Hike report - 1989

This year we headed North to Warwickshire, another county we had not been to before. Our starting destination was Kineton and one of our objectives was to climb Edge Hill having first visited the site of the Battle of Edgehill. It was here, on the 23rd October 1642, that the first major armed conflict of the English Civil War took place.

At one stage it looked as if there would be ten hikers – Drew and Martin were back with us. However, Curly had not been well during the week and could not risk a relapse. He did however still insist on driving us there and back in his dark green Sherpa van, which he had purchased from the 1st Finchley Scout Group.

Although it was late, we still arrived at the pub in time for a nightcap. We were pleased that the landlord agreed to us camping in his back garden but were a bit surprised at how little grass was available on which to pitch the tents.

Nevertheless we managed and were pleased at being able to use the picnic benches in the morning for cooking and eating our breakfast.

As some of us finished our meal there was the usual flurry of activity with tents being taken down, the gear being packed away and of course the important job of ensuring that our boots were on properly and tied up securely.

Fully prepared we set off south and joined the footpath that would lead us to the battlefield. All was going well until we were faced with a tall fence and a notice saying ‘Keep Out – Ministry of Defence’. In a single moment we were denied the opportunity of visiting the site on which 14,700 Parliamentary soldiers under the Earl of Essex fought 15,000 Royalist troops under the Earl of Forth.

[Historical note: After only 3 hours of fighting neither side was making headway and broke off the fight as darkness descended. Essex considered his army too badly damaged to resume the next day and pulled back to Warwick. Although neither side could claim a decisive victory, the result was that Charles’ army had “won”, in so far as the road to London was now open to him. However, Charles did not take advantage of his opportunity. His natural caution asserted itself, and by the time his troops reached Reading, Essex had regained London and a fresh force of men prevented any further royalist advance. Charles never again had so clear an opportunity to take London as he did after Edgehill.]

After consulting the map we had little choice but to back track a bit and take the footpaths and roads to the south of the site, before reaching Radway.

Because the detour had delayed us we considered having lunch here. As we sat in a bus shelter checking the map we asked a local if there was a pub nearby. He said ‘no’ and from his attitude he was probably pleased that something like that was not messing up the idyllic village.

We therefore decided to press on towards Ratley, which had a pub marked on the map. This involved a fairly steep muddy climb up Edge Hill through a quite densely populated wood.

There was a sign at the top of Edge Hill that said pub lunches so we were quite looking forward to getting there. But on arrival at the Rose and Crown we discovered that the landlord had been showing potential buyers round and they only had cold snacks available.

The pub itself was very nice, a Grade I listed building that was more than 900 years old. It was also said to be haunted by a roundhead from the Battle of Edgehill.

Also having a lunchtime drink in the pub was Sarah Kennedy, a television presenter who now hosts an early morning Radio 2 show. She struck up a conversation with Peter, as she had amazingly recognised him from when she had visited the bank where he worked in London. Like most people we meet she could not understand why we were out hiking during the winter.

When we emerged from the pub there was rain in the air. On went the waterproofs before we set off steadily down the hill, past the church before joining the footpath that led west across the fields in the direction of Warmington.

This met the B4086 just to the west of the village. We had made good progress and arrived at the pub before opening time.

As there was no garden visible much time was spent looking round the fairly empty village for a campsite. We eventually met someone to ask and were pointed in the direction of a farm on the south edge of the village. Permission was given to camp at the bottom of a sloping field – not wonderful, but in the morning we had the benefit of some excellent views.

Although dark it was still relatively early and there was no hurry to get to the pub. We erected the tents and sorted our gear before gathering around the Primus stoves to prepare our main meal of the day.

Fortunately we had made camp close to a rather large concrete base that we were able to use, making it less likely that stoves would topple over.

After clearing away and quite a bit of washing up, we made our way to The Plough for a well deserved drink and bit of relaxation. During the evening we, well actually Drew, had a visitor. His prospective brother-in law Jeremy, who lived not so far away in Leamington Spa, had decided to drive over and meet him.

As usual Malcolm R was the first to rise. He made a cup of tea for everyone and then started to prepare breakfast. It was a clever trick as it encouraged more of us to crawl out from our tents.

Before long we were all enjoying both the view and a plate of food.

With breakfast over there was more washing up and then the task of sorting our personal gear before taking down the tents and packing everything into our rucksacks.

There was some relief that the day’s weather was looking quite good and we were not experiencing the rain of the previous day – wet tents meant heavier rucksacks.

It was not long before we were ready to move on – our next destination was Avon Dassett, virtually north from our current location. There was though a major obstacle in our way – the construction works for the M40 (not shown on the map).

Fortunately a temporary bridge had been constructed across the works, enabling us to keep to our route.

By now it had turned into a really nice day and the sky was cloud free – what a difference to some of the more recent hikes.

Upon reaching Avon Dassett we picked up the footpath heading north-west across the hills towards Burton Dassett and the Country Park.

We stopped for a while at All Saints’ Church in Burton Dassett and upon checking the churchyard for any ancestors we noticed quite a few people with the name ‘Archer’, briefly making us wonder if we had wandered off course and were now in Ambridge!

We quickly moved on and headed for the viewpoint that was marked on the map. And, thanks to it being a lovely day, it was indeed an excellent view.

From here we could see ‘The Beacon’, the most prominent landmark in the Burton Hills and located at the top of Windmill Hill. Although the earliest reference calls it a ‘stonmilne’ that was working before 1367, it was around 1600 known as ‘The Lodge’.

The actual windmill that gives the hill it’s name was situated alongside. It is believed to have been built in 1664 and ceased to work in 1912. It was destroyed in a storm in 1946.

After Martin had given a demonstration of his rock climbing skills by scaling the side of ‘The Beacon’ we were treated to Howard giving a demonstration of his acrobatic ability. All of a sudden he decided to tumble head over heel down Windmill Hill without bending his body.

As Geoff recalls:

“Yes I am sure that we all remember HH-D tumbling down the hill – much laughter until we realised that he might actually be injured, but it was only his pride.”

We eventually set off on the final leg of our journey – the short distance into North End, where we had arranged to meet Curly in The Red Lion.

With the weather being so good there were a lot of people out for a drink and the pub was very busy. Nevertheless we managed to commandeer the dartboard for a short while before venturing outside with our drinks.

Although the pub did not normally do lunches on a Sunday, they made an exception for us and agreed to prepare some sandwiches. They did however take a while in turning up.

With lunch complete Curly took a photo of the hikers before we loaded his van for the journey home.

It had been an excellent hike that had started in the wet and with a disappointment but finished in the sun with us having once again enjoyed some great scenery en route.