HUBB UK - a retrospective

How it all began

We had to move back to Canada in 2001 for family reasons, so we announced a "going away party" in our backyard in Slough. We were surprised by a terrific turnout, people coming from as far away as Norway! We had to expand into our neighbours back garden so we had enough room for all the tents. As we were packing up at the end of the weekend, someone said "You need to do this again, this was great!" We said, "But we're leaving the UK so someone else will have to do it" and Glynn Roberts said "I'll do it!" and so ended the very FIRST HU Travellers Meeting!
A few of the participants, 2001

Glynn Roberts took up the gauntlet tossed down at the very first HU Travellers Meeting, in our back yard in Slough, and did a tremendous job for a number of years. Thanks Glynn!
Grant with Ted Simon, 2003

2002 - where to next?

2003, in a field behind a pub in Somercotes

Lumb Farm, Ripley

Lumb Farm, Ripley, 2009

Austin Vince and Lois Price, Ripley

Tiffany gives bike lifting demo at Ripley, 2006

Chris Bright, assistant lead with Glynn, hamming it up at Ripley, 2005

Lumb Farm filling up, Ripley 2007

Tori Lang leads the ever-popular Yoga for Bikers, Ripley 2008

The Reg Tent Team, Ripley 2008

Grant and Susan with the RTW R80G/S, Ripley 2008

Sam Manicom and Ted Simon, with Sam's RTW bike, Ripley 2009

2009 Ripley - Grant demonstrating tyre changing techniques

Australian guests, Peter and Kay Forwood, who rode every country in the world on their Harley, at Ripley 2009

Ted Simon enjoying the familiar feel of his RTW Triumph, Ripley 2010

HUBBUK launches at Donington

Iain Harper and Sam Manicom took it on and brought the event to a whole new level!

Dee Masters welcoming arrivals at the gate, Donington 2013

Whether you're on two, three or four wheels, come to HUBB UK, Donington presenters 2013

Evening fire barrels at Donington 2014

Under the "stars" in the giant tent, Donington 2014

Ed March, Donington 2014

Says it all...

Fil Schiannini and Danny Taylor, Road Kill Cookout chef extraordinaire, 2013

The HU traditional Slow Bike Challenge, Donington 2014

Grant and Susan on stage at Donington, 2014

The Baskerville Hall years


The entrance to Baskerville Hall (yes it's THAT one) 2016

Caroline Carver, with the assistance of Conan Easson took it up from there, doing a terrific job at Baskerville Hall.

Coach Ramey Stroud, with David Knight and Lee Walters, Trainers for the HU Adventure Travel Challenge, Baskerville 2016

Coach and David Knight, receiving an award from Coach Stroud

Dylan Wickrama, his amazing presentation of 'When the Road Ends'


Molly Stack, videographer extraordinaire, shooting video for the HUBB UK trailer

HUBB UK welcomed travellers on 2, 3 or 4 wheels!


Sjaak Lucassen and his RTW R1


Spectators line the track for the Slow Bike Race

Caroline and Tiffany at Baskerville 2017


Wonderful camping facilities at Baskerville Hall, 2017


Always lots happening at Baskerville, here the Authors Tents, and the Bike Show


MANY presentations to choose from! "The hardest part of my day is figuring out what I'm going to see there's so much" a participant said. Job done then!


Volunteers do it all!


Lee Walters demonstrating in the Adventure Travel Challenge course.
"We're supposed to do that?" a participant with a 1200GS was heard to say.


The cleanup crew at Baskerville 2017
"We always leave it cleaner than when we got here - at our events, and on the road"


Some of the presenters at Baskerville Hall


Traditional HU Travellers send-off, Baskerville 2019




It's been a huge privilege and honour to have brought HUBB UK to you, and watched so many get inspired to head off on the adventure of a lifetime.

And with that, we say thank you, and we hope to see you at another HU Event someday, somewhere in this big beautiful world.

Grant and Susan


We'd love to see you post YOUR photos here below!

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

By the way, we have a few bits of great swag left over in the UK you might be interested in!

T-shirts, all are "I took the road less travelled… now where the hell am I." £10 each:

Black Cotton: 3 - XL, 1 - XXXL regular £15
Blue Synthetic: 1 - XL regular £19 SOLD

Jackets: 2 - L, £30 regular 45!

Caps: 4 left, £8

All includes shipping in the UK.

Let me know if you're interested here or by PM. (just click my name)

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

I'm truly sorry to read that Grant, and although I understand the reasons why it nevertheless comes as a bit of a shock. I've not been the most prolific of attendees - due to work clashes in the early days mainly - but the HU meetings, wherever they were held since the early garden days, have been a fixture of my summer for a long time now and their absence will leave a huge hole. If nothing else I'll miss the chance to catch up with the substantial number of friends I've made.

There's now a few 'me too' events that have grown up in the wake of HU's success, but for me this one has always been the benchmark by which they are judged. You, Susan, and every single one of the other people that made the meetings happen deserve our eternal gratitude for what you've done and if our paths don't cross again it will be to my considerable loss.

Nice to see a couple of my pictures from Baskerville made it into the selection you chose. I'll see if I can find some more over the course of the day.

Baskerville:












Behind the scenes:








And all for so little reward: :-)









Turn up on anything you like -





















Present something interesting:

















Cook whatever you can find lying around:









And regret how much you had to drink :-)







And just to prove I'm an equal opportunity photographer:





(deletions available on request!)






And - if anyone else is considering taking on the mantle and putting together any sort of mini meeting I'd be happy to do what I can to assist.

Some great pictures there. And some great memories. I was lucky enough to attend many of the HUUK events from 2006 onwards. I've also been to HU Mini Meetings in Argentina and Thailand as well as other HU events in the UK at Haggs bank. I've also been to many HU mini meetings all over the UK.

I don't believe this is the end of HU UK meetings. Maybe it's the opening door to go "back to roots". With all the other events being so huge, expensive and glamourous now, it's a great opportunity for those who don't want the glamour and huge crowds to kick back around a campfire.

It's time for the HU community to start the mini meets again. Back gardens, farmers fields or even wild camp sites. These were popular not that long ago and these pages were full of them.

Personally I'm going to try and organise a HU Mini meeting when all this Covid crap simmers down.

I owe a lot to the HUBB and it's community. I've gained A LOT of knowledge from these pages and met many friends and received a lot of help all over the world.

Long may it continue.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Sorry to hear this news Grant and Susan, i have attended many of the HUBB UK events all have been enjoyable and inspirational.
Thanks to all the organizers and volunteers over the years.
Take Care Mark.

Dear Susan and Grant,


Was very sad to read your email earlier about HUBB UK. So zoomed over here.



What a magnificent collection of memories, photos and nostalgia!

That's the main thing for me now. I no longer ride and have no bikes, but travel a lot (normally!) with endless memories fed by the HUBB.


I sampled Ripley and Donington over the years and wish you all the best in resurrecting HUBB UK in the future.


Thanks for the endless supply of info and advice, and All The Best for the future.

__________________
TTR250 - London to Cape Town

The HUBB-UK memory that sticks in my mind is of all the participants piling out of a photography session just given by Grant where one of the things he had impressed on them was to always have your camera ready for that great shot.

And just then Kevin Sanders (Globebusters and Guinness World Record Holder) dropped his bike in front of everyone.

I've been to HUBB meets in France (twice), Germany and Spain and even the smallest in Spain was a hoot. Find a campsite that doesn't mind 10-20 well-behaved bikers and the entertainment could be chats round a camp fire.

Here's one 12-acre site I spent four nights at near Salisbury, https://www.farley-camping.co.uk/

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

Lois and Catherine at Ripley - year? too long ago! Catherines' yamaha 4th pic down. One of the original few who travelled with small bikes. She showed me her tool kit which consisted of a double ended spanner, a pair of pliers, a spark plug socket and plug and a couple of fuses and that...was that!
others at my favourite in Schneeburg where the farm cozy restaurant made excellent schnitzels, the meetings were around 80 pax and bliss, there were no hot showers. It was your choice of the lake or a cold shower cubicle fed by hosepipe.

An appropriate, if old, song from back in 1968
( yes I'm getting older every day but there are still plenty of BBQs' and Chablis or Meursault bottles to enjoy!)

Sue and Grant so sorry to hear of the hard times over in BC, and its very sad to see the end of HU UK meets.
I started coming along way back in the early years after the first few events it was all so small back then, hopefully though they will carry on but in a slightly different way to the large events of late.
I like several others have in the past ran mini meets and it would be nice to get back to those basics, small personal and keep the friendships going that many of us have made over many years.
My best wishes to both of you and hopefully paths may cross again.
kindest regards and many thanks for all you have done.

Jake.

Thanks Jake, we miss the small more personal events too!
Let us know if you want to run a mini any time, we'll help out as best we can.
We look forward to seeing you on the road somewhere, someday!

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

how sad to read this although I totally understand. It's been a whilst since I used to attend but with the children growing up I was excited to try and attend and bring them along albeit in a 4WD Delica. I wish you all the best and hopefully meet up again one day. I will remember the early days with fond memories.

__________________
Dave

https://www.amazon.co.uk/photos/shar...CoCuteGl4FQ3aP

Hi to both of you and to all of the HU community.
Reminiscing of waking in a field to friends; some already made and some yet to make.

These meets were inspiring, eye-opening and humbling.
They helped me realise what I could do and who I could be; in some ways a life saver.

I just wanted to thank HU community, and particularly you both.

Here’s to perhaps meeting again on the road, at a meet or around a camp fire somewhere.

Take care, stay safe

Moose

Thanks so much for that Moose!
Humbling for us too, that we made that big a difference simply by making these events happen.
We wish you the very best on your future travels, and looking forward to meeting on the road - or at another HU Meeting somewhere, someday...

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com