Seven brave souls turned out today in the scorching heat. I think it went over 30 degrees C (almost 90 in F) as the sun slowly melted everything and everyone. Mark, Ian, Steve, Reece, Marcus, Dave, and Paul.

We were able to split into three groups again. Mark and Dave headed south with the strimmers to keep the path width where it needs to be. Ian, Steve, and Marcus went back to the same location as last week where we had the dropped branches to just tidy up and get a feel for the work that needs to be done in September.

If you cast your mind back to last week, we had a forced change of plan. We were supposed to be putting a canopy above the park-style bench that keeps getting pebble-dashed with bird poo.

Sadly, some foolish squirrel had decided to give it a good old clout the day before.

We’re not sure if they thought that they could smash it off the ground and stick it in their garden, or what? But they pretty much wrecked it.

Today, me and Reece got our heads together and fixed it up as best we could.

It’s a bit wonky, but it works. If it gets broken again I think it will become firewood. It really is designed for light garden use, but the lovely lady who gave it to us, Jacquie, really wanted to give it a try on the greenway.

Let’s hope we get some use out of it.

Our other benches are a bit more robust, due to the nature of them being in a public place.

Whilst it is always a bit frustrating when stuff like this happens, and we all feel a bit down about it, we have to quickly pick ourselves up and soldier on. If we caved in at every setback, we would’ve given up a long time ago.

We broke for coffee and flapjack at half-time.

This is where we plan and stuff, as well as having a laugh and just bonding as a group.

Looking at the up and down photos…

We are where we need to be with the path width. We need to create a two metre wildflower margin between the path edge and the scrub, on each side. We will use the straight trunks of felled trees to mark the path edge so people hopefully don’t wander off it and start trampling the wildflowers. We also need to get rid of the overhanging branches to let loads more sunlight in.

After our break we got back to it.

A good morning’s work and finished off with a litter-pick.

Dunchurch Bridleway

Ian, Steve, Dave, and Paul turned out last Friday morning and we managed to do another 400 metres of strimming.

Remember that the paths are connected and make a really decent circular walk.

Plenty of places to stop and enjoy a picnic, or just the peace and quiet of the countryside.

It’s a good place to get off our phones and the continual doom-scrolling, and just have a bit of green-time.

Two more weeks of the bird nesting season before all hell breaks loose with the onslaught of the cutting back season.

Thanks for reading if you got this far.

Until next time!

Paul