Is This An Indian Summer?

Posted on September 30, 2026 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Or the start of global warming…?

Temperatures have been firmly at the 22C (72F) point for the last few days, and I am sure it’s not supposed to get this warm at this time of the year, but I’ll take it, as long as the ice caps don’t melt.

Thirteen of us turned out this morning. At one point it was just me and Reece, but then an army started marching down the road.

It was a sight to behold.

Marcus, Reece, Mark, Ian, Matt, Mike, Andrew, Martin, Dave, Steve, Ram, Alex, and Paul.

We had three main tasks: put the Mile Marker Post in, strim the edges of the path back, and get rid of a bit of the overhanging trees.

Mile Marker Post:

It felt like we were digging for Britain. I have never seen a hole so deep.

At one point I thought that we were going to pop out in blooming Australia.

Strimming:

We made a start on getting the path edge back under control.

The warm weather and sunshine have fooled the vegetation into thinking it is time to grow!

All we can do is roll with it and adjust as much as we need to.

A welcome coffee and no Oreo biscuits – chocolate digestives instead, which are hopefully slightly better for us.

This is the point where we have a bit of banter and another layer of bonding kinda happens.

Overhang Chop:

Me and Alex had a good go at a chunky bit of coverage.

Loads of light flooding in as we chopped back and lifted tree crowns. It makes it feel like a much safer place for everyone because people can see ahead and to the sides.

Mile Marker Post 2:

We got the thing in!!

Hats off to the guys. There is always backup to call on, but they did it without pulling the rest of us away to help.

Strimming 2:

We got to the underpass, so the whole section is done, including the benches.

This just gets us back to a nice wide path and pleasant places to sit and chat. We have areas for everyone. Youth groups to give them somewhere to go where they are not bugging, or being bugged, by adults, mothers with pushchairs, families, bird watchers, butterfly lovers, or anything else that you can think of.

Rude Stuff:

Someone who thought they were the next Banksy, spray-painted some err, phallic, err, images on our murals…

Whilst I’m all for freedom of expression, these had to go. We’re a family-friendly place, and I don’t really want parents to be trying to explain what that funny-shaped thing is to their young children.

I now need to find someone with a bit of talent to paint over the big green blobs of mine!!

We litter-picked the whole path, as usual.

I know that I will not relax and enjoy the trail if there is a load of litter strewn about, and I assume that is the same for everyone else.

Strava:

Strava is a popular digital platform and mobile app that uses GPS to track, analyse, and share physical exercises like running, cycling, hiking, and swimming. AI Overview.

I have created a segment from one milepost to the other. This will encourage trail-runners to use the greenway and just opens us up to another group of people.

As you can see, I’m King of the Hill (because I’m the only one who has done the segment), but it will be interesting to see it getting populated as more and more people find it.

Mental Wellbeing:

Here we are again with me banging on about this thorny subject.

If men aged 40+ are generally finding it difficult to make friends with other men, then there must be a huge number of men who pass each other in the street, in shops, at work, or wherever, and have a little voice inside that is screaming out for contact, but something is blocking this from ever happening.

Urgh!! I’ve been there, so I know what it’s like. However, if you do something, you can change everything about this situation.

This is us on our late “summer” meal at the local pub today. I don’t normally put up photos because it’s kinda our time, but it just shows a bit of brotherhood and stuff. We do the same at Christmas and also do other stuff, and a lot of the guys do things outside of the group in pairs and more, which would never have happened without the Greenway as a platform.

It’s all there if you want to make changes that help with mental wellbeing.

There is not one of these guys who I would not drop everything for, and I can say the same for each and every one of us. A listening ear, help, advice, and sometimes a strong word if I’ve got something wrong…

Anyway, a rare glimpse into our time off the greenway, and a big thank you to Steve for organising the social stuff.

Until next time!

Paul

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First Day Of Autumn, However…

Posted on September 23, 2026 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

…we have a problem!

Everything is growing like it is spring.

The edges of the path have gone mad, and we are now having to strim the grass back to define the trail.

Anyway, happy Autumn Equinox and let’s buckle up for a really weird next few months!

Eight of us turned out on what was a really warm morning. Dave, Steve, Ian, Mark, Ram, Mike, Andrew, and Paul. We wanted to thin the trees but had to fall back to strimming and getting rid of the overhang.

Ram is down there on the 5th photo but I just couldn’t muster the strength to walk down there. Sorry, Ram. I do have photos.

We broke for coffee and even more Oreo biscuits. Are they ever going to not be on offer?

Much banter as usual.

We cracked on with strimming.

Whilst me and Andrew kept the benches clear of long grass and bugs that go up your trousers.

The views from some of the benches are lovely, so we like to keep all the seating as welcoming as possible.

Loads of people were using the path as we worked away, and nice that people stopped to chat and stuff.

These are a few photos that show how Ram got the width well-balanced and looking good.

What’s not to love.

Mental Wellbeing:

Last week I had a little joke with a friend called Ruth about why, as a group, we are just men!! I said that it’s because our wives want us out from under their feet.

Whilst it was very tongue-in-cheek, there is a bit of truth in this. We men, if not doing stuff like what we do here, can put a huge load on our wives. We subconsciously expect them to be our best friend, someone we can rant at, our therapist, our social coordinator, our tidy-up after us, our cook, running the house, coordinating everything, etc, etc, etc…

It’s called “Mental Load”, and if us fellas ain’t doing stuff away from our wives and putting some of that burden onto friends, then don’t be surprised when said wife starts to give us a hard time.

Moving on…

This week we sent Matt on an all-expenses-paid trip, in the name of research, of course, to try and understand how we can improve our views across Warwickshire.

This is his first report back.

I think we have some work to do…

I will let a certain person explain where this is. You know who you are…

Dunchurch Bridleway:

Me and Ian turned out last Friday morning, and we are now at that point where we really start to push out the width.

This is kinda what we do… Our trademark, if you like.

Wide trails with loads of sunlight flooding in.

We broke for coffee and, you guessed it, more blooming Oreo biscuits.

We want our paths to feel open and relaxing. If people are having to push through narrow tracks, then it is never going to be any good for families or friends (bloke friends) to go for a walk or cycle and “chat” about what is on our minds…

Ian spotted some fungi.

The fungi season starts here; at least something is playing by the rules of nature and not going for a burton…

I litter-picked most of the bridleway, which was pretty clear, to be fair.

And that really is that. Another exciting adventure on our trails.

Until next time!

Paul

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Cutting Back Season – Week Three

Posted on September 16, 2026 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Here we are in the last week of summer. This time next week, we will be in autumn. How mad is that?

Nine of us turned out. Marcus, Steve, Ian, Martin, Ram, Dave, Andrew, Matt, and Paul, and we had two tasks to be cracking on with.

The first was pushing the sides of the path out.

Ram seems to have adopted a policy of “Go Large or Go Home”…

We just kinda went with the flow. We even strimmed around the picnic bench and added to the ever-growing habitat piles.

What can I say? We love the feeling of space and freedom.

One thing that we did learn is don’t try to cut tree branches down whilst clearing scrub. One or the other. Trying to mix it up just doesn’t work because we found that we had the wrong tools for chopping up the branches once they had come down. We need them to be in smaller bits to create habitat piles.

We broke for coffee and Oreo biscuits; yes, they are still half-price at the local shop.

A welcome break to just touch base with the guys putting in the second Mile Marker Post.

Because this is a mile post, rather than a quarter, half, or three-quarter, it needs to be bigger. There was a lot of digging.

But the lads got it in, and luckily, there is only one more big one to do.

Looking at the “after” photos, it all looks pretty good.

To make sure that we are on the right track, me and Kerrie (wifey) went to a place called Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve, which is run by Warwickshire Wildlife Trust.

When our wildflowers grow, the path part of the trail will shrink back to about this size.

I feel confident that we are on the right track.

Buy-Me-A-Coffee/Patron:

We had a super generous buy-me-a-coffee donation of £25 from Monika, Wilson, & Angels Elsa, Norman & Sam. Monika and Wilson live in Colorado, and I enjoy reading their blog, hopefully as much as they enjoy reading mine.

Mental Health/Wellbeing:

Monika and Wilson’s friendship leads me onto the prickly subject of making friends, and more importantly, blokes making and maintaining a male friendship circle. I’ve got a lot of experience doing this, but I don’t know if this is the place to share it.

Let me know in the comments below if you would like me to touch on this thorny subject every week.

I would love to open our arms and say that anyone can join in with us, but we have to limit numbers due to the number of tools that we have and the amount of work to do.

Anyway, I hope that this blog is some sort of an example of how to develop a group of friends and kinda keep it moving. It’s so easy for us blokes to let friendships drift until they become just casual acquaintances at best.

However, I will leave it there.

Moving on, we have a tree that is in a bad way.

We need to work out how to get this out because it’s just going to get worse and worse. Nothing we like better than a challenge!!

Lastly, I did a litter pick after the workday.

Loads of half-empty beer cans around the quadrant. Maybe youngsters realising that lager tastes like pee….

Until next time!

Paul

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More Than Just a Path

Posted on September 9, 2026 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

This is supposed to be the fifth heatwave of the year… Or so the newspapers would have us believe.

Call me sceptical, but I am struggling to call this even warm???

Before we get into the day, I can share what ChatGPT thinks is going on in my head.

The text…

Don’t ask me how? It’s quite scary that my thoughts can be tapped into quite so easily…

George Orwell’s 1984 really is happening!!

Anyway, back to the here and now… We started cutting back in earnest today. Ram made the executive decision that we needed to go sideways and get the width, rather than focusing on trying to cover as much distance as possible.

We want a decent wildflower-rich grassy margin between the path and the scrub. Before long, we could see the method in Ram’s madness.

It started to look pretty good.

We broke for coffee and seemed to be back on the Oreo biscuits.

Reduced numbers today with Steve, Ram, Andrew, Martin, Reece, Dave, and Paul, but we managed OK.

And then the worst bit: tidying up. Made 100 times harder because muggins here couldn’t remember where we hid the rakes.

But we improvised and got all the cutting into a decent habitat-pile that will slowly rot down, producing warmth and shelter for a whole host of wildlife in the autumn and winter.

We finally got our first Mile Marker Post in. This is something that Martin and Dave have been working on and is really just a bit of a nod to the heritage of the trail, which was once a working railway. It also creates another avenue of interest for people to explore.

When they are all in place, I fully expect to see Strava Segments appearing and all sorts of personal bests being recorded.

This is a short explanation from Martin as to what the posts are all about.

In 1845, Parliament passed a law making it compulsory for railway companies to provide visible mileposts alongside the track. These came in a wide variety of designs and are still used on railways today. At least two of the originals are still present on the Cawston Greenway, lying in the undergrowth. We thought it would be good to put a full set back in, every quarter-mile, in the locations where the originals were. So in total we are installing seven, covering from 1½ to 3 miles. (Zero is at the junction with the Rugby – Birmingham line near the cement works).

Thanks, Martin and Dave, for making this happen.

We have a new tool, well, two actually. We splashed out on another hedge trimmer, so we have five now, and this beast.

It cost £133, so it wasn’t cheap, but boy-oh-boy, it cuts the higher branches like a hot knife through butter. The overhanging branches will stop the sunlight from hitting the newly cleared ground and make all of our efforts a total waste of time, so thank you to everyone who has helped us to purchase this new tool with lovely donations.

Buy Me A Coffee/Patron:

Whilst we are on the subject of donations, we had a very generous Buy Me a Coffee donation of £25 from Mike last week. Thank you very much.

Still loads going on in the background, but as you can see, things are starting to happen.

Here are a couple of quick “after” photos of what we did today.

Still a bit of a chunk of scrub that needs to go, but hopefully we can kinda see the trail shaping up.

Lastly, I did a quick litter-pick after the workday.

Nothing will wreck what we are doing more than litter… For me, it is just not conducive to a stress-free environment.

That’s about it for this week.

Until next time!

Paul

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And So It begins…

Posted on September 2, 2026 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

This is the start of the 2026/27 cutting-back season. What we do over the next six months will shape how the path looks for humans and wildlife in the spring and summer of 2027, so a bit of planning is required.

We also have our framework in the tab above, called September Jobs, where we split the trail into five sections and try to match the longer sections to months with five Wednesdays.

It worked really well last year, so we are following the same format.

As part of my intensive research, I felt that I had to spend a week in an actual forest to really understand what we are looking to emulate.

Notice the tree spacing, lack of lower branches, thriving understorey, and ground cover.

The Workday:

Despite my absence, the lads cracked on. Marcus, Reece, Dave, Matt, and Andrew turned out on a morning that was threatening rain!!

Me, being my usual muppet self, had not managed to organise passing the tools to the guys, so they had to make do with a selection of gardening implements.

Pushing back the scrub and brambles before breaking for coffee and cookies.

Loads of traffic along the path whilst schoolboys enjoyed climbing the mature oak trees. I didn’t think kids did this sort of thing anymore… They are all back to school later this week, so a last-gasp attempt at freedom.

More cutting back followed the coffee break.

Really nice to see that the greenway machine worked just as well without me being there, but also quite a weird feeling.

I really must learn to let go a bit…

Buy Me A Coffee/Patron:

Lovely donations from Shindi (£15) and Simon (£5 monthly sub) this week, and we also have Paul signing up as a Patron subscriber in the last month (£5/m). Thank you very much. We have a new tool, which these generous donations have gone towards. We will get it out next week and show everyone what it does. If you would like to help, just click on Buy Me A Coffee. It really does give us a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

Far Popehill Spinney and beyond:

Looking southwards, the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust are about to clear the path from Marton to Birdingbury.

This is the yellow-ringed section. They have already done the blue-ringed section.

There needs to be a tunnel built to get through this bit…

And hopefully we will get permission to work on the green-ringed bit on the map above.

The section between the yellow ring and the green ring is already a crushed limestone path surface, so potentially, we could have a through-path to Leamington by early next year, in one form or another…

Mile Marker Posts:

Another huge step forward by Martin and Dave.

All will become clear in a week or two.

I did the weekly litter pick the weekend before, and found a dead hedgehog. Bad news that it was dead, but good news that we have them.

We can contact Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and do a proper hedgehog survey in a couple of weeks to see what is happening.

Well, that’s about it for this week. Next week I shall be back from my all-expenses-paid “research” trip, and we can crack on…

And of course I’m joking about a paid holiday, before anyone gets their knickers in a twist. I don’t even get free coffee and biscuits on the workdays!

Until next time!

Paul

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Hawthorn Adventure Walk

Posted on August 26, 2026 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

There is a slight autumnal feel to the mornings, but still no rain, despite it being forecast for most of the day.

But despite the forecast, ten of us made it onto the path to get our Adventure Walk clear and usable.

Marcus, Steve, Dave, Ian, Reece, Matt, David, George, Martin, and Paul were let loose in the jungle and cleared a way through.

It was a slow start as we struggled to find our rhythm, and realised that if you cut one branch off a tree, then sometimes we have to cut another five because everything is so intertwined. We did make a nice hedge with all the cuttings, though.

The Hawthorn Adventure Trail is a 220-metre path that runs parallel to the main path. We hope that Mum and Dad can walk along the top path and the kids can go off exploring and adventuring, whilst still being in earshot.

We broke for coffee and biscuits at half-time.

Before really picking up the pace and starting to smash through it.

It just adds to the interest and hopefully keeps our appeal to as many people as possible.

I was going to do a video, but decided on photos. Hopefully it shows the trail.

We possibly need to flatten the ground in some areas, but that is a workday for the future.

It’s a nice alternative path, and we will keep working on it over the winter.

We also fixed a broken slat on one of our picnic benches. Not sure if this is vandalism or just wear and tear, but we have had no issues with naughty squirrels messing with the benches across the whole school summer holidays.

My bag of magic tricks soon had it back together whilst we find a bit of timber to make a new slat.

Dunchurch Bridleway:

Me and Andrew turned out last Friday to stain the benches and fix a picnic bench that had become a bit wobbly.

It keeps them fresh and welcoming.

We fixed the wobbly picnic bench.

And to our amazement, later on, someone doing the geocaching trail found the nearby cache, and then had lunch at the table.

It’s such a good feeling when things like this happen.

That’s about it for this week.

Until next time!

Paul

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One More Week…

Posted on August 19, 2026 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Summer temperatures seem to have stabilised at around 25C (77F), so the days are a bit easier; however, we are still not getting much rain, so everything is as dry as a bone.

I think this will be the second blog post in a row where I am not wittering on about blooming benches. Yes, it has been noted that I seem to go on and on and on about the blasted things…

Arrgh… There I go again. It’s probably because every item of clothing that I own is covered in little blobs of brown from the constant restaining of them. Many people have nicknamed me Spotted Dick due to me always being covered in little speckles of pooh brown wood stain.

For some unfathomable reason, they tend to drop the first part and just call me by the last part of the name…

Anyway, back to it. Nine adventurers ventured out for what is the last but one week before we can really start to shape the path ready for next year. Ian, Reece, Marcus, Dave, Mark, Andrew, Ram, Steve and Paul started off just pushing the bramble back.

The usual “flop” into the path from all the nettles and wildflowers just hasn’t happened, so we don’t have much to go at.

We broke for lunch at half-time and enjoyed coffee and Maryland cookies.

Much chatter about the start of the 2026/27 football season, which begins this week. I can feel myself being dragged, kicking and screaming, into a football fan…

Up and down views are looking pretty good.

We cracked on with half an eye on what we want to be doing through Autumn and Winter.

Basically, we want the path width to be about 3 metres, the grassy wildflower strip to be about 2 metres either side of the path, and then scrub and trees towards the edges.

However, we need to raise the crowns of a lot of the trees so that there is a clear view underneath the canopy.

And just allow the sunlight to get to the ground.

We need a couple of Zubat pole saws to reach the slightly out-of-reach branches, so I will go out with a shopping list soon.

That’s about it for this week.

One interesting observation from me. Someone was going on about what the sauce of life is…

I was intrigued, so I asked ChatGPT.

Something interesting to ponder… I think we can tick off quite a few things with what we do on the greenway.

People who know me well will know that I am absolutely fanatical about men getting together and doing stuff. It drives me to distraction with the constant narrative that men should be lonely, uncommunicative, and basically put on the scrap heap at the age of 55+

It really does grind my gears, especially when I see men giving up and accepting some lonely existence, because everywhere they look, older men have sort of become marginalised and made to feel worthless.

So what we do every Wednesday and every other Friday is massively good fun and gets rid of all the rubbish rhetoric that men should be loners. But more importantly, I hope that it shows other men that there is stuff out there to give purpose to life and actually have a laugh.

I will jump off my soapbox for now…

And by the way, people don’t really call me Dick. Well, not to my face, anyway…

Until next time!

Paul

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The Heatwave Continues

Posted on August 12, 2026 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

I’ve come to the conclusion that the people who do the weather don’t actually have a clue…

Twice we have been promised rain, and it never showed up, and now it is hotter than ever!!

We have a scorching 36°C (97°F) tomorrow. It’s simply unheard of here in good old Blighty.

But despite the desire to jump into the nearest lake, nine sun-worshipping superheroes turned out. Ram, Steve, Ian, Dave, Matt, Reece, David, Mark, and Paul.

We’ve got today and two more weeks left before the Bird Nesting Season ends, and we can start cutting back in earnest. To be honest, we’re kicking our heels a bit whilst we wait to get going.

Today we just carried on keeping the sides of the path clear and stopping any bramble from entering the space made for humans. The usual “flop” from all the vegetation has not really happened because everything has flowered, died and turned to brittle stems.

We want to seriously reduce the scrub over the winter and have wildflower-rich grassy banks up the sides.

We broke for coffee and biscuits at half-time.

Why muggins here brought hot coffee in the middle of a heatwave is anyone’s guess…

Nice views up and down the path, though.

We cracked on after the “refreshments”.

We can see from the photos that we need to do a lot of tree thinning. Nothing is going to grow to maturity when everything is competing for nutrients, space, and light.

We did our usual clearing around our picnic benches to keep everyone safe from critters.

Nobody wants ants in their pants…

Whilst all the hard work goes on along the path, there are a myriad of other things happening in the background.

This is the production of Mile Marker Posts, by Dave and Martin, that will be inserted in the autumn. It’s a nod to the railway heritage and history, and just our way of bringing the past into the here-and-now.

Dunchurch Bridleway:

Three of us made it last Friday: Ian, Dave, and Paul, and we pushed back the most westerly bit on the path.

One thing that we really need to keep on top of is sprouts from the trunks of trees.

From my perspective, it just isn’t a good look.

We had coffee and biscuits, as per usual.

And litter-picked the whole path.

When we can, we like to leave what is called standing dead wood. Trees that have died, but are still upright.

It creates habitat for a load of wildlife that is not so keen on using trunks that have fallen to the ground.

Who knew?? Certainly not me until I started spending time with wildlife experts and watching forestry videos on YouTube every week.

Taking us back out to the whole path network, we’re getting close to fully connecting with everything soon.

This is 12 miles away at the other end of the path and is called Offchurch Greenway. At some point, we will be connected.

And whilst I have been busy typing away, we have had a solar eclipse…

Possibly just a little reminder that with all the man-made problems in the World at the moment, time, nature, and the Universe just keep marching on regardless.

Until next time!

Paul

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Allsorts Going On…

Posted on August 5, 2026 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Loads to share this week.

Eight bush-weary trackers made it this week. Ram, Marcus, Steve, Reece, Dave, Andrew, Martin, and Paul. This is the last month of the Bird Nesting Season, so we are kinda focused on September, when we go back into “cutting back” mode.

However, there was work to do.

Firstly, we needed to replace the missing bench on our Quadrant.

A bit of history – Marcus, Reece, Kerrie, and Paul made this in March 2020, the week before the COVID lockdown. It was the start of a project to get young autistic adults to work with us so that they could learn new skills and stuff. We had a chap called Chris to help us.

The day is blogged here: https://cawstongreenway.co.uk/2020/03/04/workshop-day/

It was a tremendous morning, and we thought that we really had something. Sadly, it never quite worked out, but the Quadrant holds many very dear memories.

So when one of the benches broke, I wrestled with the question of whether to replace it, or repair it.

It’s rough as anything! Deer have nibbled the ends of it, and one of the legs is rotten.

But an hour in the workshop soon had it back in some sort of usable shape.

Ram and Martin took charge of getting it back in the ground.

We are happy that it is back in its rightful place.

Whilst this was happening, Reece and Andrew strimmed northwards, whilst Dave and Paul tackled a tree that had come down just outside the greenway.

Technically, it is out of our remit, but we have the equipment and skills to deal with it, so we did.

Marcus and Steve had a similar issue. The blooming squirrels have stripped the bark of a couple of trees, and the top of one had come adrift.

Obviously, we don’t want this to fall on anyone, so it had to go… Standing dead wood is useful for a lot of wildlife, but so are logs lying on the ground. The safety of our human users has to come first.

We had a visit from Andrew and Liz, who brought very tasty home-made blackberry muffins, and get this – the blackberries were picked from bramble on the greenway.

How sustainable is that!! Foraging food to feed ourselves…

A disjointed morning, but we all wandered back for coffee.

We also had the Cawston Brownies make us some bird nesting boxes.

These will be a wonderful addition to our next nature area.

The only thing left to build for this area is an owl box.

Kathryn also brought yummy treats that will keep us going for a week or two.

It gives us such a great feeling when we are including people and groups that take us outside of our little box.

I did a very light strim on the Draycote to Far Popehill Spinney part of the path.

Loads of people are now using this path, and everyone expressed thanks for making it slightly more open.

Massive thank you to Kathryn and Rebecca for the buy-me-a-coffee donations this week.

Lastly, we have quite a few people who want to join in, but we are pretty much maxed out on the Wednesday mornings. Would a once-a-month Saturday workday be worthwhile for anyone else who wants to get involved?? Let me know in the comments below, or on Facebook, Insta, WhatsApp, etc, etc

Next one is this Friday on the Dunchurch Bridleway, and then back in Cawston next week.

We have some absolutely brilliant news to share in a week or two…

Watch this space!

Until next week!

Paul

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Connector Path

Posted on July 29, 2026 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We had the forecast rain on the weekend. All ten minutes of it…

Everything is bone dry, and the word “drought” is used more and more frequently.

Ten crazy team members turned out this morning in the blistering heat. Matt, Steve, Marcus, Dave, Mark, David, Ram, Andrew, Paul, and a cameo appearance from Pat.

We had two main tasks today.

Replace an old bench that got wrecked with something a bit more permanent.

Clear the path down to the temporary right-of-way that connects with Dunchurch Bridleway.

The Bench:

In the past we have always bought timber in 2.4-metre lengths. This seemed like a good way to use all of the wood, with a 1.2-metre seat and 60 cm legs. A 45 cm seat height means we are putting 20 cm into the ground. This is probably fine in a garden setting, but in a public space, the naughty squirrels can kick them over if they are having a particularly bad day.

Trying to be cost-effective is actually costing us more in the long term, both in monetary terms and the emotionally-draining repair work, so we have gone for a 3-metre length of timber, so the legs can go way deeper, and we have reinforced the top and leg-ends.

The cost of the tanalised timber is £7.74 + £1.00 for the brace + screws £1.25, so we are still able to knock them out for about £10. The brackets and washers add another £8 (bulk buy would bring this down to under £5), and I’m not sure if this is a bit of overkill. Time will tell.

Digging the deep hole was fun with our new auger tool.

Let’s hope that destroying the benches causes more pain than gain…

And an important life lesson can be learnt – if you wreck the thing that you are supposed to sit on, then you will have to sit on the floor like a 1st grader in school assembly.

The Path:

We got to the end.

The “end” being the off-ramp that takes the path across no-man’s-land and connects with the temporary right-of-way that leads to the bridleway.

It’s always a stretch to do this bit because it is so far away.

I have written to the Paths Department at Warwickshire County Council asking them to consider making this a proper right-of-way… Who knows how it will all turn out?

A decent coffee and Oreo biscuit break.

In the background, the farmers are bringing in the harvest.

I don’t know what it is, but there is something awesome about the harvest.

Massive thank you to Michaela for the buy-me-a-coffee last week. Very much appreciated.

Dunchurch Bridleway:

Just me and Ian last Friday, but we managed to strim the bracken back and keep the path open on this middle section of the bridleway.

We also cleared an area for our rebuilt bench.

Magnificent views over the fields, and this bench just makes the bench-spacing along the path kinda equal.

Oh, is that my OCD knocking at the door…?

Here is the map that shows the whole route and how it connects with the greenway.

There’s a public footpath back through the woods to make a triangle loop, but we don’t do anything with that.

And here are the positions of the six benches.

The thick red line is a new road going in, the blue line is the west side of the bridleway and a temporary Public Right of Way, and the yellow line is potentially a new Public Right of Way. We might end up abandoning the blue part of the bridleway if the other way works better; hence, no benches along that bit.

And here are the actual benches, east to west.

It’s a nice place to be, peaceful and good for a bit of self-reflection, with loads of public pathways going into the woods to make short circular walks if desired.

Lastly, we did the usual litter-pick, this time on the north end of the greenway.

That’s it for this week. Thanks for being here if you got this far…

Next one is at the Quadrant benches, replacing the kicked-over bench, and adding a bench that Andrew, who makes the bird boxes, had made for us a little further south.

I’m looking forward to getting the broken one fixed up and back in action.

Until next time!

Paul

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