Path erosion and choices we make

Claire and I had stopped for a quick lunch on the way down from Bynack More. We had gone over Bynack Beag and were pleasantly surprised to find a small but clear path that helped us descend the steep heathery terrain towards the valley. Given that our half-term foray to the north had seen Claire experience some winter in the Cairngorms with a vicious squall on top of Bynack More this was good. Neither of us were especially fit and the fact that the rest of the walk was a walk along Strath Nethy then back to the Lairig and Laoigh path and back to Glenmore Lodge, were our van was, was a good thing - enabling me to relax and enjoy (or so I thought) the rest of a a lovely day out.

 This photo shows the view down Strath Nethy. I had walked down it over 20 years ago (gulp!) when Chris and I came up after my finals and did some walking in the Cairngorms. I only had vague recollections of the path - certainly not what we got.

I was born in the peak district and, although we left when I was young, I have walked there since and spent many years living and walking in the Lakes where the paths aren't so great; however the condition of the path in the Strath was one of the worst I have ever seen, anywhere. Apart from the difficulty of walking on this path there seem to me to be two or three major issues that could do with addressing.

One possible one is that the estate should be looking after the path...they have 'done' the Lairig and Laoigh path (at least as far as we followed it) and the path up to Ryovan Bothy. Given that Strath Nethy is one the 'escape' routes from the Cairngorm plateau - is there a duty on them to make the path better?

There must also be some responsibility with walkers as well - the path was horrendously bad and we (like many others) had to skirt the path in order to find some ground that was not too bad to walk on. However, when we do this aren't we just making it worse - are we creating the kind of motorway that used to be on the 3 peaks before they got 'fixed' as well...by being lazy and skirting around the path we are making the problem worse and making the path worse - we're creating a vicious circle for ourselves by doing this. Claire and I are as guilty of this as the next person so I'm not casting aspersions on others.
The problem with this lovely and virtuous view is that parts of the 'path' were literally unawalkable thus limiting options...what does one do in this situation?

Do we put flagstones down on the path and give it time to 'recover'?

Do we use the path that exists on the other side (the Cairngorm) side of the stream? Would that help or would it make things worse with a churned up path on both sides of the stream? And if you do that how do you get across the river - it was flowing quite strongly at the part where our path met the river....

No right answers, and certainly not simple ones...

Claire descends towards Strath Nethy