It was a strung-out sort of day today. That makes it sound like we are all on drugs or something…

Strung-out in the sense that we were very much spread apart.

We had Marcus and Steve looking after a group from HSBC doing a Corporate Volunteer Day. Reece, Dave, and Paul creating a viewing area across Cawston Grange, and Ian, Andrew and Mark strimming the path edges.

The crew from HSBC worked on the section from The Bear pub, to the north side of the underpass.

Clearing the steps, strimming the path edge, litter picking, and creating seating areas with logs. All good stuff.

It says something when we have businesses such as HSBC, Land Rover and Tritax wanting to work with us.

Thanks to Steve and Marcus for dealing with this side of our operation.

Ian, Andrew and Mark did about 400 metres of strimming the path edge.

We can now start to see the wildflower-rich strip between the path edge and the scrub. I like it.

If we don’t trim the path edge, everything will flop into the path in the summer, and people start brushing up against nettles, brambles, and insects that bite and sting.

We broke for coffee and Oreo biscuits.

A welcome feast before pushing on.

It looks good. Loads of dappled sunlight getting in, decent views across the Warwickshire countryside, the access points made open and easy to use, and generally, space to walk two-abreast and have a conversation, if desired.

Whilst the boys were working their magic with the strimmers, Reece, Dave and Paul were trying to bring in the view that is Cawston Grange.

We have four major views where the trail is on embankment. Cawston Wood View, Potford Dam View, Lawford Heath View, and Cawston Grange View.

We checked and double-checked for nesting birds before cutting a window in the side of the path to bring the two together.

It’s currently a buttercup meadow, and bringing it in means better diversity for wildlife on the edge and better views for us.

We can expand the view and make more windows in the autumn.

So to summarise, we have Lawford Heath on the westerly side, and Cawston Grange on the easterly side.

Here are a couple of photos of the path after the work today.

It just feels nice and open and a decent place to be.

Dunchurch Bridleway

It was just Ian and me last Friday, and we had a difficult decision to make.

Do we go in an easterly direction and clear the bracken that is starting to go mad, or a westerly direction and start on the bit of the path that we should have done in March?

We went for the easterly option.

The bracken is awful if we let it dominate everything, so we pushed it back.

I’m not sure how we managed it, but we cleared about 600 metres, all the way to the picnic bench. This is where we got to from the other end when we were here last.

The good thing about what is growing is that it is all new shoots, so easy to strim back. We just need to keep on top of it.

I took it upon myself to clear the westerly side.

650 metres of lonely strimming and litter picking… If we left it for another two weeks, then it becomes a bit of a jungle.

Thank me with a buy-me-a-coffee…

Well, that’s about it for now. Exciting news about a coffee shop that has opened up along the whole length of the line (Rugby to Leamington) next week, and I will get back onto the wildflower spotting.

Thanks for reading if you got this far.

Until next time!

Paul