Hong Kong Cycling Routes Collection – FoTan to Ngau Tam Mei / Fairview Park
Today is 10 June 2018, Sunday and with highest temperature over 35ºC. What a hot and sunny day!
After a week of heavy rain and tropical typhoon, its time for outdoor activities again.
With two of my cycling buddies, we went on a ride to Ngau Tam Mei near Yuen Long.
The first part of the journey is the same as the one from FoTan to Lo Wu and you may click here for more details on the route to Lo Wu.
We will then ride along the old border road to Lok Ma Chau Road. Jumping onto San Tin Tsuen Road and then climbing along the Shek Wu Wei Road to Ngau Tam Mei. Today’s destination will be Fairview Park, a large residential area near Yuen Long.
The Ride to Lo Wu
We started our ride from FoTan and arrived at Lo Wu by noon.
As it has been raining for the past one week, water level of the Ng Tung River increased quite a lot and the maintenance path leading to Lo Wu control point was completely flooded. We have to ride through the water in order to continue our journey.
After a short break, we continued our journey along the old border road via the village road next to the police post.
The Ride Along the Old Border Road
The old border road is about 5 Kilometres in length and is surrounded by grasslands and fish ponds. This used to be a closed area enclosed by fences erected along the frontier. However, as part of the frontier closed area reduction programme, this portion of the old border road was opened to public in 2013.
The new border road was subsequently move back to the bank of the Shenzhen River as shown below.
With its beautiful natural scenery, it becomes one of the hotspots for bike touring and hiking.
Looking back and you would notice that a lot of high-rise buildings in the Shenzhen business area closed to the border.
Iron fences were originally built along the border road. With the reduction of the frontier closed area, they were removed completely.
If you looked carefully, you will notice that there are a lot of small yellow concrete pillars along the old border road (as below). These are the base of the old fences.
Strong spotlights were also erected along the border. Noticed that all the lights are facing the side of Shenzhen (Right hand side of the above picture) in order to check for any illegal immigrants.
By the way, despite there are also some light posts installed along the old border road, my past experience is that they are normally NOT turned on after sunset. So be sure to bring along you front and back lights with your bike.
Further down the old border road is the Lok Ma Chau (Police) Operational Base that oversee the areas long Lok Ma Chau and the Lo Wu.
At the end of the old border road is the 荷花農莊 (Lotus Farm), a place that used to be a Lotus and fish breeding farm but was abandoned many years ago. Ever since the removal of the old border, Lotus Farm has become a place selling drinks to the holiday riders.
By the way, currently there is a mega-scale government development programme undergoing in the area. The programme is the “Lok Ma Chau Loop” which turns this area into an innovative and high-tech technology park linking Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
Seems like the owner of the Lotus Farm has a keen interest on this opportunity and he is now renovating the farm and resuming his old business. Good luck to him!
At the end of the old border road, we arrived at the Lok Ma Chau Road.
I was very surprised that the traffic was extremely low along the Lok Ma Chau Road. Those mainland visitors used to visit here for shopping were gone. What has happened??
The Ride to Ngau Tam Mei
We continued our journey along the Lok Ma Chau Public Transport Interchange and rode onto the San Tin Tsuen Road.
We stopped at the end of the San Tin Tsuen Road and was eager to meet something.
What’s that?
Yes, a wide-spread of Lotus flowers along the San Tin Tsuen Road.
Next came the climb of the day – Shek Wu Wai Road. This is a short village road leading to some residential blocks and large area of warehouses.
After a short climb of 1.5 Kilometers, we descended into Ngau Tam Mei Road along the Tam Mei Barracks.
Our Destination – Fairview Park
Unloaded and moved into the Fairview Park – A large residential area with over 3000 houses.
Finally, we sat down and fed our bellies.
Since we were slightly running out of time, we opted to use the GoGoVAN service (A Start-up in Asia that is similar to Uber but dedicated to Goods delivery) to take us back to FoTan rather than pedalling back.
Leaving us more time to clean our muddy bikes.
Summary for today’s ride – 45 Kilometers
3-D visualisation generated with Relive
Route Information
| Route Name | FoTan / Ngau Tam Mei / Fairview Park |
| Background | The first part of the route to Fairview Park is the same as to Lo Wu. At the Lo Wu Control Point, we moved into the old border road to San Tin. With some climbing along the Shek Wu Wai Road, we will arrive in Ngau Tam Mei and the destination at Fairview Park.
This is a route spanning across city and country side. Not much climbing but with wonderful view of the old Hong Kong frontier. |
| Distance | 45 Kilometers |
| Starting point | FoTan Railway Station |
| End point | Fairview Park Shopping Mall |
| Point of Interest | Old border road, San Tin Tsuen Road, Ngau Tam Mei, Yau Pok Road, Fairview Park |
| View (1 to 5 👍; with 5 for the most stunning view) | 👍👍👍👍👍 |
| Difficulty (1 to 5 💪🏼; with 5 is most difficult) | 💪🏼💪🏼 |
| Support facilities | |
| Food & Drinks | Lots of local cafes, restaurants along Taipo, Sheung Shui and shopping mall of Fairview Park. |
| Toilets | Public toilets in Taipo, Sheung Shui and shopping mall of Fairview Park. |
Nice post
Lok Ma Chau does seem a bit quite, hopefully it will stay that way, give us some peace and quiet
With the development of the Lok Ma Chau Loop, most of the people are excited and eager to grep the opportunities. Changes are gonna come 😬