1979: The Formal Introduction of a Long-Distance Hiking Trail in Hong Kong

October 26, 1979

A hiking trail that spans much of the region of Hong Kong known as the New Territories made its public debut. This long-distance trail was officially opened by Murray MacLehose, Baron MacLehose of Beoch, who served as both governor of Hong Kong and the British Crown representative from 1971 to 1982; and Edward Hewitt “Ted” Nichols, who was director of Hong Kong’s Agriculture and Fisheries Department (the present-day Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department) between 1965 and 1980. (Hong Kong was a British colony and dependent territory until 1997, when it became a special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China.)

Nichols took the lead in having the trail named in honor of both McLehose and his wife Margaret, each of whom were avid hikers. The MacLehose Trail covers a total of 62 miles (100 kilometers) between Pak Tam Chung, an area in the southern part of the Sai Kung Peninsula in Sai Kung District; and Tuen Mun, a satellite town in Tuen Mun District. This trail is marked by 200 numbered distance posts — starting with M001 and ending with M200 — at 1,640-foot (500-meter) intervals. These posts feature the MacLehose Trail’s logo, which depicts a backpacker with one leg on a rock. (An example of these posts is pictured above.) The logo itself was designed by local artist Tong King-sum.

On October 26, 2019, the 40^th anniversary of the MacLehose Trail was celebrated with a series of celebratory activities sponsored by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department. These activities were held at Shing Mun Country Park, which is part of the trail and located in Tsuen Wan District.

Photo Credit: IndentFirstParagraph (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)

For more information on the MacLehose Trail, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacLehose_Trail