Sometimes it is good to pause and remember the vision that we had some 13 years ago. The railway line was not a path back then. It was an unofficial dump. We spent hours, days, weeks and even years just pulling out 40-odd years of rubbish.
It was back-breaking and seemingly there was no end to it. We could not even think about creating a path and every time we did, we just uncovered loads more junk.
But we persevered and kept pushing on with that vision that was so clear in our heads. And once we made our two-mile stretch good, our secondary vision was to push on southwards from Potford Dam to connect with the NCN41 at Draycote. That will be a story for another day.
So with this in mind, it was very encouraging to receive a note last week from Tom, the Sustrans Volunteer Coordinator, (West Midlands | Midlands and East), thanking us for our hard work keeping the path accessible and maintained.
This week five of us made it and we started on the bit just south of the snowdrop bench. There are loads of wildflowers that come up in this bit and also a lot of self-seeded tree whips that needed removing.
We don’t want loads of trees growing in uncontrolled clumps. They stifle each other and because they are all rubbing against each other, means there is a higher chance of disease.
It’s much better to let the trees stand proud and give them the space to grow.
The path needs to be wide enough for a lot of reasons, but the main one, in the summer, is so that cyclists and walkers can both use it in harmony. Leaving it narrow means some people start being rude to others. That’s not really what the path is all about.
The usual 360 of the workday.
A few other bits-
Tree down on the Dunchurch Bridleway – now sorted. I have pulled away from the Sustrans overlap on this and now just go up to where it connects with NCN41. Waiting for an exciting geocaching trail to be published and should prove popular.
Geocaching on the greenway has now hit 144 finds since the end of January. We are going to replace the containers very soon. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it was this popular. We have people coming over from as far as Nottingham to do the trail!!
Snowdrops are getting trampled a bit in their clearing. We need to move them to the side or define the path with straight branches staked into the ground. Considering how many we put in, I am thinking it would be easier to define the path a bit better.
Weekender at the end of the month – we will split into two groups. Litter picking or pulling up the ivy. Both are pretty horrid jobs but great for the character. We had a load of violets that have been swamped by the ivy so need to knock it back a metre or two so we have a bit of balance.
We have new bird boxes and are waiting for metal protectors to go around the hole. As soon as we have them we will start to replace the ones that have been attacked by squirrels and woodpeckers.
The Etsy shop is doing a reasonable trade and that is my next stop in terms of making it look a bit prettier. I am in talks with someone about T-shirts with our Cawston Greenway railway sign logo. Watch this space!!
Well, that’s about it for this week. Please subscribe to Patron if you feel we are worthy of a couple of quid a month. We have a lot of costs coming up like replacing the fat ball feeders, food for the birds, stain for the benches, postfix to reset the fallen down benches, replacement bird boxes, wildflower seed, and the real killer in terms of cost – Public Liability Insurance.
Thanks for reading and until next week!
Paul
Cawston Greenway 