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Twyford Waterworks is having it’s end-of-season open day and steam rally on 4th October 2015. They’re even offering free buses to and from Winchester. You can get there in lots of ways: train to Shawford (with the riverside Bridge Inn), ride up National Cycle Route 23, walk up the River Itchen, or drive.
While in Twyford, you can shop at the impressive village store or visit the café below. There’s also a tea shop at the waterworks.
Half way between Twyford and the waterworks, Watley Lane heads south up the hill. Keep straight on for 1km up to the top and you’ll reach a strange structure on the right. It was originally built as a water reservoir, then converted into a nuclear bunker for Southern Water. When the cold war ended, it was bought by the internet security firm Symantec who used it as a network operations centre. They outgrew it, and now it’s the home of the Natural Death Centre. Quite a turn-around from nuclear armageddon. If you carry straight on, the track eventually emerges near Marwell.
See you there.
Denis Nicole
