We love to cycle the Strawberry Line - the reclaimed old railway line that used to connect Wells and the Cheddar Valley villages to the mainline at Yatton and (amongst many things) take fresh strawberries to London markets on specially designed well-sprung wagons. The line closed along with so many others with the 1962 Beeching Act. Then 20 years ago the headmaster of the local comprehensive school (Keith Herring) was shocked when a schoolboy narrowly escaped death in an accident cycling from Axbridge to the Cheddar school along the main road, busy with traffic including school buses and occasional quarry lorries. Looking for a solution he and a small group realised that the old railway track would make an ideal traffic-free cycle route and so worked to get the council to buy it and lease it to them. And so the Strawberry Line track started. Now it extends 10 miles, almost all on the old track, to Yatton and the mainline station (complete with community café). It is adopted by the UK's major cycling charity Sustrans (based in Bristol) and forms part of National Cycle Route 26.
Well, cycle it as we do, we have been taking for granted the trusty volunteers who keep the cycle path in good condition: battling brambles, trimming trees, removing rubbish and whacking the weeds. So as we hosted a gathering of a UK sustainable group here at the house and cottage we decided to spend a busy half-day as a line gang: covering much of the Cheddar-to-Axbridge section. Not such hard work, and the weather was lovely. Very little rubbish at all (how refreshing): mostly nettles, brambles, branches and saplings to trim back.
We now hope to get more involved over time and maybe make this a more regular event. Onwards and upwards!
We now hope to get more involved over time and maybe make this a more regular event. Onwards and upwards!
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