Before the expected Bank Holiday rain comes a post to celebrate the variety of natural surfaces created by those unsung size 10 heroes . Remember it's walking that creates good walkers' paths, not bikes, and it can take years. And the heavy machinery used by SWT on bridleways is more suitable for motorways. Sheep are not really good path makers having a different agenda and cattle can wreck a path as happened last year. Deer do their own thing entirely often creating new routes through awkward vegetation, and in doing so helping to open out ways into thick bracken.
Typical of local walking paths is the grey cracked soil (above) so firm that a satisfying thump can be heard as each boot strikes the ground.
Then the wonderfully soft carpet like effect created by years of dead bracken crumbling into a dust and then blended with rainwater into a thin crust
Sand of course results from the decay of stones and rocks by weathering as well as boot pressure......
There are lots of places where you can see an early stage in process......
Peat produces its own surface comparable to bracken...................
And good grass paths can develop when the tougher grasses gradually accustom themselves to foot traffic.......
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