Our Greenway Gems

The Greenway here in North Northamptonshire is an emerging jewel for our county which is just starting to shine. Or rather it is a collection of gems - gradually being connected together and made into an intricate necklace which one day will reach across the county reaching us all with its beauty.

You wouldn’t usually associate a network of rural routes for walking, cycling and other forms of active travel with jewellery-making but the Greenway is something we are watching with interest as we see how it develops and starts to enrich us more and more.

Opening the Greenway Griffin Trail

Earlier this year a new section of the Greenway was opened - the Griffin Trail.  Brightwayz team members Dez and Andrea joined Greenway Development Officer, Lucy Hawes, and many others for the launch. Dez took a large adult trike along and Andrea took an electric bike so they could both demonstrate how the Greenway can be accessible for everyone… and inspire others to try it on two (or three) wheels.

Community Support for the Greenway

This new section provides a link between the village of Braybrook and the local brewery as part of the route between the village and Market Harborough. The decision to develop this route was strongly supported by the local community in partnership with North Northants Council who lead on the Greenway. The attraction of being able to create a safe, accessible active travel route from the village to the brewery meant the Greenway section is helping to boost the local economy and visitor economy by connecting to a popular local business destination.

Monitoring For the Greenway

Understanding the potential impact of the investment in the Greenway and usage of the routes is crucial as it helps strengthen the case to get funding to complete more of the route. 

Dr Declan Ryan from The University of Northampton has led a monitoring programme on usage of a footbridge on the route over four weeks in the summer. The footbridge requires improvements and repairs and the monitoring was to understand its importance.

Special counters were fitted to the sides of the bridge to enable individual crossings to be totalled. The results showed that on average there are an estimated 78 crossings every weekday, and 550 crossings each weekend. 5,133 crossings were made in total. 

https://activequarter-nn.co.uk/research-update/traffic-monitoring-supports-success-of-the-griffin-trail/

But having these routes is one thing - what we as active travel advocates need to do is increase awareness and encourage/enable more people to use them. So this summer we are organising short local rides to do this - as part of our Big Bike Revival activities supported by Cycling UK.

We hope you are enjoying some great rides where you are too.

Here at Brightwayz social enterprise we love to provide information and tips to help you, your colleagues, friends and family travel in safe, active, sustainable ways for everyday journeys.

Our unique range of products is here to help support your active travel campaigns and 100% of profits from sales is ploughed back to support the work we do. Take a look at our range here and find something to help you inspire others to travel in good ways.