Northamptonshire

Walk Details:
Date: 23/7/2005
Total ascent: 57m/ 187ft
Total distance walked: 1.35 miles
Walk difficulty: 3/10
Enjoyment rating: 4.5/10
Best bits: Pleasing views in all directions in the delightful evening sunshine
Worst bits: Undefined summit in the middle of a flattish field
Walkers: Anth, Jim
Car Parking: We squeezed onto the road verge at SP 547 588

Top details:
Name: Arbury Hill
County top number: 91 of 204
Grid reference: SP 54005 58778
Height above sea level: 225m/ 738ft
How nice was the top? 2.5/10
Views: 4/10
Description/Notes: The highest point in Northamptonshire is an indeterminate point in a grassy field

The Walk:

This was a bit of a naughty one really. After bagging Bardon Hill in Leicestershire I’d rung my wife to say we were on our way home. Then I realised that if we cut across to the M40 on the A361 instead of our more usual route on the M69, we would pass within a mile of Arbury Hill, the county top of Northamptonshire. It would have been rude not to have paid it a visit…

Despite the map showing a hill fort at the summit, there was none of the paraphernalia associated with high visitor numbers – to be specific, there was nowhere to park. I didn’t want to annoy my wife too much and therefore wanted to park as close as possible to keep the walking (and therefore the time) to a minimum. The closest access point was a bridleway leading off of the tiny road that headed west from the A361 at Badby. We drove up and down the road a couple of times, and eventually managed to just about squeeze the car onto the verge. The road was so quiet that it had grass growing in the middle in places, so I didn’t expect we would cause too many problems.

Stepping out into the pleasant evening sun, we followed the bridleway until it passed over the col separating Arbury from another, smaller hill to the east, and then headed upwards off the path and (hopefully) out of sight of any angry farmer. The field boundaries here have large gaps in and are therefore pretty academic. Apart from sheep there was nothing to prevent a fast easy ascent.

Near the summit we crossed a twisting track marked out with small poles, which we assumed was a quad track. Whether this was for the farmer’s own amusement or was the initial stages of a business was unclear, but it in either case it didn’t appear to be to heavily used.

The summit was just a broad grassy field – there was little sign of the hill fort marked on the map. Sheep gazed dim-wittedly at us as we took our GPS readings and admired the panoramic views of neighbouring hills. It was all very pleasant, but certainly wasn’t up to Bardon Hill. What it really needed was a trig point to define the summit, and given that it was the highest hill in the area we were surprised it didn’t have one; it was certainly nice enough to warrant a trig!

Well chuffed with our total of 9 tops today, we returned to the car to phone my wife again, apologies at the ready. The diversion had definitely been worth it though!