There are dozens of ‘ancient roads’ (古道’s) scattered across the provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu. The moniker surely has some historic roots for some of these places, but is also romantic marketing aimed at attracting people. Zhejiang alone renovated or built over 1200 kilometers of walking road, installing toilets, bins, and signage — and properly clearing these roads of potholes and fallen trees. Maling Ancient Road (马岭古道) is one of these routes — which I walked today.
New signage here makes it hard to lose track of where to go, and there are — for my taste — too many warning signs not to fall off the ledge, but apart from that, the place isn’t over-touristified. And I like these ancient roads, because they usually follow a river. Like water, merchants — probably carrying heavy goods — follow the path of least resistance. So, rather than going for a steep mountain peak, the hikes are much more level and connect several villages.
The Maling Ancient Road goes through the towns of Luci (芦茨乡), Maoping (茆坪村), and Shishecun (石舍村), and maybe it’s because I’ve been so devoid of outdoor activity lately, but I actually think this is the best hike near Shanghai. These twelve kilometers pack so many scenes. Luci provided a great lunch (if you visit here, drop by ‘溪畔人家饭店’, 10/10). Maoping has several buildings from the Qing Dynasty, and Shishecun I visited before, but it’s a place I would never mind returning to. In between these villages are open valleys, creeks, dashes of forests, and garden plots.
It reminds me of a poem from 陆游 (Lu You): “山重水复疑无路，柳暗花明又一村。” (“There are so many mountains and with the way the river twists, you think there’s no road, and then, dark willows, bright blossoms, another village appears.”)
Not just the variety is great. For Shanghai-based folk, a huge bonus is its accessibility. I took the highspeed train from Shanghai to Tonglu station (桐庐站), which is around 100 minutes — and after that, it was just a 25-minute drive to Luci Town. I only had some trouble getting a taxi from Shishecun back to Tonglu, but I called a Huolala (货拉拉) moving van, and that actually showed up quickly. I’m now typing this on the way back to Shanghai, all easily within one day — feeling like I’ve been away for longer.
