Saturday 4th January 2020
Viaduct Way, Winchester.
About 2.6 miles, around an hour, mostly flat and good surface.
The main event of this little walk is the Hockley Viaduct, which was built in the late 1880s by the London and South Western Railway(LSWR) to provide a link over the River Itchen and water meadows, from the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway(DN&SR), to the LSWR's main line. The DN&SR was originally intended to continue down the east side of the Itchen to Southampton, but had run out of money at Winchester. The viaduct crossed the valley to link the DN&SR to the LSWR, which still runs down the west side of the valley.
I started off at the South Winchester Park and Ride Car Park, exiting up the ramp onto Otterbourne Road and walking down to the roundabout and then crossing Hockley Link to pick up National Cycle Route 23 by the railway bridge (Sheep Wash bridge) over the South West main line.
Beyond the viaduct you can see the M3 motorway where it enters its cutting through Twyford Down. Was it really 28 years ago that Group 4 Security and the Dongas Tribe were fighting over that hill?
I followed the path around to the left until it met the road again and found the start of the Viaduct Way (or end of if you’re following the official guide).
The railway viaduct is not very far from the start/end of the path.
The viaduct was last used by the railway on 2 April 1966. The line it carried closed as a result of the Beeching plan but the whole structure remains standing and is open to walkers and cyclists. Since 2013 following restoration it forms part of the National Cycle Network Route 23.
Though fortunately on a cloudy January afternoon it was mercifully free of lycra-clad lunatics!
Though fortunately on a cloudy January afternoon it was mercifully free of lycra-clad lunatics!
There are plaques giving info on the viaduct’s history on the walls along a number of artworks by Nicola Henshaw that reflect the history of Hockley Viaduct and mark the restoration of Viaduct Way.
I carried on across the viaduct meeting only one or two people - dog walkers and a runner.
There are good views and even the noise fro the M3 which runs parallel to the old railway wasn’t overly intrusive.
Near the northern end the viaduct crosses high over the River Itchen, along will some minor field flooding.
At the end of the viaduct the path bears left and passes under a bridge to run alongside the Itchen Navigation, a 10.4-mile disused canal system
that provided a trade route from Winchester to the sea at Southampton. Completed in 1710 it was known as a navigation because it was an improved river, with the main river channel being supplemented with cuts and locks used to bypass the difficult sections.
It was nver a hugely busy canal and the opening of the London and Southampton Railway in 1840 sealed its fate, and the navigation ceased to operate in 1869.
The remains of St Catherine’s Mill and Lock can be seen on the left of the path, with plenty of water rushing through the sluice this afternoon.
Once cut off from the city by the old A33 Winchester Bypass road with the completion of the M3 that was removed and the area replanted as open grassland.
It seemed to be very popular with local residents and grazing cattle alike and from here on the Viaduct Way was much busier.
Onward alongside the Itchen Navigation until it reached the car park at Garner Rd. where the way turns right, under a bridge beneath the Handlebar Cafe, few of whose customers appeared to have come by bike, and around to the left crossing Garnier Rd. on the old railway bridge.
Along here there are good views through the trees down to the Itchen on the left and not-such-good views fortunately screened by the trees to the right. Car park, household waste site, industrial estates.
Then on the left two hardy tennis players making use of the Kingsgate Lawn Tennis Club courts. I’m no expert (massive understatement!) but I think the ball’s supposed to go over the net.
After the tenns club the way joins Domum Rd. at the end of which I bore right onto Wharf Hill, then crossed over and turned left behind Seagram’s Mill to once again find the Itchen.
The last thing you’d want to do would be to fall in because it almost surely would be. Fortunately the river bank is walled and fenced off, the only thing going in the drink being a couple of angler’s bait. I didn’t see anything coming out mind you.
On the left of the path are the Pilgrim’s School playing fields, Wolvesey Castle, and the Bishop of Winchester’s palace and Diocesan offices. Not that you can see any of that because of the old high stone wall they’ve built to separate themselves from hoi polloi like us.
A few hundred feet away on the other side of the river is the site of the DN&SR’s Winchester Cheesehill station, later renamed Winchester Chesil, which is a shame as the earlier name is much better. More of a shame still is that it’s now been replaced by the Chesil Multi-storey Car Park.
The way ends at the City Bridge. From there you could cross over the road to National Trust City Mill, which is good or turn left to the city centre which is stuffed with historical buildings. Abbey, Guildhall, Great Hall, and Cathedral (we know a song about that don’t we boys and girls) are the biggest but there’s a lot of ‘old’ in Winchester to look at.
It was also stuffed with January Sales shoppers so I grabbed a coffee and a sandwich then caught the bus back to the park and ride from the stop overlooked by King Alfred.
I’m not the only people I know to have walked the Viaduct Way recently and I may have been influenced by these two who made a video about it.
But I did it in the opposite direction
Here's the usual Flickr Album:
Here's the usual Flickr Album:
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| Ye Olde Flickr Album |
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