When I first found the Mizmaze, you had to reach it by parking in a layby on the bypass and scrambling down an embankment. Now, for all the controversy about the motorway cutting, you can walk out from the city. This makes it possible to combine the trip with a few other sights on the way.
Assuming that you arrive by train, the city centtre is down the hill on your right. The pedestrianised shopping centre is compact and classy and there are a few decent restaurants - although my favourite in the city itself is the Gurkha Chef, just down from the railway station itself.
A reasonable round walk to and from St Catherine's Hill is by way of the Cathedral and College, returning through the water-meadows. From the pedestrian precinct, the quietest route is to turn right into Little Minster Street. It's easy to miss the turn, so if you reach The Pentice, take any right turn from there - the cathedral is the big building (if you're looking for the one with the tall spire, return to the station and travel to Salisbury via Southampton).
If you did find the turning, walk to the end, pass, for the moment, Kingsgate on your right and go through the other gate into the Cathedral Close. For a first-time visitor the cathedral is a "must see". I've been coming here since my mother started to bring school parties back around 1970. The stories of the diver who saved the catheral and of St Swithun's bones are woven into my youth.
Nowadays, though, when I do go, it's for the details: I love the Lady Chapel with modern copies of the early panels of the miracles of the Virgin. The modern Pascal Candle holder and the twelfth century font are a juxtaposition worth the visit, and I never fail to be moved by the random glass window - a beautiful window destroyed by rioters during the Civil War (our last one, since we've been around long enough to have had several). The townsfolk collected the glass and hid it until the Restoration, but it couldn't be pieced together so the restored version looks like an avant-garde piece.
But a visit to the cathedral has its downside as well. It's often bustling with guided tours, and although they're fairly discreet, I find it difficult to find real peace here. It's beautiful, but bustling, and the announcements that ask visitors to stop and pray fail (for me at least) to offset that.
So, to regain a sense of tranquility, I head out of town along Kingsgate Street, stopping off at the marvellous St Swithun-upon-Kingsgate, a tiny church perched, as its name implies, above Kingsgate - if you came down Little Minster Street you passed it on the way to the cathedral.
This is a tiny church that dates from the twelfth century. I don't know why it appeals to me so greatly, possibly because it's so obviously a part of the community, but it always seems so peaceful. They get the same donation from me as the Cathedral does.
Finally, regaining the daylight, walk through the gate and along Kingsgate Street, through Winchester Colege. Just past the pub, turn left in the direction of the hill. There's a car park on the right and you get to the hill and the mizmaze through the bridge under the disused railway.
The pub is the last place on my walk. It poses a small problem. Ideally, I'd walk out through Kingsgate, and back along the new Pilgrim's Trail from St Catherine's Hill along the water meadows. Sadly, that means missing out on some of the most wonderful pub food for miles, so a detour back about a quarter mile down Kingsgate Street to the Queen Inn is almost obligatory.
Early in 2003, the Queen pub changed hands. The new licensees had just arrived when I made my first foray to photograph my new circular walk. It was a bitterly cold day but I found a warm welcome. It was too early for a full meal, so I had a sandwich from the snack menu, washed down with a glass of wine from their inventive list. Or two, in fact, since the log fire was just too tempting. The menu has changed: there are fewer vegetarian options than before, but there are several plusses that make this still my favourite stop. The vegetarian options are inventive, there's a wider range of snacks and light meals than before, and the best news is that the pub is once again open all afternoon and does food “until late”. This makes planning an out-and-back trip to the hill significantly easier.
On the second occasion, a Sunday, we found the place heaving, full of obviously satisfied diners and people sitting on the floor whilst they waited for a table to come free. So, you might want to call them on +44 (0) 1962 853898. Shameless plug: please mention Andy Anderson's web-site, because I might get a free drink out of it.
I couldn't post the review without actually sampling the main menu, though, so I took a willing friend along. After walking to Arethusa's Clump, we shared a very inventive vegetarian starter, and swapped tastes of excellent liver and mash and a wonderful quiche. It's hard to do an interesting salad to go with quiche (we declined the chips) but this one was very tasty. Behind us the next table was obviously equally satisfied and I gather that the tomato soup was the finest they'd tasted for many years. The desserts looked equally enticing but we failed even to finish the mains.
Wash it down with Greene King ales or a glass of wine. Lovely. Then walk back into town across the water meadows to work off the excess calories.