LSW 2123 Wednesday 19th July 2017

 

Ap Lei Chau

Hare - Cheesy Flying Fox
Write-up: Gobi Lo

LIT's FB photos

9.20km 105mins
Ap Lei Chau 170720 9.20km 105mins

After the (in)famous run (LSW2006) which Barbie and Ruggero set two years ago in Ap Lei Chau, I knew that it was just a matter of time before another foolhardy hasher would follow in their footsteps and set another run around the coast of this island. (Fun Fact #1: Did you know that yours truly was also the hash scribe for Run #2006?)

Enter Cheesy Flying Fox, who of course would set a “very technical” run.

So it was with a healthy dose of scepticism that the 14 hashers arrived at the run start and listened to the rather convoluted hash briefing – Rambos/Wimps split plus a “Greater Rambo” trail (golly, can someone trademark this already?), there’s also a lollipop loop so don’t get confused with the markings, there are ropes on the trail, the extra Rambos route will be hard and technical, etc. I missed half of it because I was chatting with Lost in Translation about her 4th anniversary with the Ladies Hash, and how 4 years ago she sat next to me on the bus on the way to the run start, and that it was the last time I ever went to the LH4. I promise it wasn’t because of you, LiT!

Off the pack went, towards Ap Lei Chau Bridge Road for the first check. Complete anarchy soon followed, with Wai Chee Kok and Burning Lust checking across the footbridge. Hopeless and I went up the hill on Ap Lei Chau Drive but no luck for us either. I went back to the check but ho hum, the rest of the pack had disappeared! I finally saw a chalk scribble on the right ledge of the bridge pointing right, and “UP”. So up on the ledge, to the catchwater (overtaking Kannot Finish on the uphill drain), over a fence, through a housing estate, and then down a shiggy route (stepping onto an ant’s nest in the process!) to another catchwater parallel to Ap Lei Chau Bridge Road.

At this point Hanna Montana and Wai Chee Kok were the only ones ahead of me. I soon heard a call of “Checkback!” so we ran back and forth along the small concrete path trying to find true trail. Dr Evil, Octopussy and Camel Driver were also running back and forth looking for trail, until after 5 minutes Anal Invitation shouted “On On!” along the catchwater. So who was it who saw the arrow and shouted “Checkback”? It could only be one of the two – Hanna or Wai Chee Kok…

The trail led us through more housing estates and to a bus terminus where the Rambos / Wimps split was, then up onto a single track trail on the Rambos and of course, more elevation to the only hill on the island, Yuk Kwai Shan (aka Mount Johnston). Up to the Trig Point with some fine views of Aberdeen and Ocean Park, and then following flour I headed down (apparently there was a Checkback at the Trig Point but no one saw it except Hopeless), hot on the heels of Anal Invitation. I then overtook Anal while happily bounding down the incredibly shiggy trail (complete with ropes!) and got to the isthmus (defined as “a narrow strip of land with sea on either side, forming a link between two larger areas of land”. Fun Fact #2: An isthmus is also known as a tombolo).

I was half expecting the trail to take a left turn, taking me to the shipyard which was the way Ruggero and Barbie set the run two years ago but NOPE – I saw clumps of flour leading across the beach … towards Ap Lei Pai! I was secretly cheering inside – I have always wanted to go onto the little island but could never find a time to do so – and grinning from ear to ear I ran across the sand, scrambling up the rocks and up to the highest point of the island. This was where the lollipop loops started, with several large flour arrows keeping me on the right side of the island and eventually leading me to the dead end of Ap Lei Pai and the lighthouse. I was stoked.

A check at the rocky cliff of Ap Lei Pai had me going up and down the rocks by the sea to find trail, only to find chalk markings directing me back into the shiggy. I ran through shrubs with no defined trail and bumped into Dr Evil and Wai Chee Kok who were just starting on the lollipop trail.

After the lollipop loop I got back to the isthmus and saw a lone headlamp light going around the coast of the main island Ap Lei Chau. I was just wondering why anyone would come this far on the Rambos and skip the awesome “Greater Rambos” route, when I caught up with the hasher and realised it was Anal. Overtaking him again, I scrambled up more rocks, boulders, over narrow planks of wood and tidal pools (it was low tide), up ropes and metal rungs – the stuff the best hash dreams are made of. It was then that I realised that this was the new Ap Lei Chau crag where all my rock-climbing friends have raved to me about! I could see the titanium bolts drilled into the sheer cliffs, and made a mental note that I should come back here to rock climb soon.

I was thinking how much fun I was having until the clumps of flour just stopped stone-cold. I went as far as the pebble beach but there was still nothing, so I headed back again. I went back and forth trying to find trail until the rest of the Greater Rambo runners (and lone Rambo runner - Anal) caught up with me, and we all tried in vain to find the next blob of flour while carefully skirting the slippery cliff edges.

Thankfully, Comes Up the Rear decided to press on ahead to the beach and found a blob of flour just a few feet away from the spot where I stopped looking earlier. Doh! So we went around the coast, over more boulders using ropes, wooden ladders and metal rungs. I was thrilled. The solitude, the sheer variety of terrain we go over, the ease of truly escaping from the city without having to drive for two hours – these are the reasons why I love hashing in HK so much, and Cheesy Flying Fox delivered the goods, and then some!

Comes Up the Rear and I got to the end of the rocky beach, passing a small group of people who were night-fishing at a rocky outcrop, A check at the row of warehouses behind Horizon Plaza. The check threw me off, making me run around in circles to the driving school and then back again. I was getting frustrated until I ran back to Lee Wing Street and saw trail, and shouted “On On!”. Along the road past the driving school, and again I lost trail!

At this point I have lost all the boys, thinking that they must have found trail without calling… so I decided to go up the reservoir road on a hunch and finally found a chalk arrow near the top of the hill, leading onto a set of concrete steps heading up.

And would you believe it, the trail led me up and up, then down (!!!) and then onto a single track dirt trail heading back up again. Finally I got onto the reservoir road heading down to South Horizons (by then the open checks were marked off – thank you W runners!) and through more densely-built housing estates which was a stark contrast to the secluded coast we scrambled over earlier. (Fun Fact #3: Did you know that Ap Lei Chau is the second most densest island in the world?)

Along the sea front, and then On Home where the sensible hashers (read: Wimp route runners) were already sipping their (second? third?) can of beer. I had to down a can of ice-cold soda water before I could speak and thank the hare for setting such an incredibly fun run. The other Greater Rambo runners started trickling in, with Wai Chee Kok bringing home the Dead F*cking Last title for the very first time. I would have bought her a consolation Kirin beer but alas they were all finished by Freewheel!

Down Downs by Hopeless

(Co?) Hare – Lost In Translation – unanimously voted as CCF’s stand-in having done 3 visits to 7-11 to make sure enough beers (but Sweaty not here this week!).

Wai Chee Kok & Burning Lust – not marking the CB after the Trig point.

Camel Driver – survived 2 hours on trail, will still be setting Friday’s run!

The “Wimps” – Hopeless, Octopussy, Freewheel and Kannot Finnish

CUTR – “stealth” hashing last week, late, ran, bash… no hash cash paid… LIT got you this week!

LIT (CCF) – people thought it would be a rerun of #2006 but CCF went right after the trig point, the long way out/back of Ap Lei Chau.

Those that did the Ruggero “rock climbing” run – Octo & Hopeless.

Burning Lust – finally agrees to set an LSWH3 trail – yet to see if he will set by himself or drags in a cohare on August 2nd?

Hannah Montana – back to beer drinking and Rambo hashing form (more of the former).

Due to shortage of beer and tiredness…. Time to go home! On On to (maybe) a SSG run next week.