These are a pain but when kept clean they're really beautiful.

To maintain those gravel walkways - I use a regular metal leaf rake. It does a fairly decent job of picking up debris and smoothing out footprints and other irregularites. Just lightly skim over the surface.

It works rather nicely without gouging deep lines in the gravel like the flat rake does. It also requires a minimal investment as these types of rakes are usually around $10.

If you have some more money to spent, probably the most effective method is a leaf blower. However, I recommend practicing with it first as it can blow the gravel right into the beds if you're not careful.

I use a leaf blower than go over with a bamboo rake. In the spring I use "Preen" to keep weeds from germinating.

Gravel walkways that I have seen, particularly in England, have such fine gravel that I do not see how a blower could possibly be used. Will a blower really work with the fine gravel? I love the sound of the gravel crunching underfoot, but never put one in my garden because of my trees.

Fine gravel pathways are a mess. Use 1/2" chip rock without the fines, keeps the weeds out, and blow it while leaves are dry if possible.