Today We Became Civil Engineers

Posted on January 15, 2025 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We hung up our wildlife warrior capes and donned our hard hats whilst putting our collective minds together to solve our continual flooding issue.

Reece, Ian, Matt, Martin, Dave, and Paul turned out with our mattocks and shovels and boy-o-boy did we do some digging!!

The underground culvert is blocked and the rain water is taking the easiest route, which is down the path for about 700 metres.

This wouldn’t be a problem and makes quite a nice feature, however, because we are in deep cutting the ground around it stays soaking wet, as we can see.

So we set about increasing the flow rate under our bridge to the drain and re-routed the overflow to fill the lower balancing pond.

We widened the bridge to make it safer for users. One of our key aims is to make the path usable for as many different people as possible, so the bridge needs to be suitable for mobility scooters and pushchairs.

It all looks like a soggy mess at the moment but in a few week’s time, everything will dry out and start to settle.

We’re going to leave this area for a fortnight so the water can find its natural level and then come back and build up the bank on the left and move the island in the middle. We need there to be enough space for the water to rise and fall without breaking the bank. We have a waterfall at one end, a pool, and the water flowing out of the other end as it makes its way along the brook to the river Avon. I imagine that this will be really good for wildlife.

When the area settles down we should see aquatic plants popping up.

There used to be a lot of Brooklime (Veronica beccabunga) in this area so I look forward to seeing it again. I think a little bench would work here so people can sit and watch the waterfall and just enjoy the sound of flowing water.

Fingers crossed that this fixes this ongoing issue.

At half-time, we had a French twist with biscuits and lashings of hot coffee.

I had one of my oh là là moments in the supermarket and simply couldn’t resist. They are pretty tasty so I’m glad I did.

Here is our YouTube of the area which shows how soggy it is.

Now that the water is under control it will get better.

We also litter-picked up and down the path to keep it a pleasant place to be.

And some kind person pushed a Wickes gift card through my letterbox.

Thank you very much!!

Dunchurch Bridleway

We cut back the last 600 metres of this last Friday and it was really pleasing to see so many people using the path from Cawston to Dunchurch.

It was bitingly cold so I brought soup. I kid you not, it was very very welcome. We also litter-picked this part of the path.

It’s a nice path to walk or cycle and we are slowly getting the width that we like.

Lastly, I have created a 5-mile circular trail that the easterly end of the bridleway connects to. It takes people around the edge of the village but allows them to drop in and see the village centre if they so wish.

Link here: https://www.alltrails.com/en-gb/explore/map/dunchurch-circular-452bf20

It’s worth it, as you will see from the photos.

This is where I live!! A quintessentially English village. I love it!!

Until next week!

Paul

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We Need Dry Days

Posted on January 8, 2025 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

And looking at the weather forecast, it looks like that is what we are going to get next week, and warmer temperatures too.

Here is a nice little reminder to come and help.

Only four of us made it today. Reece, Steve, Martin and Paul. But we finally pushed back the narrow bit of Berrybanks and Reece kinda worked out a plan for the constant flooding.

It felt like we had it under control after last week but really heavy rain and snow soon had us on the back foot, again (photos a mixture of mine and Steve’s).

Quite challenging when everything that we do here comes to nothing. Next week we are trying something different.

We released a few of the trees and cut back the vegetation to allow sunlight in and hopefully, a bit of wind to help dry the ground out.

This is the width that we like, and the more that we get behind the trees, the better we feel that it looks.

It’s a bit of a soggy mess at the moment but it will dry out quickly.

It’s always nice to spot a log pile that we made years ago.

We can only imagine what insects and small mammals have made their homes here.

We got the camping stove out and had bacon rolls.

Just the thing on a morning when it’s -1 degree Celsius and thankfully washed down with plenty of hot coffee. We soon warmed up after this little feast.

We are back here next week and hopefully back up to normal numbers because we need to dig a trench to the right of the holding pond, and dam up the leaky trench on the left of it, so mattocks, spades and manpower are needed.

A quick YouTube of the cutting leading to the underpass.

On Friday we’re on the Dunchurch Bridleway at the western end. We were going to put in a set of benches but frozen ground says no.

And to finish, Matt sent these rather wonderful photos of a greenway in Washington that follows an old railway line. At 45 miles long, it’s a bit bigger than ours!!

The link is here and makes for interesting reading.

If you want to join in please feel free to pop along. We are not cliquey or experts at anything, but we do solve problems with our collective input and have a bit of a laugh along the way.

Until next time!

Paul

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A Wet Start To 2025

Posted on January 1, 2025 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

It was a bit of a soggy one today, both with the rain, and the huge amount of standing water underfoot.

But five of us turned out (Ian, Dave, Tim, Steve, and Paul) despite the rotten weather.

We desperately need to cut the vegetation right back and clear the slightly higher ground. The wider it is the more light gets in and it will dry out. However, our first priority was to fix our broken picnic bench.

I think this was basic wear-and-tear and an awful design, rather than any naughty squirrel damage.

We flipped it over and tried to identify the weak points.

It’s now pretty solid and ready for a decently dry day so we can stain it all the same colour and hopefully get a few more years service out of it.

We broke for coffee but didn’t go for bacon rolls. It was just too wet to start trying to cook stuff on the camping stove, so we will see how the weather looks next week.

After our break we tried to make head or tail of the flooding. There is a blockage somewhere so we are trying to get the water to pool into a holding area and slowly drain away via some new piping that we put in early last year.

Dealing with this is like trying to herd cats. The water will not go where we want it to go. But we started to see it drain away towards the end of the session. We got a pretty good idea of what we need to do so we are back here next week to see what magic we can conjure up.

I did a litter pick at some point over the Chrimbo Limbo period and found a dumped shopping cart from the local shop!!

I reported it so hopefully it will get collected and put back into service.

I also found some wood that was used as packing and would’ve been thrown away.

I made a pair of benches that we are going to place opposite each other on the Dunchurch Bridleway. Hopefully, this will encourage people to sit facing each other and chat. It’s all good for mental wellbeing.

Dave very kindly bought us 10 “buy-me-a-coffee” coffees (link on the sidebar) so I added a small amount to it and we now have more power.

That’s 60 minutes extra strimming time. Thank you so much, Dave.

Lastly, I have added a new tab on the menu bar.

This is a series of circular walks starting and finishing at The Bear Pub. The first one is just 1.1 km and each trail gets longer and longer. I still have a few to do to complete the set, but it’s getting there.

Dunchurch Bridleway

We did a bit of work on this just before Christmas with the priority being to get the 2 km loop to the Solstice Coffee Shop clear, and push on westwards along the actual bridleway.

We added a bit of a French flavour to our break with some very tasty biscuits.

It was very nice to see a few people using the path as we worked.

The next one on here will be Friday 10th Jan putting in the pair of benches.

Next one on the Cawston bit will be next Wednesday back at Berrybanks.

Until then!

Paul

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Merry Christmas

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Eight wildlife warriors (Reece, Marcus, Steve, Martin, Ian, Dave, Matt, and Paul) turned out today for our last workday before Christmas and the New Year.

What a wonderful year we have had. We have seen the team get bigger, the path get wider, and we have overcome our many challenges with all of our collective input to solve problems.

One of the highlights for me, and there are many, is the camaraderie and friendship that we have all developed.

Thank you to the many businesses and individuals who have supported us over the last year and indeed, the last fifteen years. It’s been a real pleasure to see the trust and commitment that everyone has had in us to deliver a real asset to the local community.

We finished today with lunch at The Bear, which I can highly recommend, and I think we can all look forward to a bit of a rest before we start again in 2025.

And lastly, thank you to all the people who tune in to the blog every Wednesday and read my ramblings of our great adventure.

Until next time!

Paul

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Winding Down For Christmas

Posted on December 11, 2024 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Six wildlife heroes turned out today (Reece, Marcus, Steve, Matt, Martin and Paul) and we cracked on with pushing out the scallop pockets and creating windows on the other side of the path to let shafts of sunlight into the pockets.

We trimmed back all the way to the edge and cut out an opening, and then made a habitat pile with all the cuttings. The more varied the path is, hopefully, the more wildlife will find it, and it will also be an interesting place to walk or cycle.

There is a huge amount of new vegetation coming up in the new pockets so it’s going to be fantastic to see what we get in the spring. The scallop pockets at the southern most bit of the path have yet to wake up, so we dragged the rake over the ground to try to disturb it a bit.

The more the ground is disturbed the better the chance that seeds decide to germinate.

We also did some work on the edges. We’re trying to keep the scrub about 1 metre high so people can enjoy the views and not feel quite so enclosed.

It all looks a bit bleak at the moment, but it’s a good time to get everything ready for spring next year.

We enjoyed Christmas mince pies with our coffee at the break.

The path looking up and down has a pretty good feel about it.

And our brook has gone back to normal.

No more rivers of chocolate sauce!

Our YouTube of a bit of today.

It just gives people a taste of what it looks like.

The next one is this Friday on the Dunchurch Bridleway, and then the last one before Christmas and the New Year will be next Wednesday, with the following Wednesday being Christmas Day.

Yes, the idea did cross my mind of the portable stove and a saucepan on Christmas Day…

But I think I would find said saucepan wrapped around my head…

Only joking of course. I’m really looking forward to having a bit of a break over Christmas and the New Year, and then we can tackle the Hawthorn Trail and the flooding at Berrybanks in the last two months of the cutting-back season.

Until next time!

Paul

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Depleated Squad

Posted on December 4, 2024 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

At kick-off, we realised that we had a lot of injuries to the team, and other team members on international duties so there were literally just three of us.

However, we pushed on as best we could. The first thing that we came across was the brook at our Brook View Bench.

It has turned a lovely chocolatey brown. If you’re a chocolate lover then this is what Willy Wonka dreams are made of.

We then noticed a load of wildflowers coming up in a lot of the pockets.

Bedstraws and creeping buttercup, amongst other things, according to the ID thing on my phone. Creating these pockets really is against the run of play. If it was just left unmanaged then it would be dense scrub and nothing else.

At half-time, we enjoyed a cuppa and some stem ginger cookies from Waitrose.

Despite us being down on numbers they were polished off pretty quickly.

In the second-half we tried to open up down the sides and create a sunlight shot right into the back of the scallop nets.

We need to get up the bank and really open up the last line of defence. It’s just poking through to create a clear shot on goal into the scallop.

We also made the willow trees look a bit more tree-like and a lot less bush-like.

We made a decent defensive line with the cuttings. This will be superb for wildlife.

We swept out from our half and pushed forward.

Plenty of open spaces created up the field.

I’ve managed to create another loop for the couch-2-10k thing that I’m putting together.

This one is about 5k and the next three take the route all the way to 10k. If you want to start on the first circular trail and build up, it’s all there for you, and a decent pub welcome awaits at the end.

Luckily we had a substitution this week and we were happy to see that someone had tried to build a den.

We also litter-picked to keep it looking good.

It wasn’t long before the final whistle blew and it was time to head back. We could’ve done with a bit of Fergie Time but we do it all again next week.

Dunchurch Bridleway

We started where Solstice Coffee Shop is and worked our way up the field.

It’s a decent 2k circular trek with a good coffee stop halfway around.

Loads of people are loving this in the village and because we make our paths wide enough for people to walk together two-abreast, rather than Indian-style single-file, it encourages conversation and stuff.

That’s it for this week!

Paul

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Couch-2-10k Trail Walking

Posted on November 27, 2024 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

If you are reading from the WordPress viewer, I would suggest clicking on www.cawstongreenway.co.uk for a better viewing experience.

Nine wildlife warriors (Marcus, Reece, Dave, Ian, Matt, Steve, Nathan, Martin, and Paul) turned out today in what looked like a potential washout.

I’m thinking that we have somehow upset the god of the weather, Zeus, by not offering up enough bacon, but despite it being incredibly wet underfoot, and the path full of puddles, thanks to Storm Bert lashing the UK since the weekend, it didn’t rain on us.

We took protective measures just in case.

But we got off scot-free! Thanks, Zeus for smiling down on us yet again.

We cleared the Cawston Bridleway bridge for easy access before descending onto the greenway.

Looking down from the bridge, we can see the puddles and the slightly higher path on the ground to the left. We cleared this back a bit further just to let the air get to it and dry it out.

Whilst it looks like The Somme at the moment, it will pay dividends when it gets a bit drier, if the sun ever comes out again.

We broke at 11am for the last of the bacon from The Butcher’s of Bilton. We cannot thank them enough for their generous donation. I think we have had four sessions with it.

It’s been an experience learning how to use our new stove. We had issues with the temperatures again today at 3 degrees C, so had to keep swapping out the butane canister with a warmer one, but we got there in the end and everyone had a full belly.

Last week we showed the map of the whole 10k loop. What I am trying to do is create eight loops up to and including the 10k, in baby-step increments, so anyone who is not used to walking can start at the smallest circular trail and build up over time.

I have managed to do the first four trails. The first loop is 1k, the second one is 1.5k, the third one is 1.8k and the fourth one is 3.3k. They all start and finish at The Bear Pub so parking, food, and drinks are available to make it a truly awesome experience.

I kid you not, the pub was a very welcome sight after walking around in continuous loops in the middle of Storm Bert for what seemed like an eternity.

I will try to get the fifth (4.2k), sixth (5.2k), seventh (7.5k) and eighth (10k) loops mapped out on alltrails.com over the next week and then I feel that we have given people the vehicle to help their mental wellbeing by getting out and getting a decent dose of the green stuff.

We are on the Dunchurch Bridleway this Friday. I would suggest parking on the Coventry Road and we can start knocking back the path that goes from Solstice Coffee Shop to the Bridleway, and then work in a westerly direction once we get on the actual bridleway path.

Thinking ahead, we have January and February to clear up and down around Berrybanks, deal with the stream that starts at Berrybanks, and also clear the alternative path called Hawthorn Trail and make it a bit more accessible and obvious.

Great day today.

Until next time!

Paul

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Six Mile (10K) Circular Walk

Posted on November 20, 2024 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

I feel that we are ready to put up this six-mile walk. There are loads of ways to track back for much shorter loops, or go further into Dunchurch, but this is the basic backbone of the walk. It starts and finishes at The Bear Pub, so food and drink are available if required.

Here is the link to the route www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/6333114661/

There are plenty of picnic benches along the path and smaller pedestal benches to rest at and enjoy the countryside views. This is what “Active Travel” is all about. An hour or so connecting with wildlife and nature, and getting your daily dose of the green stuff.

Today, five wildlife warriors cracked on (Marcus, Reece, Ian, Matt and Paul) and we started in the blistering cold. We had heavy snow yesterday and today was bitter. Not the type of weather to be standing around in, so we all got busy making scallop pockets and getting around the back of trees.

It feels good and the view from George’s bench is brilliant.

This view of the heath makes it all worthwhile.

I looked into a scallop and saw some good stuff.

Sunlight, bare earth, decaying wood, and lichen. As soon as the wildflowers start to pop up it will be a microcosm of wildlife.

We broke for a much-needed cup of hot coffee in our all-terrain mugs.

And fried up some more bacon. It really is the gift that keeps on giving from The Butchers of Bilton. Please check them out and visit them for delicious food.

Here is a useful thing to know – as you can see in the first photo, the bacon is not cooking. The butane canister was really cold because it had been in my garden shed. Butane will not burn properly because it will not vaporise when cold. We swapped the canister out for a warmer one and you can see in the second photo, the bacon started sizzling….

The amount of people coming past with envious looks in their eyes was loads. The smell of bacon wafting down the path reminded me of the old Bisto adverts.

Oops, there’s me showing my age!!

The whole path is looking good and getting loads of use. This tells us that we are on the right track.

Tool Talk Wednesday

We have a new canvas bag to help carry our kit about.

But it’s getting a bit ridiculous humping so much stuff up and down the path, so I might invest in a folding trolly like this below.

I have clicked on it on temu.com so it’s now just a case of waiting for a deal to drop into my lap!

Our YouTube of today for people who like to see it in video format.

The sun is harsh, but hopefully it shows where we are at.

Dunchurch Bridleway

We are slowly catching up with the Cawston path in terms of getting the “look” that we want.

Slowly the width will happen and then it’s just a case of maintaining it.

Again, we have some sort of bedstraw wildflower growing in the cleared edges, and an interesting fungus that I couldn’t identify.

It’s a good place to be because it is so deep into the countryside.

I have my eye on a bit of timber to make a couple of pedestal benches early next year. That will happen one way or another. We like to have a bench every 100 metres or so.

Lastly, Twitter or X as it is now called seems to have gone all political. I have opened an account on the platform called bluesky. Feel free to follow our progress at cawstongreenway.bsky.social if you like.

That’s it for this week.

Until next time!

Paul

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Bacon in the Woods

Posted on November 13, 2024 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We have a new country tuning in – it’s been a while!! Welcome Barbados…

It’s so nice when this happens. I don’t know how people find the blog but it does go out on quite a few platforms and stuff. It’s quite weird when random local people come up to me like they know me and start chatting. It’s nice, but I probably need to work out a way of politely asking who these people are, rather than having a rabbit-in-the-headlights look about me…

Anyway, 129 countries have tuned in, to date. I have my eye on Svalbard. I’ve left loads of comments on blogs and left our blog link, over the last year or so, but no nibbles yet. It took me months to get Greenland, Iceland and other northern countries. People just don’t seem to engage in blog “small talk” the further north I go on my virtual travels…

Today we widened the path and created scallops south of the underpass, bringing in majestic trees where we can.

It was a very misty and cold start. Here is the view across the heath.

The sun eventually chased away the fog, so we could see the view. We also started stripping off our outer layers as it warmed up.

It was useful to see where the sunshine was hitting the scallops. It doesn’t feel like it, but the path is starting to turn to the east so we get more sun on the southern side.

We’re gonna be so full of nectar-rich wildflowers next summer.

We had a break at the halfway point and had another go at the bacon from the butchers in Bilton Village.

Six of us feasted on bacon rolls and coffee. There’s still loads left so we’ll just keep going until it’s all gone. Please go to the butchers. You will not be disappointed.

This is the hedge that we laid last year. It’s coming on nicely.

It’s so good for wildlife, but I don’t think we’ll be winning any hedge-laying awards for it. There are certain styles for the various different parts of the country. Sussex Style, Cotswold Style, West Country Style. I think we will just call this Harty Style…

Our YouTube of the scallops just to give people a better idea of how it looks.

We’re happy because people can walk two or three abreast and actually have a conversation. In today’s world, this is so good.

Tool Talk Wednesday

Nathan did the honours this week with a spare battery for all of our gear.

I kid you not, you can never have enough batteries. Thank you, Nathan.

I also litter-picked just about the whole 2-mile length. 8,300 steps, so my watch thing was telling me.

It’s not the steps that get you, it’s carrying the bag of litter when it gets heavy.

An interesting development! I have been reliably informed that a foot/cycle bridge is going in where the spine road cuts across the path south of Potford Dam. This is great news and will keep us connected.

These connections are so important and just getting away from the hustle and bustle of daily life really is a godsend.

The WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) are saying that 20 minutes a day on a path like ours will do so much for mental wellbeing.

Next one is on the Dunchurch Bridleway on Friday, and then back at the JLR bench next Wednesday for more bacon!

Until next time!

Paul

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Now We’re Cooking…

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Eight wildlife warriors made it today (Marcus, Reece, Dave, Ian, Steve, Nathan, Martin and Paul) and we thought we might try something a bit different on the first workday of each month.

We’re a pretty well-bonded group, but we thought we might like to get even more bonded and share some greenway brunch once a month.

I put out the call for help in the local village, and The Butcher’s of Bilton came to our rescue.

They gave us a huge pack of bacon. To be honest I have never seen so much of the stuff.

It was a beautiful moment. The bacon was cooked in batches and tasted so good. It was such a brilliant thing to do. Please click on The Butcher’s of Bilton to see their facebook page. They do some amazing hot food, breakfasts and of course, meat. Please try the bacon – it’s out of this world for flavour.

Once again, thank you so much for keeping the troops fed.

We cracked on with the scalloped pockets between the bench and the bridge. We have made them really deep to maximise the shelter for wildlife and get as much sunshine as possible.

We raked up the brash to give the seeds in the ground a chance to germinate. It’s already happening in the scallops that we created a few weeks ago.

My wildflower identifier is saying it’s Fragrant Bedstraw. We will see when it eventually flowers, but good to see that we now have “path – grassy edge – wildflower rich margin – scrub”. We just need to be really careful not to strim into the scallops.

The views up and down are lovely with the autumn colours.

Even on a dull day like today, it’s just a great place to be.

Here is our YouTube showing the scallops and progress.

When it all greens up it will simply blend together perfectly.

I did a bit earlier in the week and also started putting up our new bird nesting boxes.

Hanging off a ladder with a nesting box in one hand and an electric screwdriver in the other is probably not the best look, but coffee and biscuits made it worthwhile.

Dunchurch Bridleway

We had our Friday workday on the Dunchurch bit and covered about 200 metres.

We’re doing our best to bring as many of the mature trees into play as we can. It just makes it so much more interesting and a real pleasure to walk or cycle along.

I’m liking this bit very much as it starts to shape up and the path breaking out into wider glades before meandering onwards.

Winvic, the contractor doing the construction work have cleared the connecting path.

The two paths that we look after are now connected, via public right-of-ways and permissive paths.

This is such good news and what we have been waiting for. People can now walk or cycle between Cawston and Dunchurch on a completely safe off-road route. This is what “Connecting Communities” and “Active Travel” actually mean on the ground.

I’m really happy that the link is working again between the two paths.

That’s it for this week.

Until next time!

Paul

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