Category page separate from category archive page

Hi,

I’ve had a look around but can’t seem to find a solution. I’m designing a site that has a number of categories (news, sport etc.), each of which is listed in a horizontal navigation bar. Normally, when you click on a category you will be taken to the respective category archive.

Instead, what I want is for you to be taken to a category page which has a small number of the latest posts in that category – i.e. it is not a paginated page containing all of the category’s posts typical of archive pages. At the bottom of this page will be a link should you want to then go on to that category’s archive.

I figured that I could create a category.php for the category page and an archive.php for the category archive page. My navigation menu will automatically link to the category.php, but how do I create a link on this category page that goes directly to the archive.php (thus bypassing the category.php)??!!

Thanks for any help…