After the false dawn of spring, I think we are finally there. We had Storm Dave ripping across the path over the weekend, but sense prevailed, and the weather sorted itself out.

Eight sun worshippers piled out on the most northerly end of the path, and we enjoyed temperatures up to 26 C (79 F). Ram, Dave, Steve, Ian, David, Reece, Andrew, and Paul all took the time to top up our tans in the blistering heat.

Our visits to this part of the trail are seldom, simply because it is so far out from our centre. But we cracked on with keeping the path width and trying to work out if all the chopping back last Autumn had made any difference.

It felt pretty good. This time last year, the tree canopy was so dense that no sunlight was hitting the path. Stuff is starting to grow on the trail floor, but it’s early days.

We broke for coffee and some strange biscuits…

I think we could’ve done with some chutney to go with them.

We cracked on with trying to untangle the canopy and allow stuff to grow unhindered.

We probably won’t be here again until the end of the summer. Luckily, the path pretty much looks after itself.

This is a group of photos that shows the sunlight on the trail floor. It was totally shaded last year.

In the autumn, we will be back to thin the trees a bit more and just push it back a bit. But we are happy with what we have created.

The benches enjoy shafts of sunlight washing over them.

It’s a pretty cool place to just sit and chat with friends, or enjoy a coffee and watch the butterflies flitting about. Great for mental well-being.

Butterflies Spotted

Wildflowers Spotted

We probably need to have a think about the ivy…

It’s pretty much everywhere, and I don’t like it. I would much rather see a diverse selection of wildflowers.

And lastly, the obligatory litter-pick.

Dunchurch Bridleway

It was just me and Ian who made it on Good Friday, but we covered a huge amount of ground.

We brought a bag to collect any litter.

And we got the benches stained and looking a bit more welcoming.

I think there is another set further westward, but they are looking pretty decent for now.

And basically, that is it for another Greenway adventure. We are going to skip forward next week to Berrybanks because we have a Corporate Volunteer Day with HSBC Bank, so we need to leave the bit in between where we got to today, and Berrybanks, for them to do their stuff…

All in all, it’s looking better than ever, and with so much sunlight hitting the ground and encouraging nectar-producing wildflowers to grow, our butterfly and bee population will get bigger and better than ever.

That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading if you managed to get this far.

Until next time!

Paul