Bushwalking, the border, the restricted areas recently open for the public, an old mine… A nice little adventure up North next to Shenzhen.
- Beauty/fun: 5/10. Robin’s Nest can have nice views of all the hills nearby, including Shenzhen’s. The mine is small but interesting considering the little “caving” opportunities in Hong Kong.
- Difficulty (check this link if new here, this is not your standard HK hiking web): 2/10 for the blue route. Minimal bushwalking. Steep slopes, but with no cliffs. Sandy bit slippery surface uphill, no downhill. 3.5/10 if doing the green instead, as the downhills are a bit more slippery, the navigation is not as clear and you have the option to visit more mines easier. The mines themselves are small and easy to navigate, once you pass their entry: fenced now (2019)…
- Map (how to download to your phone offline maps)
Usual transportation would include MTR to Fanling and (mini)bus or taxi to Sheung Ma Tseuk Leng Tsuen. Cross the little village plaza and cross the bridge.
You will start climbing up the hill immediately. Initially within the woods.
Little later on a dirt path with nothing more than bushes around.
The path is sometimes steep but clear. I have tried others around and were more overgrown or just concrete. So I’d recommend this way up. Highest altitude is approx 350m here. Perfect to see the urban Mainland (Yantian) vs the rural Hong Kong. Both pics were taken from the exact same location.
The initial plan was heading to Shun Yeung Fung
and visit some abandoned surveyance position next to the border, but it was drizzling a bit
and it was a bit too slippery for the other two. So we decided to go back and head directly West to Robin’s Nest. Blue line. For green see below.
From the top of Robin’s Nest, you can see Lin Ma Hang, Shenzhen, the landfill and others below. In our case, it was too foggy, so 360° pic from Google Maps can give you an idea.
Go back down and find the path heading to Lin Ma Hang. Exactly here in front.
In some areas gets bit steeper, but the surface is easier than the initial uphill. You will find remains of the previously restricted area. Crossing the old double gates.
It can get a bit confusing here. If you head out of the main path you might still find boards saying that you should not go ahead. I tried to talk on the phone with the local police once to confirm if I could continue or not giving the exact position where I was. The answer I got is “if you are not lost and know your way back through the paths just continue ahead”… Mmmm… OK… Same same with the entrance to the mine itself. First time around I could read the billboards saying that you could not go in. The second time I found some workers there and they told me (conversation with my broken Cantonese) that I could go ahead meanwhile I was not breaking anything… OK, again…
Pic of the side path into the mine. Tons of ribbons marking it.
You will arrive there in no time.
Here another photosphere of the main entrance chamber.
Update 2019: The government set fences all around the main entries and there is a new sign that says the same as the old one.
So go in under your own responsibility. The inside is relatively easy to navigate. The ceiling is quite high.
Shiny in some parts.
You can find water in some of the passages.
You can go down a bit and back up. Exit.
Here a video of some of the things seen. The quality is not the best with the phone camera trying to stabilize and add too much light…
There is a spot perfect for pictures. Although this is not especially good, on foggy days you have a good background.
Once you finish in the mine you can continue the same path for some more adventurous option. Otherwise, if you want to do it easy, just go back to the main path to Lin Ma Hang. You will soon see the border. Barbwire, a narrow “no man’s land” and on the other side Shenzhen.
The village down is just some houses, a playground, and a bus stop. The minibus departing from there (59k) would be perfect to go back to Sheung Shui station. But the road there crosses the Frontier Closed area and therefore it is not good unless you have a valid permit (2017).
So continue on the concrete path South direction.
In the map above marked the easiest path again. You can take other routes, but tend to be way more overgrown and there is nothing especially interesting to see, but the landfill from atop, if you would like that… Continue up with too many ribbons again…
Another billboard let behind…
You will arrive at a concrete (Shek Tsai Ha) road. If you just cross it and continue on the path you will walk next to a peculiar stream. It can be extremely orange colored.
Easy to follow path.
Down to the landfill exit. Again here asking if I could go ahead and the workers there pointing to the ribbons that take you to the Wo Keng Shan road.
Walk on the road up to the first bus stop you can find around. Marked above the one that Google Maps said was the closest for us. 20-30min of not much fun.
April 2019 further update: In the main mine itself the only difference is that due to less “human traffic” due to the fences and others the bats have made it their home. It is full of them and there are signs around letting you know that hurting or disturbing them is highly fined. Thereof there were some areas where we did not go into.
The green line added is the route we did this time. A more interesting one. It includes visiting the old border observation points, paths that are really close to the real current border and adits to the lower mines.
Here some pictures and a short video.
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