Or rather, Reece and David did.

I just paddled about in my green wellies trying my best to look like I knew what I was doing, which lasted for about five minutes before I was rumbled, and was sent off to do some strimming.

If we get no rain for a few days/weeks/months we might dry out completely.

We can see what is left of the great lake and the bed of the stream that snaked down the path. We’re going to push the left-hand side back by about a metre in the autumn so that we always have the higher ground to walk on, which is packed down with ballast from when it used to be a railway. That should keep us dry. We also need to cut back some of the overhang. Deep joy with that job!!

We got to The Bear bridge, which is only about 300 metres, but it is what it is.

At the half way point we broke for some go-go juice in our all-terrain mugs, and had a deep and meaningful conversation about benches.

We need to stiffen this bench and my rudimentary engineering skills (yes that’s a joke – I couldn’t engineer my way out of a wet paper bag!) seem to suggest legs and a frame under the table top, and something to make the seat leg footprint bigger.

We also agreed to put the three new benches in at The Bear bridge to replace the smashed up picnic bench, so that will be our first job for July.

We then had a visit from Liz and Andrew, who made the Bethel bench, and loads of bird-boxes, amongst other things.

These things are truly built to last – proper engineering!!

Great to see you guys.

And whilst we are on the subject of benches, I got a sticker for the bench that we put in for Mick, who passed away last year.

He would come to this spot to admire the sunset of an evening, and the sunset double meaning kinda makes me, I don’t know, a bit melancholy maybe, but so blooming grateful to have had him as a friend for 14 years.

We also litter-picked the whole two miles of track.

And the Geocaching trail is so much better with proper water-tight containers and there are now 17 caches to be found along the path.

Thank you Andrew (another Andrew) for sorting this out.

We have nice wildflowers in the bit between the path and the scrubby bramble.

We do have a heck of a lot of grass in some of the wildflower clearings. Maybe this will change as it gets warmer?

Loads of people came past today, and everyone looked happy, although nobody wanted to stop and share our coffee. If I saw five random men sitting around a picnic bench, I would probably leg it the other way, so I do get the social anxiety bit, but the offer is always there.

On Friday we’re putting in the benches on the Dunchurch Bridleway, which we connect with and this then joins to the National Cycle Network, so effectively, our umbilical cord to the rest of the world.

Come along and help if you want to get involved.

Until then!

Paul