But the point is the distinction between footpaths created by the ingenuity of generations of walkers and runners and - by contrast - the artificiality of a stone slabbed footway. A natural footpath is often a thing of beauty as it wends its way up the mountainside, taking in clever little routes and meandering around obstacles, valleys etc.. A stone footway, on the other hand, has nothing to endear us to it. It is an ugly artificial imposition on the landscape, unpleasant both to look at and to run/walk on.