We made a start on our longest section today. Steve, Ian, Matt, and Paul turned out armed with way too much gear. However, because I knew that we were going to be a bit light on numbers today, I did a bit on Monday to get us off to a good start.

The last two photos are before and after shots.

This section is 900 metres long and we have 5 workdays, so 180 metres per workday.

Amazingly, we managed to do 240 metres, so we are ahead of ourselves.

What we as a group have decided is that we want people to be able to walk side-by-side, and not get bothered if someone on a bicycle comes past.

We also want pools of sunlight to hit the woodland floor.

We also want a wildflower-rich grassy margin between the path and the scrub.

It’s a lot to ask, but the first thing is thinning out the trees so that what is left can thrive and put on some girth.

This is ridiculously overcrowded, and none of the trees are going to do well.

So we set about taking out the stragglers.

Why every man, woman, and their dogs decided to walk up and down the path as we are bringing down 20-metre trees is beyond me? Thankfully, we have a clear view in both directions, so the only people in danger of getting squished are us.

We added to the log piles.

Super habitat for all sorts of wildlife.

At half-time, we had some quality sausages and red onion batches.

My bushcraft skills are improving; a good slurp of coffee and a decent brunch gave us the energy to push on.

At the end of the workday, the path looked like this.

Loads of sunlight getting in and a good width to the trail.

Here is a YouTube video from someone who walked the path a few months ago.

Interesting to see the path from someone else’s perspective, and nice that they have a decent camera.

Lastly, a litter pick on the southern end.

Back to normal levels, thank goodness!

Until next time!

Paul