tim's experiment

Our former dog – she died last August – was not much of a walker in her autumnal years. Five minutes and a quick performance on a newspaper were enough. Her replacement (we only lasted a week) is a frisky young thing, so I am now revisiting all the coutry walks within reach of an energetic dog and a mature owner. This has had its sad moments. I occasionally forget which dog I am walking. But it is nice to get out. Since my last career as a long-distance dog walker, though, one controversial amenity has appeared: concrete steps.

Some people get quite apopletic about the appearance of concrete in country parks so I had better explain straight away that for this particular flight of fancy there is a good reason. The stairs lead up to a hill-top on which a small reservoir has been built, so that a village in the valley below has a proper water supply instead of depending on informal tappings of a nearby stream. I must also say that the piece of path now replaced was not a popular favourite. It was steep, and being shady and windless was rarely dry. In a way I shall not miss it. On the other hand our piece of country park does exemplify the problem. Many of the paths have either disintegrated or been subjected to artificial help ranging from a bit of volunteer spade sculpture to full-blown replacement with concrete,

One long slope which I occasionally reached with First Dog  became a flight of steps some years ago. This was unavoidable. A much-used path eventually becomes a waterway in the rainy season. The water then sculpts a gully which could have been designed by nature to break ankles. Huge holes appear. Unless an alternative route is available the path has now reached the end of its natural span, and must either be replaced or decorated with warning notices suggesting that people should walk somewhere else. In other paths the efforts to patch things up with small planks embedded in the steps have reached decrepitude. The dirt which the planks supported has eroded away. Someone has tried to repair the steps with bricks and small splashes of concrete. But the steps are disintegrating. Drastic action will soon be needed. Some subsiduary paths which used to be difficult to follow have now disappeared altogether. Two small bridges have collapsed. Other paths which are still perfectly usable must be difficult to find if you have not used them before. They are very overgrown and there are no signposts.

And this seems to be the real problem. Hong Kong has some great walking and a lot of hikers. But the hikers, and the park-keepers, pay all their attention to the same few routes. The path which is much walked and frequently maintained is the one which goes up to the Maclehose Trail. Get off that beaten track and the only paths which get any attention are the ones required for access by the water people or China Light and Power. Whole networks which are clearly marked on old maps have disappeared. So the busy paths get busier, until they have to be concreted, and then the walkers complain. We need a local counterpart of that NGO in England which used to campaign to keep public footpaths open. Otherwise the popular and well-cared-for places are going to get awfully crowded. And those of us who like solitude at weekends will have to walk in Central.