A step at a time: How we walk has an effect

But while it is of some value to look at technical ways of softening the impact of individual boots we should not lose sight of the fact that the more crucial factors causing erosion must be the numbers of people involved and how they actually walk.

We all put one foot in front of the other but how and where we place our feet can make a difference.

Regular readers of outdoor literature will have noted conflicting advice as to how individual walkers should tackle eroded routes. Some writers suggest that we work our own way forward and ignore paths altogether. That may be fine in open country with free access, but not so clever where rights of way are a problem.

Other pundits even recommend walking parallel to and well away from established or eroded paths. Assuming the terrain allows the space to do so safely, in practice this often means walking on the edges of established paths and skirting the soggiest bits. This may offer better footing for the first few hundred walkers but soon causes a worsening of the problem as damage creeps ever wider.

Both the above suggestions also tend to fly in the face of the responsible authorities' efforts to control erosion problems. In the UK National Park advice is invariably 'please stick to the footpath'. At least that way they can attempt to manage the corridors of damage. Their repair methods may not always work to everyone's taste, but things have improved considerably in recent years. It is a bold and arrogant view to say 'I know better'.

If following official advice involves sploshing through foot-deep slime, so be it. If it's too unpleasant, then let's go somewhere else. Simple.

It's clear that a guiding principle should be to tread softly as far as is possible, leaving as little trace behind us as we can.

It's tempting, especially when descending, to cut corners on zig-zaggy paths, to leap from tussock to tussock and rock to rock, to run screes - all very exciting. And it's very easy amid all that fun to miss the collapsing turf, rivulets of stones and mini-landslips which follow us down...

Let's think about where and how we place our feet - from first consideration of route, right through to step-by-step progress. Pretty soon it becomes second nature.