Thirty Days, Four Hundred Miles. Man and Dog complete walk of entire HS2 route

Stop HS2 campaign manager Joe Rukin and his dog Eevee have completed their walk of the entire proposed route of HS2, walking from Old Oak Common to Euston on their final day. Rukin and his dog took taken thirty days and over 400 miles to compete their walk, after setting off from the Birmingham Curzon Street and walking to Leeds, before getting the train to Manchester to come back down all the way to London.

During the walk, Rukin has pointed to much of the damage HS2 Ltd intend to do and displays of the incompetence and waste via daily vlogs and a single twitter thread, both spanning the thirty days the pair have been walking.

Joe Rukin said;

“There has never been any rational case for HS2. It colossal boondoggle that has only got this far because it has been pushed for by a multi-billion pound vested interest industry lobby, intent on getting their slice of billions of taxpayers pounds for building it, backed up by a tiny number of cheerleading acolytes who have been conned by the spin surrounding this idiotic and pointless waste of money.”

“Whilst we welcome the current review of HS2, it is concerning that it is being conducted by a former chair of HS2 Ltd, and it is exceptionally worrying that work is about to start that would cause devastating and irreparable damage to the natural environment. It is quite simple, if the current review is a genuine go or no-go review, things like the wholesale clearance of ancient woodland has to stop now before it starts. Having walked the entire route, it is clear HS2 are gearing up to conduct an unprecedented attack on nature any moment, and it is no good to say in a few weeks that HS2 might be cancelled after irreversible damage has been done, this work must stop now.”

“Everywhere I have walked, I have seen landscapes which are crying out not to be destroyed by this gargantuan and completely redundant white elephant. It wasn’t until I found the last pear on the 250 year-old Cubbington Pear Tree and realised I might now be the last person ever to eat from it, that it sank in that I really was on a ‘last chance to see tour’, with HS2 due to unleash the full wrath of their destructive power this month, despite the project being under review and HS2 Ltd still not having received Notice to Proceed.”

“It is increasingly evident that HS2 is in real trouble and it has to be cancelled not tomorrow, not in a couple of months, not after a review or two have concluded, but right now. HS2 will not deliver on the promises that are being made of it, there are more important priorities, it is incompatible with the climate emergency, the costs are out of control, the damage it will cause is simply not worth it, and it is quite clearly a 19th century solution for a 21st century world. Supporting HS2 at this point in time is quite simply standing on the wrong side of history. ”

The twitter thread chronicling the journey starts here https://twitter.com/joerukin/status/1159865074590396416?s=19  and a YouTube playlist of daily vlogs from walking the route can be found here https://m.youtube.com/playlist?reload=9&list=PLbnhBzBrF1cmhFMSbftbZI_h6SdvE77KV

,
2010-2023 © STOP HS2 – The national campaign against High Speed Rail 2