To have that on your doorstep is very lucky. We only discovered it on our previous visit, and love it as it's not overrun with tourists. I quite fancy a walk up the valley, at least as far as the 2nd youth hostel - maybe even do an overnight in it!

@@theboy-uk I’ve got a trip planned as soon as the weather picks up.

@@StevieProton Superb - let me know how it goes 👍

The Waterfront is the best part of Ipswich!

Glad you enjoyed seeing your old haunts! 😃

Thanks - I do struggle with that amount of zoom to keep the subject central!

It was a lovelyMarch day. The weather was kind that week!

I like all these old houses. But for proper posh, just a few miles from this one is one of the Rothschild's houses, Waddesdon Manor. I'll see if I have enough footage of that one to make a video - though again I suspect it would have been using the telephoto lens on my original Mavic 3, which isn't the best for quality, sadly, as can be seen from this video.

@@theboy-uk I’ve always kept away from flying around people’s homes but, sometimes I’m tempted if the place is unoccupied.

@@StevieProton Indeed, privacy plus just purely causing concern is enough to keep me a long way back as a rule.

Given that Verney Junction is probably around 1 mile as the crow flies, they probably owned the land!

@@theboy-uk Yeah, back in the day when rich people had a plan and invited investors to take a punt on that plan. The whole 19th century railway network was built that way. OK, some branches never turned much of a profit but people had a rail service in far-flung places and could board a train from Nowheresville in Scotland or Wales towards whichever Big Smog took their fancy. Fast forward 170 years and we have HS2, a tax-payer funded, government-run abortion of a project. No risk involved, a bottomless pit of money to splurge, no deadlines to meet, no investors nagging about delays or costs. The Verney family will be laughing in their graves. Old Oak Common to Curzon Street is not quite what the government promised us. All the sensible stuff was ditched early on: the direct connection to HS1; the spur to Heathrow etc ... I'm miffed not because so much money has been wasted and environmental damage done. It's the fact that, on paper, there was a worthwhile vision for the future of our railway network but the government was/is, hopelessly, not up to the job of realising that vision. The Verneys had to deliver on their vision otherwise the money would dry up.

Not many people can say they have a church in their garden, 50 yards from the house!

@@theboy-uk My family had a church named after them in Northumberland and a village sprung up from it. Kirkharle and East Harle, where my family originated from. Sadly no inheritance for me though.

@@davidharle952 Impressive 👍

Since the bird strike I got a few weeks ago on Wast Water, I've been a bit paranoid about birds getting angry. How that drone survived, and not fall into the lake, given the damage to the prop is a near miracle!

It was part of a longer flight capturing the sun, and ended before it set due to all these birds!

🤣 🤣

Thanks, its quite an interesting area, with the reservoir just down the road :)

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it :)

It's called Ordfordness Beacon, and was built 100yrs or so ago as an early navigation radio beacon. As far as I know, its no longer in use for this purpose (and there is some suggestion it was only an experiment anyway). It appears to be a listed building, which might explain its good condition, but I'm really struggling to find any conclusive info on it's modern uses.

In the several hours I was there, I saw seagulls, seagulls, seagulls, and some seagulls! LOL. I was a little disappointed not to see more to be honest, but that didn't dampen the visit to the place :)

Thanks, djengines and I spent several hours at this location with 3 drones gathering lots of footage :)

You know me, always like a bit of water. Even if the seagulls were quite aggressive! Thanks.

@@theboy-uk They looked polite, just flying closer 😉

@@robodrone5662 Yes, maybe,, as no contact this time!

And plenty of seagulls trying to dive bomb the poor little Mini 3 Pro! This area has seen significant regeneration over the last 15 years or so :). The rest of Ipswich hasn't changed, aside from shops are now kebab shops.

I wish I had a back garden like that!!!

Hoped you liked the video, even if the music didn't work for you. Music is always hard to pick, and for this I was after something bright and uplifting, so grabbed this from KZfaq's (rather limited) Audio library.

Thanks. There was a big reservoir about half a mile behind me. Obviously I flew around that as well!

This one was moved from the village when the reservoir was built and flooded the village. Its more of a funerary than a church though.

I can't watch Avata footage, including my own. I can't always fly the thing without getting motion sickness!

Same here, I love the architecture of them :)

I also like old churches, they have loads of history. ☘☘☘

@@IrishMac093 I love the history, and the architecture of churches 👍

Absolutely, just don't let the brainwashed fans hear you say that though!

What a wicked idea! Although I wasn't planning on posting many Avata videos here... ...but I am getting a lot of requests for these silly ones 🤣

& Fun. It really is great fun to mess about with :)

@@theboy-uk Too fast for me 🤣

@@robodrone5662 Its quite a slow drone, probably slower than your Air 3....

@@theboy-uk But I fly high 😉

@@robodrone5662 Always good to be at least 1 mishap high 👍

I purposely don't comment on the video, as the intention is for a record of construction. Commentary would naturally contain my own views on the project. Music is very appropriate for this white elephant ;)

This is ironic. Much of the 'desecration' has come about because of the need to address environmental concerns by means of tree planting and new grassland and wetland plus extensive earthworks to hide HS2 from all those people traumatised by the sight of trains. However, the result of that is what you see in Boy's video - a wide strip of excavated land. (You can see where planting is becoming established - particularly on cutting slopes but it will be a few years before the scars heal. For the future appearance of HS2, have a look at HS1 through Kent, which would have been much the same in the late 90s). The railway itself will be a maximum of 23m between fences. That is wide for a railway (necessitated by greater high speed clearances and maintenance access requirements) but it is still 10m less than a standard dual three lane motorway. Outside of the railway, the main intrusive works will be transformer stations, depots and stations but these will be very widely spaced (there are no HS2 stations between the London suburbs and the outskirts of Birmingham). Motorways have frequent land hungry junctions and sprawling service stations every few miles. Phase 1 of HS2, whilst not a white elephant, will not fulfil its potential unless Phase 2 is added. The full 345 mile network will connect the capital to eight of Britain's largest cities and free up capacity on the existing passenger and freight network.

HS2 is paid for by government borrowing. Obviously the loan and interest paid on that loan will have to be paid for through future taxation but large infradtructure investments expand the economy and the wealth that is taxed.

And remember not just the construction, as HS2 will need a lot of taxpayer subsidy once up and running - 50-60% of each ticket will be from the taxpayer.

@@martinsloman6905 ultimately, it is the taxpayer having to pay up, even if the spike of it has to come from a (expensive) loan. It removes taxpayer money from other, infinitely more useful projects and services to one that exists purely as a vanity project for the rail industry.

@@theboy-uk OK Boy You have made a specific claim there. What is your source for it?

@@theboy-uk To make an analogy here. If you are a plumber you will need a van to carry your tools and equipment. That will cost you money and you will continually have to pay money to fuel, repair and maintain that van - all of which will detract from your bottom line. So I guess you would recommend getting rid of the van to improve profitability?

Thanks. I think the Funeral March is more appropriate, but I know we'll never agree on that. Life would be boring if were all the same.

Yeah, but the whitewashed Pro HS2 brigade are very passionate and fail to see any common sense ;)

The money side is easy. Every time they need money, they get it off the hard working taxpayer.

The Contractors don't submit a bid because the scope of works is unknown. When things become known they submit a price for those things.

@@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg No contract should be granted without a semi-defined cost, and clauses for unknowns. This was just open ended, using the taxpayer's wallet.

​@theboy-uk generally I agree and contracts are not let like that. But if the works cannot be defined there is no other way of delivering the project. It's like you asking me to give you a price for building a building when you don't know what you want.

@@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg All contracts I've been involved in - which aren't this sort of construction - a fairly tight requirements document is agreed by both parties, with clauses for changes. Also, penalties for late delivery. Strikes me that this one is an open ended open wallet approach, and everyone looks surprised when the initial proposal had it at around £23-26bn (depending what page you looked on) for all of Phase 1 and Phases 2a/2b. And then utter surprise when that was all blown before a spade had hit the ground.

I'm beyond staggered at lack of progress, and the cost of this non-progress on the taxpayer. The M40 extension from Oxford to Birmingham was done in under 4 years about 30 years ago, but this is an utter mess.

If you want to know what is going on here, have a look at the relevant site plans: www.gov.uk/government/publications/hs2-plan-and-profile-maps-euston-to-chetwode (specifically Sheet 28: Calvert and Sheet 27: Route passes Buckingham Railway Centre). These can be blown up to quite large scale and you can see the extensive amount of mitigation work being carried out - which is typical of what is happening on HS2 - clearly the greenest major infrastructure project ever constructed in this country. For example, at Sheephouse Wood there is a 1km long 'bat protection structure' - which completely encloses the railway (you can see it early on in The Boy's video). There are at least two 'green overbridges' near Calvert (one of which is well advanced), which will have woodland planted above to preserve natural habitats and north of Quainton there is a huge embankment - not for the railway itself but to screen the railway from the surrounding countryside. There are also huge areas of woodland and habitat creation - often at some considerable distance from the railway. In fact, the most intrusive item of infrastructure will be the auto-transformer station and accompanying national grid substation on the east side of the route north of Quainton.

Using your civil engineeribg knowledge what is the unnecessary work ?

​@theboy-uk when they built the M40 there was a defined schedule of works to cost and build. With HS2 they are still putting the defined schedule of works together and costing it as they go.

@@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg most of the works are way beyond the railway boundary. I live near and have worked on HS2 delivering materials, sometimes as much as two miles away from the line(!), but this is deemed as required works to placate local residents and landowners. Everybody trying to blame HS2 for their woes and managing to get them to pay for new roads etc. It’s all a total waste of money and I think I’ll be in my grave before a train runs on it!

If you watch the previous video of this stretch from last summer, its "spot the difference", LOL

@@theboy-uk I still see no difference.

@@robodrone5662 There's not much!

​@@theboy-uk Have you actually done that I wonder? This stretch is mainly earthworks and you can dig a 10m deep cutting and it isn't going to seem much different from a drone viewpoint. You can, however, see where progress is being made on bridges and other structures. You can also see where grass is becoming established on cutting slopes. Obviously, what we are all interested in seeing is track laying, which I think will start next year. Phase 1 will make use of slab track (this is required for high speed track stability and for reducing maintenance) and I think there will be very rapid progress using mechanised slip-forming. Then its just the overhead line structures, fencing, lineside cabling etc and the railway will be complete.

@@martinsloman6905 Even the most brainwashed HS2 fan would have to admit that construction progress on the stretches I've covered is unacceptably slow. I know said HS2 fans will try to blame it on NIMBY and environmentalists, but that is simply not the case on this stretch. We are over 4 years in on this section from when spades hit the ground - more time that the entire M40 extension took - and the current estimates for Curzon to Wormwood Scrubs section to open is 2030. The as yet unfunded £18bn extension into Euston is estimated to be 2042.

Remember, that's billions of *OUR* pounds poured into this, and that's before you consider how much taxpayer subsidy HS2 needs once opened. A colossal waste of money when the existing 2 lines between London and Birmingham have excessive capacity aside from London bound morning peak, and have the capability of only being a few minutes slower than HS2.

@@theboy-uk As I have asked so many times, please give your sources for these claims - and something that we can check. Have you not worked out that Crimsonanti is a bot by now?

Trouble is, as a regular traveller on the existing 2 lines between London and Birmingham, I'll have whole trains nearly to myself - assuming they ever finish this vanity project before I retire - and the stretch to Euston is predicted to be more than a decade or more off!!

@@theboy-uk Boy, if you are so knowledgeable about rail travel betweeen London and Birmingham, why can you never provide us with verifiable statistics (despite numerous requests)?

@@martinsloman6905 As well you know, I'm trying to get official figures from both lines, but they are both giving me the run around. But as a very, very regular user of both lines, I can tell you what I see. People claiming otherwise, I wonder how often they used both lines?

@@theboy-uk I did a bit of googling about this and found that somebody else had made an FoI request on the same subject. The response they got was that specific route information was not available to the public for commercial reasons. However, the ORR (Office of Rail and Road) does publish statistics for rail traffic between regions. The latest one (April 23 to March 24) shows that 9.8 million people travelled between the West Midlands and London. To put that in context, that figure is greater than the North West to London which includes Liverpool, Manchester and Warrington. Now it is a long time since I last travelled between Birmingham and London but I have done Liverpool to London dozens of times and, whilst initial loadings can be low, I have never experienced the empty coach phenomenon you describe. That is just common sense. London and Birmingham present an excellent rail market - too short for airline services but long enough to give the train a significant time advantage over the car. If we get slightly technical, the travel demand between two cities can be expressed as proportional to the sum of their populations divided by the square of their distance apart (the 'gravitational model') so you would expect London to Birmingham to be a primary market. Of course, more passengers travel at peak hours and at the beginning and end of the working week - so it doesn't disprove your 'empty train' anecdote but rail capacity (as with any other transport system) is targeted at the peaks.

@@theboy-uk every time I have travelled on the west coast mainline the trains have been pretty packed. I will probably be dead before this debarcle is finished lol.

Superb, thanks for that

Exactly. It seems all about making as much work as possible for as long as possible, and milky this gravy train - no pun intended!

I thought space alongside HS2 is being left for an Aylesbury to Calvert link for East-West Rail - effectively making this a 4 track space. To add - also sidings for rail access to the waste disposal site - so taking some lorries off the road . So calling it vandalism is wide of the mark .

@@user-ff1um6mv5q HS2 Ltd are unlikely to release the land for that, hence the Aylesbury <> Varsity Line link has been kicked into the long grass, despite being massively more useful than HS2.

@@user-ff1um6mv5q I meant the space along the entire 100 miles, not a specific area

@@theboy-uk Boy, you know full well why there is so much ancillary work attached to HS2 and why this is being done to please the environmental lobby. Why don't you refer Garth to the HS2 plans that I have given you links to? Seems you prefer people to be ignorant.

Thanks. It was like Chopin predicted this construction project when he composed the music!

This isn't the first time someone has used the Chopin Funeral March with drone shots of HS2. Might have been The Boy previously - I don't remember. Still, once you get past thd somber opening chords it is a really beautiful piece of music and well suited to its subject.

@@martinsloman6905 Not the first time I've used it. It truly is a great composition. And very appropriate.

Thanks! Though not much change since the one I did last September, progress is glacially slow :(

LOL! If I recall, most of that one was a Friday lunchtime into the afternoon, so pub o'clock for construction workers You'd be surprised how many get upset by Chopin's Funeral March!

Pretty fitting I think ;)

It certainly is a huge caravan holiday park!

@@theboy-uk It doesn't match the great cliffs at all 😉

@@robodrone5662 No, nor are they as picturesque as buildings in your city

@@theboy-uk Well, my city and the whole country was destroyed during II WW, then the state was too poor to rebuild the infrastructure. Thus a lot of cities need investments. That is why I always admire the beauty of West Europe.

@@robodrone5662 ~From your videos, you still have a bit of the beautiful old architecture, alongside the brutalist post war architecture. And some of it looks so colourful :)

Thanks 👍

The colours on this bit of coast were unusual and a combination of layers of orange and white. Lovely bit of coast :)

👍 - this one was taken in Feb on our long weekend trip to south Devon.