Arbury Hill trail head.
| Arbury Hill from
north Arbury Hill |
| Estimated net time | 15-20 minutes | ||
| Difficulty | No technical difficulties. | ||
| Drinking water | No stable access to running water. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (December 2013). | ||
| Parking | Room for one car at trail head. | ||
| Start height | 177 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 50 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 0.9 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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Drive road A425 approximately 25 km (15.5 mi) east from the town Leamington Spa, to the village Staverton. In the round about east of the village exit right towards Badby and drive 2.2 km (1.4 mi), and then turn right onto road A361 towards Badby. Drive 2.0 km (1.3 mi) and turn right where signed for Catesby and drive 1.4 km (0.8 mi). Park in front of a gate on the left hand side of the gravel road.
Start your hike by crossing the gate and head uphill on the grass fields. Bear a little left (south-west) after 25 vertical metres and follow the north-east ridge up to a fence. Cross the wooden fence and continue 150 metres south-west to the unmarked summit.
Descend by reversing your ascent route.
It had been a hectic week at our Warwick office, with long working days, but this Thursday I was desperate to get some fresh air. I considered going for a run along the streets of Leamington Spa but decided in the end to bag the nearest hill with primary factor of more than 100 metres.
Thanks to the GPS on my rental car I found the trail head without problems, and I had marked the summit as a way-point on my hiking GPS so I shouldn't have any problems finding the highest point. Just before I closed the boot of my car I decided to bring one of the poles I had used for my longer walks last week-end, in order to fight off any animals I might stumble across on my route, and when I saw two badgers running around the summit I was quite happy I had brought a "weapon". It never got into use, but the badgers were quite curious and were at times as close as less than ten metres away.
After a short summit stop in the light drizzle I headed back down to the car and managed to get back just in time for dinner with two of my colleagues.