Qingshan Lake Greenway (Metro to Metro)

Line 16 sets you down at 青山湖 with the lake somewhere south and a wide road in front. This is the least interesting kilometre of the day and it is worth saying so: 891 m of it runs beside 科技大道, a road built for the science park behind you, and the last 400 m turns south off it to the ticket window at 柳庄. The shuttle covers the same ground from both nearest station exits, and on a wet morning it is the better choice. 柳庄 is where the car parks, the bus stop and the visitor centre cluster; the attraction that shares its name is marked closed on the map, so do not build a day around it. 柳庄 sits 83 m off the drawn line at 1.04 km, and the forest entrance 6 m off it at 1.35 km.

Caution: The approach is a road walk with traffic on one side. There is no pavement for part of it and no shade.

The stand began as a problem. The reservoir's north-west corner was a swamp called 乌龟桥头 that flooded several times a year, and nothing useful would grow in it. 临天林场, formed in 1974 after 6,000-odd mu around the water had been closed to cutting in 1963, raised 池杉 and 落羽杉 seedlings and planted them there anyway. By the early 1980s there were 404 mu of them standing in water. In 1984 the 临天公社 planned a brick-and-tile works that would have cut the trees for clay. 李炳华, from 泥山湾村, who had joined the farm at 22 and become its first director a year later, argued the line down to the planting year: the 100-odd mu planted before 1980 stayed, the 200-odd mu planted after 1981 went. The survivors do something you can see at the waterline. 池杉 pushes woody knees up from its roots to take in oxygen, which is how it stands in water without rotting. The boardwalk goes into the stand. No measured length is published for it, so plan time rather than distance.

Photo suggestion: The green sheet over the water is duckweed, and it is what makes the reflection read as a solid surface in photographs.

The gate behind you, the greenway turns east and the lake opens on the right. 84 % of this leg is 青山湖绿道 surface, which is as close to a purpose-built shore path as the lake gets. 杨树湾驿站 comes up at 3.83 km with the first public toilet after the gate, and it is the last rest stop before the long one. The water sits below the path, the far shore is low, and on a still morning the surface carries it. If you have brought a bicycle this is the stretch to ride slowly, because the surface is shared and the walkers are not always looking.

Caution: Cyclists use the same surface at speed. Keep to the right and step off the line before stopping.

The shore turns south at 清水湾, runs around the bay and then straightens for the north-east. This is the emptiest hour of the day. 91 % of the 清水湾 to 月亮湾 leg is greenway and 88 % of the short leg to the dam, and between them there is very little but water on one side and low trees on the other. 月亮湾驿站 is the last station, 81 m from a public toilet and 842 m from the dam viewpoint. The last kilometre is where the reservoir shows its working face: the trees fall away, the dam wall appears, and 公山 and 母山 come into line across the water.

Photo suggestion: The dam reads best from its north end in late light, when the wall and the two hills sit in one frame.

The dam is 575 m long and 24.1 m high, and it is the reason the lake exists: 603 km² of catchment, 2.15×10⁸ m³ of storage, and control of 26.6 % of the 东苕溪 basin. What it is not is a crossing. From the north car park the pedestrian network sends you 7,616 m to the far bank at 公山岭, for a straight line of 1,934 m, because the route has to run about 1.7 km east along the outflow before it can turn south. Whether the crest is closed or simply unmapped is a question for the operator; either way, do not plan to cross it. The greenway turns east instead, along the 南苕溪 below the dam, through 红枫园 and on to 青山湖科技城站. There is one public toilet 1.3 km into this leg, and then nothing for 3.6 km.

Caution: This leg has no shade, one toilet and no shortcut. Decide at 月亮湾 whether you are walking it or turning back.