The Pokfulam Conduit

I had the opportunity to walk along the old conduit this weekend on the 2 sections available on the south&west side.

The first was between the HKU residences and the QMH and then the second section from QMH to the area of the landslide. There were a lot of people working on the construction site and it looks like they will fix the area sometime this year.

I am curious though - why is the old conduit not marked on any of the Countryside Series of maps? They are easily reached and not overgrown at all. More people would use the path if they knew about it.

For anyone interested, both south sections are now marked as a footpath on Openstreetmap.

TB

Hi there,

I have checked the Lands Office Maps Service site and confirmed the Pokfulam Conduit is visible in these maps:

1:1000

1:5000

1:10000

Those are sort of maps having survey precision and are available to order in the Maps office around.

Best Regards,

T

Hmmm.  Yet another example of inconsistencies between reality and Countryside series.  I wonder why they do this.  Countryside series is what hikers and walkers use the most.

Perfectly good trails (the conduit is just one example) are completely missing from the maps while very old and overgrown paths are there.  There must be some logic they are using, but I cant figure it out :-(

Hi there,

A little update concerning the landslide site.  It had been re-opened with the slopes above and below the conduit fixed.  One can now walk straight above HKU and go to the Lung Fu Shan Environmental Education Centre.  

I did not hear any running water in the conduit this time though.  Also part of the condut covers had been totally revamped with modern stone/concrete works.

I am yet to walk the whole length from QMH to Lung Fu Shan Environmental Education Centre.

I am unable to verify if the section of Cheung Po Tsai Ancient Trail above the conduit (Route 12 on my 1970's series of maps which ran around the peak) had also been restored.  Will have to go there again for another look later.

Best Regards,

T

Hi there,

It would seem sections of the conduit are under maintenance for a while.  I walked the possible length of it (except the sections under the University Hall and Queen Mary Hospital) from Pokfulam towards Conduit Road earlier this month and found sections of the covers (both original granite and latter concrete covers) had been pulled up, exposing the conduit.  Some of such sections looked quite new and was constructed in concrete.

I wonder if there are any of the old 19th Century British brickworks left except for the arches.

Thanks & Best Regards,

T

Hi There,

Unable to confirm the fate of the section that used to be behind the old Pathology block of QMH, now demolished and become a big construction site of the whole slope.

As for sections of Bik Shan Trial atop Pokfulam Road, I remember seeing some brick work at the edge when I look up from the Central bound side.  Don't know of those brick work are that old though.

T

South China Morning Post reports on the conduit, accessible here.

The work commenced in 1876 and was completed in 1877. A covered conduit was built that commenced in the gauge basin just below the old dam (old pokfulam reservoir), followed the contour along the hillside about 500 feet above the sea, and ended at the Albany Service reservoir.

Source:

The architecture of Hong Kong's Waterworks: A Historical and Typological Study by Mak Chung Kit, Lawrence (Thesis October 2004, University of Hong Kong) 

A copy can be requested here.

This is one of the most scenic trails I ever came across in Hong Kong Island when I was a teenager back in the late sixties. The scenery in the afternoon and early evening with the setting sun is most breathtaking. I regret that I did not take any photo of the trail then. Back then this conduit trail was not well known, and this trail was also not well marked on the map too. Remember, back in the sixties and seventies, there was no “Google Map” and no “Youtuber” introducing various scenic areas for people to visit!  Another reason why this trail was not well known was that access to this trail was limited to three locations only (maybe more now). I accidentally discovered this trail back in the late sixties when Hong Kong Electric Company began to build transmission towers to bring power produced by the Ap Lei Chau Power Station in Aberdeen, which was under construction at that time, to the western part of the city center of Hong Kong. The transmission towers started from the power station in Ap Lei Chau, went along the Pokfulam Dairy Farm properties behind Pokfulam village, spanned across the Pokfulam Reservoir, went along the west side of High West, and down to the lower slope of Lung Fu Shan (where the old Pinewood Battery was located) where the transmission lines turned into cables and went underground.  To facilitate construction workers accessing the job sites in Lung Fu Shan, foot trail was opened up from the job sites down to Pokfulam Road next to the #3 bus terminal (Now is #3B bus). This bus terminal is located near the intersection of Pokfulam Road and Pokfield Road. This downhill foot trail intersects the Pokfulam conduit and down a steep concrete stairway to Pokfulam Road. This is how I found this conduit trail when I explored this new foot trail from the job site down to Pokfulam Road.

Back to the Pokfulam conduit. It was so secluded that practically no one knew about this at all! (May be an exaggeration). There were only 3 locations that I was aware of that could access the conduit: one is from the Pokfulam filterbed, (now called Lung Fu Shan Environmental Center), located next to the west end of Kotewall Road, another one from the steep concrete stairway next to the #3 bus terminal in Pokfulam Road, and the last one was from the north side of Queen Mary hospital.  I still remember every time I walked through this trail, I never bumped into any other hiker. The conduit has stone slabs on top of the conduit which serve as the footpath.  The width of the conduit is small, about four feet wide, compared with that of the Aberdeen reservoir.  This trail is very flat for obvious reasons. The conduit was built for the purpose of routing water from Pokfulam reservoir to the filterbed by gravity feed. So, you do not want the conduit to go up and down. This is ideal for older hikers who do not want to exert themselves too much.  By the sixties, the Pokfulam filter bed was already not in use and so looks like the Pokfulam conduit had been abandoned for a while.

The full length of the Pokfulam conduit spans from Pokfulam reservoir to the Pokfulam Filterbed, located on the Lung Fu Shan hillside behind the Hong Kong University campus.  However, the section of the conduit between the south end of Queen Mary hospital and Pokfulam Reservoir was not readily accessible back then.  This is because a few apartments and mansions were built along that area and their private driveways ended up blocking part of the conduit. So, back then the accessible part was only from the north end of Queen Mary Hospital to Pokfulam filterbed.

Years ago I heard from some senior HKU alumni recalling they used to walk from University Hall (144 PFL Road) to QM Hospital and HKU's main campus along a rather hidden trail decades ago, when public transport along PFL Road was still limited. It could possibly be the conduit?

Thank you for relating to me the use of a “hidden trail” by some HKU alumnus to reach Queen Mary Hospital and the HKU main campus from the University Hall near the PokFulam Reservoir.

I believe that the “hidden trail” is actually the Pokfulam Conduit. Let me justify. There are actually 2 trails spanning along the west side of High West. One is the Pokfulam Conduit and the other goes gradually uphill. When it reaches the mid elevation of High West, it levels off and follows the contour of the hillside until it reaches Lung Fu Shan. One can then take the Hatton Road down to the back side of HKU campus, but I do not believe this was the hidden trail mentioned by the HKU alumnus. This is a long trail and would probably take at least 2 hours to get to the HKU campus.

I can understand why those HKU alumnus called it the “hidden trail”. The Pokfulam conduit is nestled along the hillside of Lung Fu Shan and High West with bushes and trees on both sides. It has very limited access. Before, Hong Kong Light Company built that steep concrete stairway up to reach the transmission towers in Lung Fu Shan, the conduit can only be accessed from the PokFulam filterbed near the west end of Kotewall Road and from the north end of Queen Mary Hospital. There are some dirt trails from Lung Fu Shan that cut into the conduit path but they are not well-marked footpaths. Depending on the rainfall, the overgrows can easily cover the trails on wet years and make them impassible. Unless you live in the neighborhood, you never know it ever exists and that is why I never bumped into any other hikers while using the trail.

Another reason why this trail is not well known has to do with the markings on the map. Back then, the most accurate map was the one published by the HK Government. It was a set of contour(topographic) maps (I forget the scale). However, Pokfulam Conduit was shown as a solid blue line and not a dotted black line which is usually the symbol used to indicate footpath.  This misled people to think it was just an open ditch only.  

From the University Hall, it takes about 15-20 minutes to reach Queen Mary Hospital. But to reach the HKU main campus, it would probably take about 30 to 40 minutes. The Pokfulam Conduit does not cut directly into the HKU main campus. It hugs along the hillside behind the HKU campus and so in order to reach the main campus, say, Loke Yew Hall,  one has to leave the conduit at a certain point, walking downhill thru a dirt path to the Westpoint Reservoir located next to the HKU main campus.  The Westpoint Reservoir was part of the HK Government waterwork and not part of HKU. There is a main road from the Westpoint Reservoir leading downhill to Pokfulam Road close to the west side main entrance of HKU.  (Will post an aerial photo with the route to the main campus highlighted in blue when I learn how to upload a photo to Gwulo) 

I strongly recommend you to try this trail and to enjoy the true beauty of mother nature. I have moved away from HK for more than 40 years and wish I have a chance to revisit this trail. I will upload this writeup to the Gwulo website next day.

Please see https://gwulo.com/node/2076