A Surprise But Very Welcome Visit

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Six of us wildlife warriors made it today so we were able to split up a bit with four going northwards and me and Steve going southwards.

We had got towards the end of our run when I noticed this strange thing slowly bimbling towards us. We thought it was a person with a pushchair at first, but it finally dawned on us that it was a mobility scooter and it was our friend, Patrick.

It was lovely to see Patrick and I enjoyed chatting, but it was also lovely to see that he had got on right at the other end, and was able to get to this end without a problem. If you remember, we made a “bridge” where we had a trench going across the path down at Berrybanks and this was stopping the path from being usable for everyone.

I cannot tell you how happy this made me feel.

As we waved Patrick off, I was pleased with the width and to see him move along unhindered.

This really is a path for everyone.

We continued with pushing out the edges, making scallops for wildlife micro-habitats, and trying to pull in some of the trees to give the feeling of an airy space and a woodland walk.

It makes the path massively more interesting to walk up and down and really makes the trees stand out proudly. The more of a wriggly edge the better for wildlife because it creates little pockets of shelter.

We recharged with go-go juice, in our all-terrain mugs, and flapjack (remember flapjack from your childhood) at the bench that we decided to set up and call basecamp.

This is one of the best bits, just chatting and stuff. So important for mental wellbeing. We also admired a couple of new tools from the lovely people at Wickes.

They got a hell of a good first workout and stayed the course perfectly.

Our YouTube of a bit of the nearly 700 metres covered today.

We are liking where we are at very much.

We also litter picked the south end.

Happy to report a rather feeble attempt due to an obvious lack of litter!!

Next week we are pushing on from the Cawston Bridleway bridge, so parking in Carroll Close, and then we need to clear out our wildflower glades in October.

We have lots going on over the next couple of weeks so keep yourself tuned in.

This Friday we are back on the Dunchurch Bridleway making a space for the bench that was smashed up, and rebuilt.

The thing has been sat in my garden for what seems like months and I really cannot wait to get it back into service.

Lastly, I’m wondering if maybe we should explore the option of a loop back from Dunchurch to Cawston through the woods?

Not sure if we have the capacity. Will have an poke around later this week to see if we can do it.

And with that, until next time!

Paul

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A Bench With A View…

Posted on September 11, 2024 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

A bit of an odd one today where we kinda went sideways, as well as lengthways, along the path.

Our first job was to give the Brook View bench an actual view of the brook.

It’s quite hard to make out in the photo, but there is a healthy little stream at the bottom of the slope. We could have cleared the whole bank, but really we just wanted a little window so that people can sit and simply enjoy the view if they so wish.

Plus, working at what felt like a sixty-degree angle was not the best. Luckily Steve left six-inch stumps to grab hold of and help to stop a bumpy slide into the stream, which would have resulted in a very soggy bottom.

We did a bit more work on the scallops and we really need to make sure that we don’t strim into them next spring and summer.

Hopefully, the photos show how the scallops swing from side to side. We need bare earth so grass and wildflowers will grow in each of the semicircles, and when the bramble greens up it all feels like it fits together and flows.

Personally, I still think we need to go in a little deeper, but this is new and we are just sort of working it out as we go.

The path where we were working today.

It feels like a really safe place to be and we are all really happy with how it looks.

Our YouTube to give a better visual idea of what we are looking like.

It had started raining when I recorded this, but hey-ho!!

After a quick slurp of pick-me-up-juice…

…we did a bit of work on the side path that runs next to the wildflower meadow between us and the houses.

It’s a 200 metre alternative path for people who are not keen on the there-and-back linear path. This is our attempt at making a circular path along a very straight railway line. And opening up this side of the path to sunlight is, of course, superb for wildlife.

Down the line a new cycle bridge has gone in.

This is just south of Marton and if the new cycle path follows the old railway it will connect to us at Potford Dam. I’m just not sure about the last bit between the A45 and Potford Dam.

Dunchurch Bridleway

I don’t know who started cutting back the bridleway west of the new road by the warehouses, but I finished it. The whole bridleway is open, but goes nowhere. In days past it would have been a spur from the A45 London Road to Northampton.

One cannot help but imagine how many people have trudged up and down this path in times past.

We also strimmed around our benches and trimmed the first loop (Windmill Loop) to keep it open. Thank you Wickes DIY for the ongoing support.

I’m really grateful to the farmer for keeping the Public Right of Way open.

This was the last bit – before and after…

Every single person who I have met on this bridleway, whilst working to clear it, has heaped a ton of praise on me. You know what, sometimes it can feel like we’re changing the status quo or just doing stuff and people don’t like it. But here, everyone seems very happy to have this path back in use.

However, still a lot of grumbling about how it connects to the railway path and the state of the scrub south of Potford Dam, but I’m working on a solution.

Next week we are at the Oak Tree bench pushing back those scallops.

Until then!

Paul

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Let the adventure begin…

Posted on September 4, 2024 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Six of us met up at the Potford Dam end and started to shape and mould the path like a fine sculpture.

We have twists and turns, kinks and corners, and best of all, we have scallops.

We’re getting behind some of the trees so people can walk on either side if they so wish. It just makes it way more interesting. The scallops where there are blackberries will be pushed deeper back once the fruit has gone. It was our first outing with our new hedge trimmer and will take a few weeks for us to get to know how it works and get a feel for it.

The general idea is, a scallop to the left, followed by a scallop to the right, and then back to the left, so the path edge becomes wriggly and full of little sheltered micro-habitats.

If we have a big tree we can try and form the scallop around it.

We covered about 400 metres today so good progress and the grass where we strimmed last week has not grown, so we can really push all of our attention towards the scrub at the edges.

The width is so important for the mental well-being aspect of the path. If people can see a good 100 yards ahead of themselves they don’t tend to feel anxious whilst walking alone, or sitting at the benches, and if people are walking with others, it means they can walk two or three abreast and have an actual conversation. And because that conversation sometimes might be a bit difficult, the fact that we are doing something else whilst having it, makes it a little easier than say, sitting face-to-face across a picnic bench.

I kinda hope that everyone gets where we are coming from and knows that there is a place where it is safe to chat about stuff, especially us men who are pretty rubbish at opening up about the things that are weighing heavily upon us.

And on that cheerful note, we collected a bag of litter which, to be honest, was more full of litter from outside the path rather than on the path itself.

We are back at this part of the path next week working on the canopy above the Brook View bench, and the view down to the brook.

The bench needs more sunlight and believe it or not, there is a brook down there at the bottom of the slope that will look lovely from the bench.

The wildflower glades need clearing out so I guess we can start on this next week, too.

This one has been a bit of a disappointment this year, but I think this was because spring was so wet and the grass simply took over. I have a huge amount of wildflower seed collected last year so we can give it a boost.

Our YouTube of a bit of the path where we worked today.

Hopefully, it just gives people a gist of what we are looking like.

We are back at Dunchurch Bridleway on Friday and back at the start, keeping the path grass short and the width wide and open.

Until then!

Paul

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Thank You, George.

Posted on August 28, 2024 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

This week is the last week of the school summer holidays and also the last week that George is with us for his six-month Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award. It’s been great having you on the team, George, and your little bit of legacy is your bench.

Designed by Andrew who also made the Bethel “Wiggers” bench, so we know that it’s gonna be there for a very long time.

We look forward to seeing you at half-term.

We strimmed back the path, fanning out from the JLR bench and started to think about the deep scallops that we need to cut onto the scrub now the bird-nesting season is all but over.

We can see how this is starting to take shape and how we are using mature trees as a feature within the scallop if we can.

The deeper we go in, the better, because each scallop will be a sheltered little micro-habitat for biodiversity. It also makes it far more interesting for people who enjoy walking or cycling on the path.

I had my litter-picking crew today, due to the school holidays, and they did us proud.

Two kilometres covered (there and back that’s 4 km) so well done, kids. A well-earned McDonald’s followed…

Not a regular thing so don’t worry!

We enjoyed coffee and Goerge made us all some banana loaf, which was delicious.

This is probably one of the best parts of us getting together every week and doing what we do.

Next month we have Bilton Beavers helping and also a group from Jaguar Land Rover, who might try to do something with this bench as part of their day with us.

If not, we know how to turn it into a 4-seater.

Here is our YouTube of some of the progress today.

The reason that we use YouTube is because I am unable to load videos directly onto the blog without signing up to the next tier, which will cost me even more money. Of course, I would love to be a YouTuber with 500,000 subscribers and enough imagination to put out interesting and engaging content every week, but sadly, I’m not.

Lastly, here is a rather nice photo from Matthew Gordon (Cawston resident) of the sunset behind one of our benches.

I love it.

Dunchurch Bridleway

Somehow we continue to push on westwards and there are just 70 metres of path snipping back left, until the bridleway meets the railway. When we see 70 metres against the whole length of the bridleway, it looks like nothing.

I’m not really that bothered about this bit, preferring to wait until the cycle path along the new road connects us, but someone unknown seems to want it open and accessible.

The temporary Right of Way that connects to the greenway has been cleared by about 50 metres, so slowly it’s kinda coming together.

If it gets people walking or cycling between Cawston and Dunchurch, then I guess it’s all good.

Next week we are back at Potford Dam and for me, this is Dream Street because we can start to create the deep scallops with our hedge trimmers. Butterflies and bees, thank me later…

Until then!

Paul

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Time to Visit the September Jobs List

Posted on August 21, 2024 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We have one last week until the birdnesting season ends and we can visit our list of jobs to do (top right of menu bar) over autumn and winter.

Six of us made it today and trimmed the path back about 400 metres, fanning out from the bird feeder clearing.

We’ve got the width that we need so cyclists and pedestrians can share the path, we have kinks and curves so we haven’t created a wind-tunnel effect, we have plenty of benches for picnics, or just to sit at and enjoy the birdsong and green space. All-in-all, it has a great feel to it.

The next stage, which just so happens to be a winter job when all the berries have gone, is to cut back the bramble and start to manage the blackberries.

The lifecycle of bramble is – loads of runners but no fruit in the first year, bumper fruit in the second year, stems die in the third year so need to be cut right back to ground level.

It will look something like this – winter 2024 cut back – summer 2025 new growth – summer 2026 fruit – cut back winter 2026/7 so the cycle starts all over again.

If we work out a rotation strategy we will always have a bumper crop of berries every year.

We also need to cut really deep scallops into the path edge. This year we have been a bit quick to get to the edge of the scrub when strimming because we didn’t really have the time and manpower to knock the scrub back into the scallops that we needed. Once we have these, they will be full of longer grass, wildflowers and basically we will be creating little micro-habitats up and down the whole path.

We have been awarded a grant from Warwickshire County Council for a new strimmer and a hedge trimmer so we will have the tools to do the job.

We also litter-picked up and down.

Considering that it’s the school holidays – not a lot of litter at all!!

Someone called Simon gently snipped back the path from Potford Dam down to the A45. No idea who Simon is but thanks for keeping this bit usable.

Here is our YouTube of the area that we did today.

Hopefully, you can see what we are trying to achieve.

Dunchurch Bridleway

Lots happening on this bit of the path. We got the two loops open and also pushed on to the new spine road cutting across the bridleway.

The next jobs are to get the Geocaching trail re-done so it goes past Solstice coffee shop and hopefully encourages people to pop in for a cuppa, and to install our rebuilt picnic bench, once all the berries have gone over and we can cut an area to accommodate it.

Someone has pushed a further 350 metres westward from the spine road. No idea who this is, but good work if it means people have further to walk and cycle.

It comes to an abrupt halt at the last photo, but I am intrigued to see if it will carry on to the end, which is about 250 metres or so. Thank you, whoever you are.

Here is a kinda updated map of the paths to give you an idea where it all sort of fits together.

My plan is to get a Geocaching trail around both loops, and hopefully connect the Dunchurch and Cawston communities somehow, or maybe it will just happen as people naturally forge a traffic-free way through.

Next week we are at the JLR picnic bench snipping back, and after that, it’s all hands to the pump!!

Until then!

Paul

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Forest School Area

Posted on August 14, 2024 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Hopefully, this will be the last session down this end for a couple of weeks. I for one tend to get itchy feet when we are committing a lot of our time in a single place.

Six of us met up and we made a second triangle of benches, and made an area that we feel is suitable for Forest School and Bushcraft skills.

Thanks to Andrew, who let us use his driveway to drop off all the heavy stuff, and the lend of a sack-barrow and wheelbarrow to get said heavy stuff onto the path.

We had to make our way across the cow field.

That was errr, interesting, in a buttock-clenching sort of way… But actually, the young bullocks showed nothing more than a slightly bemused interest.

George and Dave got the benches in, whilst the rest of us cut a massive pile of sticks to allow dens and shelters to be built.

If you ever find yourself lost in the wilderness, there are three things that you need to guarantee your survival – FOOD, WATER, and SHELTER.

Thank me later when you’re tucked up in a wooden teepee feasting on a roasted grey squirrel.

The benches are the usual “goalpost” design and made with tanalised (pressure-treated) timber to ward off any rot, and they are each held together with eleven 80 mm screws, so if a naughty non-grey squirrel tries to damage them, there is a high chance of personal injury.

My poor neighbours probably think I have turned my back garden into a timber yard!!

We broke for coffee and flapjack at the halfway point.

And gave the benches the usual baptism of caffeine.

Hopefully, the school that we are behind will allow the kids to do a bit of Forest School, or mums and dads can just enjoy a cheeky coffee whilst their children build things and play.

Many thanks to Pauline, Wendy and Andrew for the buy-me-a-coffee donations to make this area happen.

Here is our YouTube of the path.

We now have 75 subscribers so we are growing very slowly.

Dunchurch Bridleway

I had to cancel the workday due to childcare duties on Friday, but I did grab a few little pockets of time here and there.

Just 200 metres to go until the Solstice turn and then about 50 metres on the path that leads off to the cafe. It’s just really tough and coarse grass, so progress is slow, but once it’s done it’s just a case of keeping on top of it and slowly widening this part to about 2 metres.

I also strimmed around the three benches to keep them accessible.

It’s coming together nicely and I think the next session will have the path totally open.

It was good to finally try out our hedge-trimmer and it really works well.

We need to open up the two loops and then work out how to connect with the greenway.

The point of the westerly red dot is where the new spine road goes from the roundabout, northwards to the Potford Dam roundabout. We can follow the cycle path along this new road, or push on westward and try to connect to the greenway somewhere.

Something to think about over the winter.

Until next time!

Paul

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Back in the Gutter

Posted on August 7, 2024 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

No workday for me last week due to a well-earned holiday. I swapped my usual view for this.

However, the guys did a load of work on the path width from The Bear bridge right to the northern end.

It’s made a huge difference with grass starting to grow at the edges, and we have our flop zone when everything goes over and starts to wilt, it is no longer going to fall towards the middle of the path.

Seven of us congregated this week with drain rods, spades, a length of pipe, saws, and all sorts to try and get the source of the overflow sorted and the path flat again.

Sadly, the blocked drain remains blocked, but we did fill in the gully with the bit of pipe.

This is one of our core values – a path for everyone, so people with a pushchair, mobility scooter, or just a child on a small-wheeled bike can use the path whilst the water quietly drains away.

Let’s hope it works!! We will not know until late winter, probably.

We had a break and enjoyed a coffee in our all-terrain mugs and a tasty flapjack.

We then litter-picked, and decided that this bench really needs work.

It’s a terrible design and not suitable for public use whatsoever. But it does lead me to the one that got smashed up by the naughty squirrels.

I had an old pallet, a bit of timber from my local DIY store, and a window of time.

You guessed it – reuse-recycle-repurpose kicked in…

I’m happy with that, and the timber, with my Wickes Trade Discount, cost just £13.50. We will probably stick this one on the Dunchurch part of the path. But more importantly, we know how to fix the other one when it finally falls apart.

Forest School & Bushcraft Area

This area has kind of grown in my head.

We are keeping the triangle of benches and will probably put a tarp up above it to keep the area dry, and then start a bushcraft area where kids can build a shelter, have logs to sit on, and generally learn some forestry skills.

There are various bits of wood that we can drag into a bit of a circle for extra seating and loads of one to two-inch branches for building.

It’s just another avenue of engagement for youngsters to learn about stuff.

Lastly, our YouTube of the path where we worked today.

The width is starting to happen at this end and I feel like we have balanced the path up a bit, in terms of seating and useability.

Next week we are putting in the triangle of benches behind the school and have to cart a load of Postcrete down to the area.

I will drop off all the heavy stuff at the Apple Grove Play Park to make life a bit easier.

Until then!

Paul

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Poking Around The Drains

Posted on July 24, 2024 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Four of us got out today at Berrybanks, we missed Dave, but cracked on with going backwards to pick up where we got to last week, and then we ploughed on northbound and got to spitting distance of The Bear bridge.

Reece had a poke about with the drainage and we are coming back in the first week of August to try and understand what is happening with the constant overflow.

This is the width that we need here, and probably a bit more on the westerly side if the stream reappears in the winter.

The bit between the underpass and Berrybanks is quite tight in places so we need to be making deep scallops in the autumn for wildflower-rich grass to get established.

We just need that buffer between the path and scrub so we really maximise with the wildlife biodiversity.

Our YouTube of our progress.

We now have 72 YouTube subscribers. How that happened I do not know, but it would be nice to get it to 100, so please subscribe to the channel if you can.

I quickly zipped up to the Potford Dam end and knocked back any opportunist bramble runners, and also strimmed under all the benches. A couple of lovely ladies were sitting at the Spinney’s View bench and wanted their picture taken. How could I possibly refuse?

If the grass is long then critters will go up trouser-legs and start taking chunks out of the soft skin towards the back of the shin, the inside of the thigh, and worse…

The benches do need a quick splash of Ronseal wood-stain and it’s on my “to do” list before dampness returns to the air in September and summer gives way to autumn.

I was under very strict instructions to make sure I was back at the Berrybanks picnic bench for our 11 o’clock coffee and cookies. I was wondering if we had a “special guest” as I literally had to run for the last 200 metres or so…

But no “Jeremy Beadle” type surprises or anything like that, just a reminder to be on blooming time for once in my life!

We have had an incredibly generous buy-me-a-coffee donation from Andrew (who looks after the geocaching trail) for £20 to go towards the Forest School area behind the actual school. We had a donation from Wendy for £15 and two donations from Pauline for £10 so we are kinda there or thereabouts.

Thank you guys. Very much appreciated.

This is the area that I feel is suitable. It’s raised off the track-bed so should remain dry.

I will run it past the group first to make sure it really is OK, and then we can clear it off ready. We can also cut a load of timber so dens and camps can be made. I’m actually really excited about this and we have scheduled it to go in on August 14th.

I couldn’t help but spot some friendly neighbours.

Up close they are quite intimidating, although probably not meaning to be.

Dunchurch Bridleway

No workday to report this week but I did a bit on Sunday.

Just 65 metres along this stretch of 240 metres. It’s pretty heavy going with an electric strimmer but I didn’t want to use anything more powerful when working on my own. It’s more of a statement of intent showing how it will look when the whole path is trimmed back, than a serious session.

We also replaced the logo badges on our benches.

Once again, thank you so much to The Kitchens Inc for sponsoring the benches.

Loads of people using the path, the first loop, and sitting on the benches.

The first loop should be called the Windmill Loop because there used to be a windmill, that dates back to 1546 or earlier, in the field that the path goes through, and of course Windmill Farm is still there.

The second loop should be called the Solstice Loop because it goes past the Solstice Coffee Shop.

This whole area was referred to as “west heathe” back in centuries past, and even today the fields are full of wheat ready to be harvested and turned into bread, with the exception of one field which, I am reliably informed, is barley. And we all know what barley makes – beer!

A picture of how harvest might have looked in the 17th Century.

Well that’s about it for this week. Always spare coffee in the pot if anyone wants to pop along and join in. It’s good fun, massively therapeutic and a great way to meet new people and make friends.

Until next time!

Paul

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Summer Rolls On…

Posted on July 17, 2024 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Oh no!! It rained on St. Swithin’s Day (15th July) – According to the old saying, if it rains on St. Swithin’s Day it will rain for the next 40 days. If St. Swithin’s Day is dry, the next 40 days will also be dry.

Thankfully, today was blisteringly hot with not a drop of rain. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, St. Swithin…

Five of us met at the quadrant and pushed southwards to the Bethel bench and then northwards to Berrybanks.

Views up, down and to the sides. I carried on southwards to the Potford Dam end just snipping back bramble runners. It was like the triffids were taking over…

After a near death battle I managed to get back for coffee and nibbles and then caught up with the expedition northbound.

Our underpass wildflower clearing is doing well.

Sadly, the next wildflower clearing is a bit grass-heavy and looks a bit tatty. Nothing we can do until autumn when we can clear it out and re-sow it ready for next year.

The path is nice and wide with loads of dappled sunlight and quite a few butterflies, damselflies and bees flying about.

Our YouTube of a bit of the progress today.

Dunchurch Bridleway

We had our fortnightly workday last Friday where Dave and me pushed on with another 200 metres or so.

We really are deep into the countryside here and it feels really good for the soul to be surrounded by fields full of crops and to be opening up this ancient bridleway. One cannot help but stop and wonder why it is here and what was its purpose? And of course, how many people through the last few hundreds, if not thousands of years have trudged up and down it.

Notice the new Land Rover mug – which reminds me, we have another team coming from Jaguar Land Rover for a Community Volunteer Day in September.

We opened up the first looping path that starts from the little brown bench, that was part of a stile, that we rescued last week.

It’s a rather nice 1.3 km circular walk that crosses a field full of barley (so I am told) and then wheat. At the 1 km point there are stiles with paths off that go through the woods to the villages of Cawston and Bilton.

The next challenge is to get to the Solstice coffee shop. We have 630 metres left to clear and will create a 2 km circular walk.

By the time we have this done, I reckon we will be towards the end of August and the bird-nesting season will be over. We can then start pushing on to connect with Cawston Greenway and really push back the scrub on the looping paths a good metre or so to create the wildflower-rich strip between path and bramble.

We decided that we would go ahead with the triangle of benches behind the school.

It’s a popular access point so will get a lot of use and is open for the school to use for Forest School if they want. We have £20 worth of buy-me-a-coffee donations, The cost of three benches is £27 and three bags of Postcrete is £21 so it would be nice if we can have a few more people donating towards this.

That’s about it for this week.

Next week we are at Berrybanks.

Paul

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More Donations

Posted on July 10, 2024 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We had an incredibly generous donation from Dunchurch Pantomaniacs.

They have funded our fourth strimmer, a hedge-trimmer, a couple of extra batteries, and five bird-boxes.

This will be so useful in the autumn when we can push the scrub right back, and it is all the same range from Wickes DIY, so the batteries are all interchangeable.

Thank you so much.

We have made a couple of seats for the youth who tend to congregate under The Bear pub bridge.

When it was non-stop raining and it felt like we were living in a monsoon, they decided to try to move one of our picnic benches under the bridge. On finding that it was concreted to the ground, rather than get a spanner and undo the bolts, they decided to smash the seats off and try to make some seating in the dry.

Come on… This was never going to work out in a million years!!

We have salvaged a couple of pallets and made seating. There is no way in a month of Sundays that I am going to spend any money here when I am already down a picnic bench.

So we made this.

Aesthetically, they don’t look great, but these bad boys are as strong as a brace of oxen and are not going anywhere. And we have sanded them so nobody is going to get a ruddy great splinter in their bum…

Youth: If you want seating, talk to me and we can work something out!!

Today, we met at the Cawston Bridleway bridge and everyone carried on strimming northwards, whilst I just gave the top of the bridge a quick snip and trim. We covered about 500 metres today, so pretty impressive.

We make an effort to keep the access points open so people can get on and off. The width is just right along the path.

We had George back with us, who is doing his Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award.

Great to see you again, George, and a good shift put in.

Dave carried on with his bench name-plates.

We have nine picnic benches in total and they now all have names, thanks to Dave.

Whilst on the subject of benches, I noticed a huge clump of nettle-leaved bell-flowers just by Mick’s sunset bench.

Mick found this plant on the bit between the underpass and Berrybanks years ago and it disappeared one summer morning. Mick went on and on and on about it for about three years after. And suddenly here is a clump just by his bench. How odd.

A couple of other wildflowers popping up.

  • Rosebay willow herb
  • Mullein

And the view from the little bench by Charlie’s wildflower clearing.

We have had some incredibly generous buy-me-a-coffee donations from Wendy and Pauline last week. I’m not sure if you are trying to kill me off by making me carry more Postcrete down the path, but my initial thought was to replicate the triangle of benches behind Henry Hinde Junior School where a public right of way goes past the school and over the greenway? This will allow the children to do Forest School if they so wish.

And just a reminder – this is the school that I went to and we would wave at the train driver and guard as the train trundled past at break times, back in the 1970’s.

Photograph courtesy Martin Kavanagh

Yes, I really am that old!!

Please let me know if another trio of benches sounds like a good idea.

Dunchurch Bridleway

No workday last week but I found a little bit of time to snip back the bramble that is trying to leap into the middle of the path.

I also found a little bench in the hedgerow, so released it and gave it a bit of woodstain to perk it up a bit.

This is the area that we have done just over 230 metres of path widening and I cleared the bramble on the rest.

There’s a fantastic little coffee stop called Solstice just east of where it pops out, and as you can see, a nice circular walk with off-road car parking to the north-east of the starting point. I’m going to re-do the geocaching trail from the car park, going past the coffee shop and working its way around the circuit, rather than the there-and-back route that currently exists.

Photograph courtesy Phil Johnson

I think the red line on the map above needs to be our first goal, and then try to work out how to connect the whole thing with the greenway. All we are looking for is a 1.5 metre wide path.

Football fever has taken over the UK and beating Switzerland in the quarter-finals was a big plus…

It’ll be amazing if we have similar luck in the semi-finals. Nether give up hope…

That’s it for this week. On Friday we are back at Dunchurch and hopefully in the UEFA Euro 2024 Final on Sunday!

Paul

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