Banburyshire Rambles Photo-Journal

Break through the protective belt of trees that surround the little hamlet of Aston le Walls and you are confronted with a view; a big, 180° vista from Red Hill to Farnborough Park (or, had this day not been so misty, you would have). This is where HS2 falls from the top of the Ironstone slab about 45 metres (150 feet) – twice – into Warwickshire.

The past erosion of the local streams mean the escarpment here drops in two places: A forty-metre drop from the top of the Ironstone slab into the valley below here; and then about three miles to the north-west, with the land rising all the way, a second drop of about the same height into the flatter plain beyond.

Negotiating that drop, without unduly slowing the trains on a steep incline, is what makes HS2 have such a great impact at this point. Both the existing railway, and before that the Oxford Canal, used this natural pass to get from the Cherwell valley into Warwickshire. HS2, because of its need to go in a straight line, makes a greater impact along its course.

Emerging from its ‘green tunnel’ (behind the farmhouse) HS2 carves a chasm in the side of the escarpment here. Looking directly out into Warwickshire, though, the track gouges a 24-metre deep channel through the next ridge on its way towards Wormleighton – which will dominate the foreground of the scene at this point (shown in the centre of the panorama below).