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A once wonderful walkway, where kingfishers were regularly spotted, the neglect of this popular spot, which once had a rope for the blind, is shameful. All the paths are heavily over-grown and so much so the Blue Pool itself is difficult to see any more.

Even after this dry, hot summer, the paths are dirty and soft and mucky. The wooden barriers on the bridge at the pool are red rotten and actually pose a safety hazard. Far from protecting you, you would actually fall in if you lent on them.

I despair at how much our National Park is neglected. It seems no one is taking it seriously and it is regularly highlighted by leading environmentalists as an example of mismanagement and neglect.

During the summer I visited a yew wood off the beaten track near Torc. To say it was degraded is an understatement. The wood is destroyed by deer. Some of the ancient trees have died off and those that remain are in a very sorry state.

None of our politicians takes the National Park seriously. Not one. Perhaps they are too flat out and haven’t time to go for a walk? Well, how do they think? Or do they think at all? I suspect they do not think deeply at all about anything. Very few of them seem to have any kind of vision apart from gut reaction. They could all do with a month in the National Park clearing rhododendron, or repairing the fencing in the Blue Pools. It would do them the world of good to take time out and listen to nature and get their feet dirty for the sake of a public cause.