Netley Station
is on the coastal line between Southampton and Portsmouth,
although only the hourly "slow" services stop.
Portsmouth is served by regular trains from Waterloo, as
is Southampton along with a much wider range of services
from Bournemouth, Weymouth, Bristol, Cardiff, Gatwick Airport,
Reading and several daily InterCity services to Birmingham,
Manchester, Preston and Scotland.
If coming from Scotland, the quickest route (although usually
more expensive) is GNER from Edinburgh-Kings Cross (alternatively,
there's slower West-Coast services between Glasgow and Euston,
tube across town to Waterloo and then train from there.
This is usually on much more modern and comfortable trains,
although has the disadvantage of changing.
You can check all train options at the Railtrack
website
Southampton boasts
an "international" airport offering domestic and
some western-European flights at ridiculously high prices
- check their website here.
The airport is located on the boundary between Southampton
and Eastleigh, and is served by the long-platformed Southampton
Parkway station. Alternatives include Bournemouth
(not much better), Bristol (a fair way away, but with Go
and Ryanair flights), or the big London two: Gatwick and
Heathrow.
Gatwick, frequented by shell-suited package-holidayers
in big sombreros, is a haven for charter flights, but also
offers flights to a variety of European destinations.
Gatwick is linked to Southampton and Fareham by an hourly
train service (not Sundays) that takes around 2 hours -
frustratingly, the train passes right through Netley without
stopping, so change at Fareham.
Heathrow offers a variety of global flight options, but
instead of straw-donkey wielding simpletons clogging up
the airport bars, you get to cope with suited "important"
types glowering at you over their palm-held computers and
tutting. In these circumstances, do not be tempted
to do what a sometime acquaintance of NATA once did and
buy a broadsheet newspaper, as he spent an hour pretending
to read without realising it was upside down. Heathrow
is connected to Southampton by a RailAir link coach to Woking,
where the fast Waterloo-Southampton rail service can be
joined.
Or you could always charter a helicopter and land it in
the Vicky Park.
From France/Northern Spain: The Southampton-Cherbourg
route is no more, but regular ferries from Le Havre, Caen
and Bilbao all sail to and from Portsmouth. Taxi
is the best link between Portsmouth & Southsea station
and the International Ferryport. Check out a variety
of cross-channel options here.
From the Isle of Wight: Two main options: (1)
the scenic
Red Funnel route from Cowes to Town Quay in Southampton,
where you can admire the views of the Castle and the Vicky
Chapel, or (2) the faster Wightlink
Fishbourne/Ryde - Portsmouth route. Both routes
are served by a variety of hovercraft, hydrofoil or big
old boats.
From Gosport: Catch the Gosport ferry from the
end of the High Street across the harbour to The Hard
in Portsmouth. Catch a train to Netley from Portsmouth
Harbour station. If this is the last train to Southampton
on a Saturday night, find the guard before it gets to
Fareham (last scheduled stop) and plead drunkenly with
him to take requests. Usually works.
From Southampton: Unfortunately, the lamented
Woolston Ferry is no more, so if you're ever up in
Sholing, you'll just have to take the Itchen Bridge.
Sorry.
If you really
want to be cooped up on a bus, with a biohazard for a toilet,
and sat next to a strange man with BO and an unhealthy twitch
who looks like he's about to fall asleep on your shoulder
and start dribbling, get a
National Express coach from London Victoria Coach Station,
Birmingham, Oxford or Bournemouth.
Netley's easily reached by road, and is located within
5 miles of Junction 8 of the M27 Portsmouth - New Forest
motorway (Southampton East, aka the Tesco Roundabout).
Netley is also easily accessible from the A27 and the A3024
From London, take the M3 to the end, then turn
left on to the M27 following signs for Portsmouth.
Leave the M27 at Junction 8, turning right at the first
roundabout, then taking the second exit (sign Hamble).
Follow this road straight (across 2 mini roundabouts)
for approx 3 miles, ignoring the first sign to Netley,
until you reach a third roundabout with a right-turn for
Netley. This will put you on Hound Lane, which when
followed will turn into Station Road.
From East or West, along coast: Find M27 (big
blue line on map), leave at Junction 8, and follow above
directions.
From Scotland and the north: Simple: M74, A74,
M6, M42, M40, A34, M3, M27 then as above.
Netley's easily reached
by road, and is located within 5 miles of Junction 8 of
the M27 Portsmouth - New Forest motorway (Southampton East,
aka the Tesco Roundabout). Netley is also easily accessible
from the A27 and the A3024
From London, take the M3 to the end, then turn
left on to the M27 following signs for Portsmouth.
Leave the M27 at Junction 8, turning right at the first
roundabout, then taking the second exit (sign Hamble).
Follow this road straight (across 2 mini roundabouts)
for approx 3 miles, ignoring the first sign to Netley,
until you reach a third roundabout with a right-turn for
Netley. This will put you on Hound Lane, which when
followed will turn into Station Road.
From East or West, along coast: Find M27 (big
blue line on map), leave at Junction 8, and follow above
directions.
From Scotland and the north: Simple: M74, A74,
M6, M42, M40, A34, M3, M27 then as above.
Frequent "Big Red Funbuses" (aka First City Bus,
Number 16) run via Woolston on a frequent basis from the
main roads all around Netley (Woolston Road, Ingleside,
Station Road, Victoria Road and Grange Road). In fact,
you can drink a pint in the Roll Call and walk round to
the last stop on Grange Road at a leisurely pace in the
time a city-bound bus will get there. The main place
to get off is "behind the stores" on Pound Tree
Lane. Mind out for the last bus back on weekends -
Weston can resemble Beirut (I was once on a bus that was
shot at with an air rifle - what did the driver do?
Stop the bus and make us all get out on the pavement!).
Going the other way, the same buses go to Hamble, a quaint
wee village popular with the chinless yachtie wonders (see
the Hamble
section of the Pub Guide).
A less frequent service on Solent Blue Line (29A) connects
Netley with the village of Hedge End and the borough town
of Eastleigh - this is full of college kids on the morning
and evening runs. You probably won't want to go to
Eastleigh anyway - you won't be missing much.
Now you're talking - hourly electric services (don't step
on the the rails!) between Southampton and Portsmouth stop
at Netley. Platform 1 at 11 minutes past each hour
for the 20 minutes journey to Southampton, and Platform
2 at 3 minutes past for the 40 minute trip to Pompey, via
Fareham. Most destinations can be reached from Southampton
Central (good links to Bournemouth, Bristol, Salisbury and
especially London Waterloo), or from Fareham (for Brighton,
Worthing, Havant and the Sussex Coast)- see
below for more details
Alternatively, check the timetable at the Railtrack
website
Netley
may be a small village, but it does boast a variety of local
shops, mainly concentrated along the middle of Victoria
Road (but only on one side, a bit like Princes Street!)
and the foot of Station Road. Importantly, there are
also two Post Offices, one on Station Road and one on Woolston
Road in Butlock's Heath, a lasting reminder of the fact
that Netley has absorbed it's smaller neighbour (for more
on this, check out A Tale
of Two Villages on the This &
That page).
Other shops in Netley include:
At least two hairdressers, and an excellent barbers
(behind Alldays)
An Alldays (with a cash machine!)
Netley News
A Butcher's
A Baker's
A branch of LloydsTSB (corner of New Road and Station
Road - no cash machine and infrequent opening times)
A broad
variety of cuisine awaits the tourist on Victoria Road:
The Jolly Friar Fish & Chip shop. An attractive
girl I went to school with once told our fifth-year class
that she wore nothing but her underwear under her chippy
dress - we all ate a lot more chips from then on!
Closed Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and whenever else the
boss feels like.
Netley Tandoori. Once stained a plate permanently
yellow whilst my parents were on holiday. The Wee
Man is NATA's resident curry-fiend, and he says its not
bad (he recommends the Chicken Korma) - if you fancy that
Johnny Cash feeling, give them a try!
The Chinese Takeaway. A time-honoured favourite.
I went to school with the daughter of the old owners.
Castino's Italian Restaurant. Yes, a real restaurant.
With tables and cutlery and everything. Rich heartily
approves.
Other food options are pub grub - check out the NATA Netley
Pub Guide.
Sadly,
the magnificent Casablanca Guesthouse on Victoria Road,
with it's garish cheap fairy lights, is no more. Netley
still does boast one hotel - The Victoria Park Hotel, on
Station Road near to Netley Recreation ground and next to
the Surgery. The hotel is convenient for road, rail
and bus access, and is pleasant enough at first glance (I've
only ever been at functions there).
Alternatively, staying in Southampton will give a much
broader choice of accommodation, from the B&Bs of Hill
Lane and Howard Road (near Central Station), to the 5* De
Vere Grand Harbour Hotel (where Bruce Grobelaar was filmed
allegedly receiving envelopes of cash from dodgy Malaysian
bookies) and the more affordable Ibis and Novotel hotels.
Apparently, Southampton has a better nightlife as well!
Try here for several
pages of Southampton hotels (from the Tourist Board).
