Two young sisters are hiking 144 kilometres in stages to raise money for ImpactHK, a charity that supports homeless people in Hong Kong. Winnie and Josie Wheeler, six and four years old respectively, are completing the 44km Hong Kong Trail and the 100km MacLehose Trail over a series of weekend hikes, and have just two stages left. “Doing it with my sister Josie and helping the homeless people has been the best bit,” Winnie said. “My favourite walk was stage two of the MacLehose Trail. We camped on the beach and a wild boar came to our tent.” Winnie is no stranger to long distance hikes. Last year, she completed the 70km Lantau Trail, again over several weekends , raising HK$22,000 for ImpactHK. “[About a week after the Lantau Trail] when I went to visit the homeless people I wanted to do another challenge to help them,” Winnie said. “I wanted a harder challenge because now I am older and better at walking.” The Hong Kong Trail stretches the width of the island, starting at The Peak as it snakes up and down over hills, including Mount Butler, Mount Parker and Dragon’s Back. The MacLehose is Hong Kong’s most famous trail. It starts in Sai Kung and passes the incredible white beaches at Sai Kung, Ma On Shan, and Hong Kong’s highest mountain Tai Mo Shan, before finishing in Teun Mun. Josie is going in at the deep end, having only joined for two of the shorter sections on the Lantau Trail. “I enjoy it more with Josie,” Winnie said. “It is so nice that she wanted to do it too. It’s more fun together. Sometimes she is slower because she has little legs but sometimes she is the fastest.” Starting with something shorter was not an option for Josie because she “wanted to do it together with Winnie”. “She has been kind and tells me to keep going when it is hard and my legs are tired,” Josie said. “The big steps going up the mountain [are the hardest part].” The hiking is much more difficult than Josie expected, but there are moments to savour as well. “I like stopping for lunch and eating pasta pesto,” Josie added. You can donate to the pair’s charity page here .
