As a countryside access warden i’ve done a lot of vegetation removal, light pruning using secateurs or a folding saw. Was issued with loppers but not easy to carry, especially on a bus.
Walkers help to keep paths clear, crushing vegetation. If a path is not walked it can become overgrown quite quickly. I found two local paths blocked. In each case walkers had detoured through a neighbouring orchard. Okay if the orchardist doesn’t object, but in the longterm a right of way could be lost.
So, two short expotitions, equipped with secateurs, loppers, shears, pruning saw and a bottle of water. Gloves and a longsleeved top to avoid thorns and nettles. Not forgetting walking stick.
The first path was off Hollow Lane, Canterbury, between newish housing and an orchard. Total walk about a mile. Nettles and fierce brambles. Time clearing the path about an hour.
I left the path narrow but walkable.
A week later i tackled the second path. It was on the fifth of August, the weather fair and mild. I got up with the lark in the morning, but had coffee and breakfast before going out. Again blocked by brambles and wildflowers. Cow parsley. A length of fence had collapsed across the path. Again, walkers had detoured through the fruit trees.
I had reported these blockages via the County Council website. With mixed feelings i found that someone with a brushcutter or similar had cleared the path. Mixed because i was left with nothing to do. But pleased that the path was now walkable.
I walked up the hill and back down on another path. Decades ago this path was between hedges and was useful for gathering windfall apples from overhanging branches. The big trees were replaced by smaller ones. The two hedges have become one. I pruned several brambles which threaten to grow across the path.
Uphill across a wheatfield, sat at a play area to eat my apple (shop not windfall) I picked a blackberry. On August 5th. Forty years ago, in my winemaking days, i picked berries in mid September. Climate change, or climate catastrophe.
Down Lime Kiln Road and home. Coffee needed.
Rambling Brummie 