Corley Moor
167 Meters
547 Feet
19th April 2026
From the Cradle to how long have I got?
Some years ago I had to take some personal papers across London and meet with a man to go through a few things and then sign some forms. We met at Wandsworth Town Hall and the man, probably mid to late thirties, showed me down some corridors and to an office where, after about thirty minutes, everything had been sorted. I went to leave and he said he would show me back to the entrance. I said I thought I could find it, but he was insistent.
As we walked back along the old municipal corridors, making small talk, he quietly muttered something. I didn’t quick catch what he said so I said, “sorry, what was that?”
He muttered again. I still hadn’t caught his drift. He seemed to be talking about a well-known trade comparison site, and I hadn’t a clue why. “I’m really sorry, but I don’t really understand.” And I surely didn’t.
“Checkatrade,” he replied, and as if that was in someway helpful. It must have been the look of complete bewilderment on my face that convinced him I really didn’t have a clue what he was taking about.
“I saw you’re birth certificate,” he continued, still unhelpfully.
Hmmm…
“I was born in the same hospital as you,” he clarified.
“Blimey,” I replied. “What a coincidence. Many years after me I assume.”
“Yes,” he replied. “Checkatrade.” I wondered if he had a mild form of Tourette’s before surrendering, pleading for an explanation and doing so in a way that avoided offence.
“Coventry. Checkatrade Trophy!”
“Right!”
Of course, it all made total sense. Why was I dim enough not to have known that Coventry had just won this prestigious, but otherwise unknown competition.
The last time I had been to Coventry I had just turned fifty, and that was nearly two decades ago. The time before that had been my first few months on earth in 1957/8, and being a baby living in a flat on Wappenbury Road in the northeast area of the city.
So, given that I was on my way to the highest point in the Metropolitan Borough (a first on this mission), at Corley Moor, I left the M6 at junction 2, headed south into the suburbs and then became gridlocked in traffic around a large secondary school where one in three students were being picked up by extended family. This mayhem obviously happened every day. It’s not for me to comment on this phenomenon, but from memory I don’t recall anyone at the schools I went to being picked up in a car.
Having eventually escaped the carnage I wound through the estates and finally made it to my street.
Wappenbury Road – the flats have gone, and there’s still no blue plaque!
Having reached my first destination, I wondered why I had bothered. There was nothing to be nostalgic about, given I had left before my first birthday, but I guessed it was about a sense of place and just plain curiosity.
I carried on weaving my way along streets in the northern suburbs of the city. I think I did catch a brief glimpse of the old cathedral spire, but there was no time to explore further and eventually I was out of the city and heading through largely agricultural countryside.
Reaching Wall Hill Road I headed northwest and a short time later passed over what I knew to be Coventry’s highest spot on the same road. I pulled over a couple of hundred meters on at the carpark of the Bull and Butcher Pub.
The Bull and Butcher – Nothing more to add on that.
Getting out of the car I wandered back down the road on a pavement that terminated outside the last house on the left. I could see the highest point on the road that I had driven along. I wasn’t tempted to get any closer, largely on the basis that there was absolutely no point, and also because it looked decidedly dangerous.
That’s it – the highest point in Coventry, just up the road.
And with that I got back in the car and drove out of the small village, which boasted another pub just a stones throw from the Bull and Butcher! Nothing particularly special about the place but it would be remiss not to add that by the end of today (the 24th May 2026) Tottenham Hotspurs could be relegated from the Premier League. Two weeks ago, Coventry City were promoted to the Premier League after an absence of twenty-five years. Well, if the Spurs do go down today, at least I’ll have someone else to support. It’s a jungle out there.
El Colmado 57 