"REMAPING" ANCIENT PATHS

Recently, the UK government made a proposal to all the hiking lovers in the country to report ancient paths they, for some reason, knew. This was an effort from the government to preserve and map ancient footpaths that are endangered and have a risk to disappear forever. The alert was given in the UK as demand for the preservation and memory of important historical and heritage sites. (Barkham 2020)

For the last 7 years, I have been participating in a volunteer exploration work, related to some similar intention, not in the UK, but in my country, more precisely, in my Island. Madeira Island has an important forest which is a UNESCO Heritage spot, concerning with the natural gender. (Centre 2020) and in the past, this forest was an important solution for the needs of the population and the use of natural resources. Lots of paths were built. The needs of wood, having space for cattle and so on were activities that turned the mountain region of Madeira an important site for survival and, consequently, a place where several paths and trails existed. The complex orography of the Island was also something very challenging for Madeirans and the need to connect the different villages of the Island originated a unique path chain. 

MADEIRA LÉS A LÉS is a volunteer group of nature lovers and explorers, and our goal is mostly to try to reopen and try to find several paths that were forgotten and had gone in face of the evolution and the change in the ways of life of the people in the Island. A good way to see what we do is to take a look at a short video below and some images.

https://www.facebook.com/madeiralesales/videos/584073428676123/?t=42

It is important to make a distinction between these paths that we explore and other hiking possibilities in the Island. If in one hand Madeira has the Levadas and Officially recommended trails, on the other hand, these paths that I am talking, in the case of the archipelago, are a different dimension where sometimes can exist danger, and we can say are more inhospitable. Nevertheless, there is a lack of reflection about them, a lack of mapping, recording, preserving, and so on. If Levadas and Official trail are among studies and even films, "Cartas de Fora" is a recent film about the building of Levadas, these, now considered "alternative paths", are excluded from the reflections of local scholars and the cultural policy. Most of the work of reopen and exploration is made by groups of volunteers and nature lovers which, like MADEIRA LÉS A LÉS, use to go and try to find ways to pass through them. Talking with locals, research in old maps, have the orientation in a forest where is very easy to get lost is not for everyone, but it is amazing to see the echoes of a distant time. Stone walls, ancient ways to pave the trails, hidden old houses almost resembling fantasy scenarios are some of the heritage that we can find and are forgotten. In this way, the initiative of the UK Government is an example for those places who want to preserve and give more visibility to these heritage spots. Madeira Island is among them.

The end of one successful exploration, after the locals, in the mountain base told us that it would be impossible to reach the top. No one was there for 40 years. Madeira, 2016. 

An example of the ancient paths that we can find in the mountains of Madeira.

Some of the paths are connected by other small roads and trails where is not so dangerous to walk.

Even if we cannot talk about this kind o volunteer work as an academic work or official work, it is a fieldwork of exploration where it is important to walk and to reflect with critical thinking and eyes. More, this is a work directed to a lack of reflection and policy or strategy concerned with this kind of heritage, at least in Madeira Island. Having this in mind, it is obvious the importance of this fieldwork, something that we can support with the example of the Governors of the UK. This fieldwork is relevant in terms of cultural subjects like history, identity, landscape preservation, etc, but it is also fieldwork that needs to pay attention to other dimensions, including cartography, biology, climate change, water resources and so on. The multidisciplinary approach in this volunteer work is always present, something that is not easy to have one clear reference or a solid direction once is a work that is touching where no one touched before. Having that in mind, our group have been doing some efforts to register and record where we pass. Every hiking day is related in a piece of writing that we, sometimes, share with the followers of our Facebook page. We have already more than 20000 followers all around the world. Recording the paths that we reopen it is hard work, but we do that with photos and GPS apps where the trail can be accessed later. But this is inglorious. We need to keep visiting those places regularly. The persistent growing of plants and trees can delete the signs of the paths and it is very difficult to clean and open them again. This is something serious and really important for Madeira Island heritage and identity. For that reason, we started a project of writing a book where text, image, photo, map details will be among the goals. On the other hand, it is important to advert and alert for the danger of these kinds of paths and our objective is not open them to endanger our community and our visitors. If someone wants to visit them, he needs to make sure he is following safety recommendations and make sure he is in good physical condition. It is imperative to alert that the goal of this fieldwork is not to reopen paths to fill with people. No, it is not that, because most of them are in the middle of a unique forest. Our goal is to preserve them to some eventual need. Of course, this is polemic and complex. It can be argued that why just some people can go and visit those paths? We understand that question. This is not a question of elite, or privilege. Most of the people who wants to go with us, they just go once. During 10 years of the project, it is proved that this is not for everyone, because not everyone wants. So, the importance of preserving some paths, forgetting others, because many of them are gone forever, it is, indeed an important job to be done and maybe, the state, the governors and official identities and even the local University should pay attention to these kinds of volunteer groups that are playing an important role in the solidification of local identity of a small destiny, in this particular case, Madeira Island.

Another journey in one of the most difficult old paths in Madeira called "Empenas"

https://www.facebook.com/madeiralesales/videos/780763442449075/?t=0

Above another link of a video.

Another difficult path, this one called "Laje Negra"

It is relevant to notice that Laurel Forest has been referred by naturalists for some time, including Charles Darwin in his famous work On the Origin of the Species. It is believed that this forest descends from the Meditteranean territory when there was no sea there. "On a small island, the race for life have been less severe, and there will have been less modification and less extermination. Hence, perhaps, it comes that the flora of Madeira, according to Oswald Herr, resembles the extinct tertiary flora of Europe" (Darwin, 1859 p.102) Respecting this heritage and save it for the next generations is something that is due and these paths and remapping them is an important work to be done. These kinds of volunteer groups of explorers are an instrument for that. For me, it is a pleasure to have the chance to work with these people. 

References

Barkham, P. 2020. Walkers urged to help save historic footpaths before 2026 deadline. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/feb/11/walkers-urged-to-help-save-historic-footpaths-before-2026-deadline [Accessed: 26 March 2020].

Centre, U. 2020. Laurisilva of Madeira. Available at: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/934 [Accessed: 26 March 2020].

Darwin, C. 2009. ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. London, Penguin Classics

Quintal, R. 1999. Levadas e veredas da Madeira. Funchal: Francisco Ribeiro.