Ebrington Hill – 261m / 856ft – 09/03/20
I left the Black Country wetter than I arrived there and headed off into the growing traffic, heightened by the time of day “picking up the princes and princesses from school”. My destination was a small village called Mickleton between Evesham and Banbury and actually situated in the north east corner of Gloucestershire. My plan was to park at the village pub (Google Street view showed there was ample space maybe even to spend the night) and walk up and over the county line just into Warwickshire to reach the high point on Ebrington Hill. Despite the traffic I had made good time on my schedule and the rain had passed so when I arrived I judged there would be sufficient daylight for me to complete the walk and then decide on the evening arrangements for food and sleep.
I knew this was a rural area – I was expecting cattle, well trodden muddy, slippy farmland in the lower areas and muddy slippy farm tracks, and that folks is exactly what I got. This time I wore leggings under my waterproof trousers but decided against gaiters – mainly for the comfort and fashion statement factor! I set off out of the village, through a churchyard and found the paths across fields ankle deep in gloop and sliding all over the place. No cattle around so could have been even worse. I ploughed uphill past the walled grounds of Kiftsgate Court and came to a lane which ran alongside the stately Hidcote Manor (can’t recall whether it was actually open to the public but the car park was deserted). A farm track then took me ever upwards towards the top of the hill marked by yet another comms mast and this is where I got a little confused and forgetful. But fortunately did not make the crucial mistake of missing the real County Top.
Looking at my map I saw there was a trigpoint at/near the top of the hill at 259m, so I thought best to head there. I forgot however that I was still in Gloucestershire.
Looking at the map I realised that there was another point marked at 261m in an adjacent field which was where I really ought to be visiting, so I headed off again – fortunately this meant I crossed into Warwickshire for a few minutes sufficient to tick it off and complete my photo/video ritual.
As with the earlier walk I would be heading back into the wind on the return and decided to make a more circular route back, mainly to see if I could find some tracks a little less treacherous than the ones on the way up. Generally that was the case, although still wet and muddy not as deep as before. I went through a large field of sheep heading down to Hidcote Boyce and then some wetter ground before picking up The Monarchs Way to skirt along the wooded ridge of Baker’s Hill (which I found out later is a “popular” local spot for suicides). Along that path I also passed a tree supposedly engraved by Belgian soldiers during the war.
The track got very boggy towards the end and then the last trudge across fields, down a waterlogged track and back through the churchyard to the car. So around 17 miles in total for the day and my 10th County Top completed. Mission now – get clean, get fed and watered and get rested.
