.

Old house marker.

Path.

Path.

Every now and again there was an open viewpoint. The views were spectacular and there was no-one else there looking at them. I had them all to myself.

View on the walk down.

View on the walk down.

Selfie on the walk down.

At one point I noticed a path off the main path. I knew it wasn't the correct way but I could see a shrine there, so I went to investigate. It was a lovely little shrine. Very colourful and pretty. I saw there were notices up telling worshippers not to leave their usual fruit offerings as there were lots of wild pigs around and they would come and trample all over the shrine in order to eat them.

Shrine.

Shrine.

Shrine.

Shrine .

Notice about wild pigs.

Shrine.

Incense with a view.

Path next to the shrine.

I continued downwards and enjoyed more views.

Views.

Views.

When I reached the bottom of the trail, I saw a very impressive looking building that was labelled as one of the sights on my walk. It is located at number 1 Chatham Path. It was built at a time when people got up and down the Peak by sedan chair or rickshaw, so its only entrance opens onto a little path, not a road. The owners access it using a golf cart. This very attractive building has an interesting history.

It was built in 1927 by John Caer Clark as his private residence. Prior to the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong a Mr and Mrs Humphreys lived here. Mr Alfred David Humphreys was a merchant. He and his wife Elizabeth Agnes Humphreys were interned in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during the war. Elizabeth died there. She was just 54 years old. It is thought that a high ranking Japanese military officer may have taken over the house and started living there. In 1952 this building was registered as a private secondary school, the Chatham English School, for Chinese and Eurasian children. It stayed in business until 1973. Recently I read this building has become a rather exclusive art gallery, not sure if it is open to the general public. If it is, I'm going.

Number 1 Chatham Path.

Number 1 Chatham Path entrance.

Near 1 Chatham Road entrance.

Further down again and I reached the Gladdon. This is a building dating from 1929. It consists of fifteen garages with residential properties above them. These were built at a time when the main way of getting up the Peak was changing from the Peak Tram to the motor car. Rich residents on the Peak began to acquire cars and chauffeurs to drive them. The chauffeurs lived above the garages. The houses that the chauffeurs once occupied are now private residences.

The Gladdon.

The Gladdon is located on May Road, next to another tram stop, naturally I took a seat here and waited for trams to pass by.

Station at May Road.

Station at May Road.

Station at May Road.

I crossed the road and continued down the path on my left. I was now on Clovelly Path. Unlike the other roads, Clovelly Path isn't named after a person, it is named after a mansion, sadly now long gone. Clovelly Mansion was the home of George Hutton Potts. Originally from Yorkshire, he came to Hong Kong in 1885 and helped found the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. He was a great lover of sports and owned several race horses. He died of pleurisy in Mainland China, aged 72.

Clovelly Path.

Clovelly Path joined onto Brewin Path. This is called after Arthur Brewin. He was also from Yorkshire. He came to Hong Kong in 1888. He was a fluent Cantonese speaker. He became Justice of the Peace and an Inspector of Schools. In 1901 he became Register General and in 1911 Colonial Secretary. In 1906 he founded the Brewin Trust Fund to help elderly people in need. This still exists.

Brewin Path.

Selfie on Brewin Path.

Tree on Brewin Path.

Brewin Path led onto Magazine Gap Road. This is a busy road. There's no tram stop here, but there is a bridge where you can stand and watch trams pass by. The track is really steep here. I crossed the road at the lights and went down some steps onto Tramway Path. Looking back the way I could see a magnificent stone bridge. The tram passes under this bridge and Magazine Gap Road runs on top of it.

Tram.

Tram.

The bridge.

The bridge.

Passing under the bridge.

Building opposite tram. This is the Ex-Commodore's House, which was occupied by the commanding officer of the Royal Navy. It's now home to Mother's Choice, a day care centre.

Walking further down, I reached MacDonell Road Bridge Station. The current bridge dates from 1938. MacDonnell Road is called after the former Hong Kong Governor Richard Graves MacDonnell who was in office from 1866 to 1872. Apparently when MacDonell is transcribed into Chinese it has the same name as MacDonald 's fast food. This has led to a recent Instagram craze for Chinese Mainland tourists. They buy a Macdonald's takeaway and pose with it next to the MacDonnell Road sign

Trams.

Passing tram.

Mechanism for hoisting trams.

There are several nearby sights here. First of all, I had a look at The First Church of Christ Scientist which was built in 1912. This is lovely though difficult to photograph due to the traffic. It is a Grade II historic building. I only looked from the outside. Nearby is St Paul's Coeducational College. This started out as a girls' school in 1915, but was relocated to MacDonnell Road in 1927. It became Hong's first ever coeducational school in 1945.

The First Church of Christ Scientist.

The First Church of Christ Scientist.

St Paul's Coeducational College.

From here I continued down Tramway Path towards Kennedy Road. Again there are some historic sights. One of these is Zetland Hall. This is a masonic lodge dating from 1949. It was built by the architectural firm of Leigh & Orange. There was an earlier Zetland Hall but it was destroyed in the war.

Zetland Hall.

Nearby is Saint Joseph's College. This is an elite Catholic boys secondary school which was established by the French De La Salle Christian Brothers in 1875. It has several different wings.

One wing of St Joseph's College.

Another wing.

And another one.

Of course there were more trams around and I couldn't resist photographing them.

Tram.

Tram.

Tram.

Infrastructure.

Nearby is Saint Joseph's Church. The first version of this church was constructed here in the early 1870's. The present rather striking looking blue building located here is the third version of the church. The others were damaged in typhoons. The present church was designed by Peter K Ng in 1966. It is meant to resemble a ship.

Saint Joseph's Church.

Saint Joseph's Church.

I could also see Government House where the Chief Executive lives across the road from where I was. This is a difficult building to photograph due to all the roads.

Government House.

At this point I wandered off Tramway Path and walked down the main road. It didn't matter as I was pretty much at the end of the walk. I passed the Helena May Building. This is a private members' club which opened in 1916. The club was the idea of Lady Helena May, wife of the fifteenth governor of Hong Kong ( May Road that I had just been to was named after him.) Lady Helena May wanted to create a safe place for young women who were travelling from overseas to live and work in Hong Kong.

Side of Helena May Building.

Main entrance of Helena May Building.

Finally, I reached the Peak Tram Terminus and since I had missed the World Wildlife Fund Building by going off Tramway Path, I walked back up slightly to see it. This is the start or end of the trail.

WWF Building.

This had been a really enjoyable walk, but remember: "Shhhh! Don't tell anyone about it."