Another damp start as spring finally lets go, and we welcome a new season, as the summer solstice takes place this weekend.

It was a muggy morning after the weather dumped a ton of rainwater on us overnight. That, one would’ve thought, would clear the air, but not a chance.

Seven strimmer-happy superheroes made it, Dave, Martin, Reece, Matt, Ram, Mark, and Paul, and we worked on pushing the path edge back half a metre.

Every bit of vegetation seems hellbent on growing into the space that we have made for humans. If we let it encroach, it becomes dense and brambly, and our bit gets narrow and horrible.

We can push the scrub back in the autumn to give the pollinator strip more width, but it is not coming onto the path.

The benches were due to be re-stained, but it was too wet. We covered about 800 metres, with seven strimmers going. Pretty good progress.

We also knocked off a bit of lower growth on a few trees.

We want the canopy at the top of the tree so that sunlight can get to the ground, and they look more tree-like from an aesthetic point of view.

Our flood defences were broken, and we had the stream snaking down the path again.

However, by the end of the session, the drainage had caught up, and the stream had disappeared.

We broke for coffee and biscuits at half-time.

The views up and down the trail, as it started to brighten up.

In other news, we had the pupils from Bilton Grange Preparatory School come and work on their mural in the underpass.

Bilton Grange is a school in Dunchurch that feeds into Rugby School, made famous by the novel, Tom Brown’s Schooldays.

Rugby School is consistently ranked among the top independent schools in the UK and globally. Famous for being the birthplace of the sport, the historic Warwickshire boarding school is recognised as a world-leading private institution for its academic excellence and “whole person” educational philosophy. AI Overview

The first photo is Bilton Grange and the second is Rugby School.

It’s always an honour to rub shoulders with the higher echelons of society.

A super job and thank you to Stefan from Bilton Grange for once again organising this brilliant annual event.

Next, we move southward. Someone is clearing the trail from the A45 road, in a southerly direction. They are also doing something with the drainage.

It’s looking like it has the potential to really nail this troublesome section.

From the other end, the progress is inching along.

At some point, they will meet in the middle, and our path then connects to the National Cycle Network Route 41, which will be pretty amazing.

Lastly, we have two new things to put in over the summer. The first is this beast.

It looks like something from the movie War of the Worlds… All will be revealed next week, hopefully.

We finished with a litter pick and a Common Spotted Orchid!

Dunchurch Bridleway:

Dave, Ian and Paul turned out last Friday, and we seem to have tamed the whole bridleway into three sections.

Westward to the picnic bench, eastward to the picnic bench, and westward to pick up Cawston Greenway.

We are still battling with the bracken, but seem to be winning.

If we don’t push everything back, people will be walking through chest-high vegetation.

I don’t wanna be going through that and get bitten to death!!

And we kept our benches clear, as per usual.

It just keeps it all pleasant and relaxing without anyone having to worry about what is crawling up their legs.

That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading if you got this far.

Father’s Day is this Sunday, so I got myself a little present…

More firepower – oh yes…

Until next time!

Paul