Ock Path, Town end - Saturday 6th December 2025

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Blog by Eleanor, photos by Eleanor, Sally and David

This was to be a short session for Green Gymmers, as it was the day of our Christmas lunch. We met by the bridge over the weir at the back of St Helen's Court, where the Ock joins the Thames, and made our way to the usual site of our encampment by the northern branch of the Ock.

One task were to rake the soggy leaves off the woodchip path, which curves away from the main path towards the northern branch, then curves round to rejoin the main path. We will renew the woodchip in the Spring. There was a fallen tree to be sawn up, which James at once offered to do, some bramble to be cleared, plus a lot of litter picking. There is always litter along this path but especially at the Drayton Road end and under the bridge leading from Ock Street, so the litter picking crew set off in that direction.

Susan raking the path




The rakes' progress




Litter picking




A big haul of rubbish and recycling




The recent damp weather meant there was some interesting fungus around and luckily, we had David to identify some of it.

Common Eyelash ( you can't really see the "eyelashes" as it was too wet)




 
Blushing bracket




Another fungus on a log




At eleven o' clock, we stopped for coffee and biscuits, then packed up and made our way to the car park so we could get ready for our lunch at ASK Italian.

Packing up






Lunch at ASK


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