24 JULY 1953, Page 13

Old Roads

Since traffic on main highways is of necessity faster; a great deal of trouble has been taken to " iron " out the bends and it is harder to see the meandering course of man's journey in times gone by, but in the more remote parts of the country, along the river valleys and up in the hills, one can follow the roads as they have been since the day when they were cattle tracks. It is fascinating to study the deviations, the twists and turns and rises and falls in an old road. Here it goes down to ford a stream and it is plain that the ford was a few feet to the side of the bridge, and there it turns to avoid a bit of marshy ground. The drovers let their cattle pick their steps and the beasts had an uncanny instinct for a firm path. Not only did they find solid ground but their hooves hammered it, generation after generation, until a foundation was made. Such roads go their leisurely way at the pace of a walking horse or a flock of sheep grazing on the move.