Part Five
Posted: 20 April 2022
If you've joined the tour at this point you may prefer to start at The Beginning of the tour.
We step off the veranda of The Manna and return along the path to the junction of the New Path. You may notice the two stumps of telegraph poles that would have marked the location of one of the fishing stands when we moved to Ruston House in 2013.
At the junction we can see where the path grids terminate. We're still waiting for the chippings in this part of the path to rot down and allow the grass to re-grow. You also notice the effect of Diana's clearance of the nettles and other plants that she wished to see replaced.
When comparing this year's photographs with those of two years ago it's difficult to accept that the current year's are only taken a week earlier than those of 2020. Part of that must be simply because it's earlier in the year while another part is that this year has been drier than normal. But there is also all the work Diana has done to clear plants she doesn't want. It's that last factor that seems to be so relevant as we pass two more bollards that originally indicated another fishing stand.
Two years ago there was disappointment recorded at the lack of clear success in helping the grass to grow after the lower branches were removed from all the lakeside Hawthorns. Everything seems in much the same state two years on.
Having turned the full corner we are now heading due south again. One of the things I did do this year that clearly I had not done in 2020 was to strim the paths just before taking the photographs. I had been conscious that it had been impossible to see the planks that form the path edging. Maybe it is that which, to some extent, makes the grass growth look so much more advanced in the earlier photos.
A number of the photographs taken since leaving The Manna have been taken with the camera at waist level and it accounts for the slightly different angles seen when compared to the 2020 photographs. But here, in this second shot including "Dave" the deer, I hold the camera to my eye when, last time, I explain how the same shot was taken with the camera held above my head.
Approaching "The Dip" we see that it is moss, rather than grass that is now growing on the path. While around the junction with the New Path it has been suppressed a little with the addition of more chippings intended to raise the level of the path slightly. While, on the low area next to the dyke, the grass has extended where the nettles were removed. The lack of nettle may be the reason for the reed appearing to have recovered a little.
Retracing our steps behind the "Ruston Bench" we see the area that we had intended to sow grass seed. That was not done but it does appear that grass is appearing naturally, particular along the outside edge of the curve where the path was widened slightly and the soil is slightly less tightly packed.
Back at the staggered junction the view is taken slightly further back than in 2020. This allows us to see our biggest ever twig pile in the foreground with the "for chipping" pile just beyond the small stack of path grids. Again, in 2020 it was reported that the plan was to see the junction with more grass. That hasn't happened as debate continues about whether use the grids to raise the level of the path here, one year the dyke over-topped its banks and water flowed across the path here and into the lake.
Here, as we approach the new retaining wall, we see how effective the sowing of grass seed can be. The area that was once use as a temporary store for material lifted from the lake over the summer. Now we have better arrangements for compost and it doesn't need to stay here.
Now we are about to cross the bridge to tour the island. Compared with 2020 you'll see that there are fewer blocks of wood propped up against the balustrade. You may have noticed that four of them have been moved to the new boat storage location that we saw by "the Dip".
