Can you send your extra water to us in the Southwest, we could use it! If you made the trench deeper and wider you could put river rock in it and the water should still get through.

I would if I could. It has been raining nonstop here for the past week. We’re grateful for it though - good for our well.

You need to tell us your zone and other location detail re your property and rainfall etc.....

In our garden, the paths also double as drainage channels - that, historically, has been the case in many kinds of gardens around the world.

The north alley-garden here slopes gently from east to west and collects rainfall from rain-showers and also from both our and the neighbour's downspouts. We can usually make a good guess re the level of rainfall by how much water remains on the path in early morning - then it drains away, helped by wood mulch on the paths. Without knowing more about your location and property condits, it is difficult to tell whether what works for us would work for you. But we really like this part of the garden - the picture below is from earlier this week:

I'd do a "dry" stream bed. Really only dry when it hasn't rained recently but attractive and efficient with or without using as a drainage channel.

A ‘dry’ streambed using river-rock or something like that has a big drawback for me - i.e. it is not safe or easy to walk on for someone with mobility issues. Plus grass and weeds seed into it around here and it quckly becomes an unattractive maintenance issue! That is partly why it is important to know more details about zone and growing conditions - and needs/wants of the gardener….

One doesn't normally walk on it or in it :-)) But easy enough to construct a bridge over it if you need easy access on both sides. Since the ones I design typically have plantings alongside, it is rare to have them become weedy or messy outside of routine, periodic maintenance, much like one would devote to any other planted area.

They make 3 or 4 inch pipes pre-made for a simple French Drain you can pick up anywhere..flexible or straight. The water seeps down into the pipe and out.

Dig a small trench - it has to have a slight grade downhill to where you want the water to drain, lay the drainpipe. Fill the trench with path rock and spread some both sides. Voila a DIY dry gravel path. YouTube it.

PS I have to find another example, you would have to drill holes in the bender board here to let surface water in. No boards.