Bonus Sessions on the Schedule
 

If you've downloaded the presentation schedule you may have spotted a couple of bonus sessions....

In addition to the "Russia, 'Stans & Mongolia" open discussion on the Friday morning, there's also going to be session on "Central & South America" on the Sunday. Both these were voted for by those who participated in the online survey we've been running for people who've pre-registered.

We're also really pleased to have the mighty Austin Vince giving the first-ever UK presentation about last year's Mondo Sahara expedition on the Saturday evening.

When you're planning what sessions to attend, make sure you include some of the Pecha Kucha presentations (Friday and Saturday). I'm beginning to receive the slides for these from the presenters and they're looking fantastic.

The Raffle in aid of Prostate Cancer? We've had some great news from Stephen Holmes. He says:

'Managed to get a limited edition Carl Fogarty signed print (only 25) a signed 'Foggy' t shirt and a signed A4 copy... :thumbup1:

And Stephen will be putting in a copy of his own book too.:thumbup1:

Please bear in mind that the more prizes we have, the more money we can raise for the charity. Got anything you can bring? Bottle of plonk? Bake a cake? The most ridiculous bit of on the road kit you've ever seen, a... :eek3:

All helps!

Phew! Another step in the right direction. The Volunteer Rotas have now been emailed out to everyone who has said yes to giving a hand.

Many thanks to everyone who has done so. Really happy! Looks like we are going to have some cracking Crew's on the case this year.

Anyone who has been thinking about getting stuck in for a couple of hours, it's not too late :innocent:

Just go to this Volunteer Link. Tick all options and I'll slot you in :thumbup1:

And received thank you.

Out of interest, if anyone happens to know, roughly, approximately, how many people have now booked to attend ?

Yep, I have one of those - I grabbed it out of the radiotherapy machine in Guildford, a Higgs boson, (before they found that one in Switzerland). Not many of THEM about, but don't know how I can get it to you. It's too heavy to carry on my bicycle.....

I've an Airfix Tardis. But have started glueing it up......

It'll have to be some bottles then....jeiger

You may remember that I posted about Frogs Island 4x4 being with us this year, well I’ve had an email through from them in which they are making some pretty special offers available to HUBB UK attendees.

I would usually have picked out key sections from an email like this to post but there’s so much info I thought, stuff it, I’ll post the lot for you to see! There’s thoughts here for anyone coming to the HUBB UK, regardless of what wheels you use.

Here goes:

We wanted to share some offers with VIP/HUBB UK customers, and also some NEWS. We have launched a new website – Frogs Island 4x4 Landrover Specialists in Oxfordshire, and we hope you like the changes. At Frogs Island 4x4 we are proud of our heritage and our experienced staff, we are always here to talk through any ‘niggles’ with your car, or even a trip or adventure you would like to plan.

As a Valued customer we would like to offer you 10% OFF* your next SERVICE and some of the following deals;
• 15% off EVERYTHING in the Terrafirma Catalogue until 1st January 2014 – including Front Runner racks and Safety Devices Roll Cages
• 15% off all Old Man Emu and ARB products until 1st September 2013
• Adventure Fridge deal of £450 + Vat, including 45L fridge/freezer, cover and adaptor (RRP £700+) – Offer until 1st January 2014
• All Workshop repairs reduction of £10 per hour* (normally £60 per hour + VAT)
• Over the phone parts searching and email copies from MicroCat – helping you fix your car! Access to Genuine Parts and Allmakes PR2 (2 Year Warranty)
• 1-1 Help and Advice by phone or in person
• Adventure Mechanical Training at £30 per hour, which is 1-1 training with our Adventure Specialist Matt the mechanic, who has travelled to Libya, Mongolia, Africa and beyond, this is FREE of charge when you have an overland fit out with Frogs Island 4x4.
• Discounted labour rate on Overland Builds, talk to us for your free adventure consultation.
• We work with all makes and models of 4x4’s

As part of the Allmakes Group of companies we offer a wide range of experience and advice on all makes and models of Land Rovers. As enthusiasts ourselves we want to see you and your members safely on the road, without a burn on your pocket! Your just need to quote your surname and this code ‘VIPHUBB UK’ to claim the above offers.

Come and visit us at the HUBB UK event for your free goody bag and join us for our Bush Mechanics seminars on servicing on the road, the old age debate of Toyota v’s Land Rover and more.

See what I mean! And if you've had a look at the Presentation Schedule you'll have seen that Frogs Island are really getting stuck in with demos and presentations. :thumbup1:

See you in a couple of weeks bier

We've got a great mix of motorcyclists, cyclists and expedition vehicle folk coming from 16 countries at the last count. Almost half the people attending have never been to an HU event before, and of course we've got a new venue and loads of new things happening, so there's going to be a really fresh, positive atmosphere. As for specific numbers, like a present that's best left alone until Christmas morning, we'd like to keep those under wraps. Rest assured though, it's going to be buzzy! Can't wait for everyone to see the set up. :)

Claire Elsdon - New Jupiter's Traveller
 

One of the great advantages of co-organising the event with Sam, and running the volunteer 'Presentation Crew' (which could do with one or two more people by the way), is that I get to dip in and out of almost all the presentations. The downside is I rarely get to sit through a whole one and there are loads this year that I'd really like to see properly.

One of the presentations I may go AWOL from duties to see is "Claire's African Bikeabout" (Thursday 3pm, repeated Friday 1pm).

Claire Elsdon got back from her London to Cape Town journey (on a DRZ) at the weekend - and this morning I had the pleasure of announcing her as one of The Ted Simon Foundation's latest Jupiter's Travellers. Claire has a fascinating story to tell and I'd definitely recommend you go to one of her sessions if you can.

2 weeks
 

Planning for the HUBB UK event began over 10 months ago, so it's exciting to be able to say there's now only 2 weeks to go! :)

If you haven't already, there's still time to...

- Pre-register at the discounted rate (1 week left)

- Volunteer a little of your time to help things run smoothly (more folk needed on several crews)

Iain & Sam it's probably been mentioned already but, what would be the reaction to people arriving on the Wednesday? Aside from "Good, you're here. You can help us with...."

No problem at all. You're more than welcome to arrive on the Wednesday. The Registration Tent will be open from 9am for early-arrivers to check-in.

Help getting things set up will certainly be appreciated (there'll be lots to do), but there's no obligation.

Then I shall almost certainly see you Wednesday then, I'm down for volunteering on Thursday so am more than happy to muck in.

And Sam says I have to hunt you down re walkie-talkies (I've got a couple I'm happy to bring).

Excellent! :)

That'd be great - thanks. We should have enough, but a couple more would be handy to have at the ready just in case.

Raffle prizes - Tucano Urbano
 

Super exciting news - Tucano Urbano have just email to say that they are donating over £500 worth of jackets for the raffle :D

Here's a pic of a couple of the jackets to give you some idea.

If your not familiar with Tucano Urbano then check them out, they do great clothing and bike gear.

Can we pop off site during the 4 days to pick up supplies or is it once on site you can never leave ;)

I know it's not very adventurous but I'm travelling on the little KLX 250 on my first motorbike trip and don't know how I'm going to pack everything on it - practice makes perfect so next time round I should be better prepared.

Sorry, gates will be locked! :innocent: But seriously. Food? It is a fair way to find a supermarket - half an hourish - Long Eaton near Nottm being the best bet. I think there are some village stores not too far away where you can snag some things.

However, to try and help with this side of things there will be a 'Corner Store' on site - bottom of the camping fields actually. They will be stocking things like bread, milk, bacon, eggs, marg, a bit of tinned stuff, fruit, news papers, smokes, (probably some chocolate :clap:) and so on. That might save you a journey! :mchappy:

And, don't forget that the Donington Park Farmhouse Hotel are going to be serving all sorts of meals for both carnivores and veggies. These will be as sit down meals and also later in the evenings as take-aways. The latter being something we've never been able to arrange before.

There's also going to be a spit roasted pig on the go one of the evenings!

Looking good :thumbup1:

Don't worry, we won't be shackling anyone to their tent ;)

Everyone's free to come and go as they please. When you first arrive and stop at the 'Welcome Gate', one of the volunteers will put an orange sticker on your wing mirror (or windscreen for 4x4s, cars, vans, etc.) so that if you go off site we'll know you're returning rather than just arriving.

As far as I know, Melbourne (a couple of miles west of the venue) is the closest place for supermarket-type supplies. The nearest petrol stations are in the opposite direction outside the airport or at the services by the M1.

However, "Glynn's Corner Shop" (i.e. mini-supermarket) is going to be on site throughout the event selling essential food supplies, cigarettes, soft drinks and all the rest of it. So you may find you don't need to leave the venue much, if at all.

Also don't forget that Donington Park Farmhouse will be catering for breakfast, lunch and dinner at very reasonable prices, plus a spit-roast pig and evening take-away options.

I just wanted to say a huge thanks to everyone who has volunteered to help! The response to our requests for help has been quite amazing!!! :thumbup1::thumbup1::thumbup1: Thanks everyone!!!

The only Crews we are now short of help on are the Presentation Crew and the Skills Course Crew.

Presentation Crew? You'll need to have good IT Skills and able to deal with powerpoint etc, but Iain will natter through what level you need to be at with you direct. You'll be helping all the presentations to run smoothly. Some of the presenters are doing it for the first time so for them, knowing that someone is there backing up and guiding them is a big time stress reliever!!! And the bonus - you have a front row seat for some spectacular presentations!

Skills Course? This is something new for us this year. It's not aimed so much at experienced motorcyclists but at riders who are at the early stage of learning.
We need some more people who are skilled riders and know they are able to pass their knowledge on. The course is on grass and there will be slaloms, simulated corrugations and so on (imagine traffic dodging in India, pothole weaving in Africa and the like). There will also be sessions with such things as picking your bike up safely.
Feel you can help with this? Ideally we need a couple of helpers who are going to be on site from Wednesday evening. But if you fit the skills level and will be arriving later, please do still get in touch.

Let us know HERE.

And a huge thanks again to everyone who has volunteered to date. This is the biggest number of volunteers we have ever had! Magic!!! :clap:

Although I ride a motorbike, I'd be interested in something like this for the bike. My skills are, currently, not on the mechanical front, and I'd find this useful! May be next year . . . . . :innocent:

How to get there
 

I expect that by now the DE74 2RN postcode for Donington Park Farmhouse Hotel has been entered in many a satnav and everyone will have figured out how they're making their way to the event.

Just in case extra directions are needed, and to make sure nobody pitches-up at the wrong venue, we've prepared a simple "How To Get There Guide" that you can download as a PDF....

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/eve...ages/htgtg.png

10 Days To Go
 

Now just 10 days left to wait until everything gets going at the HUBB UK event, 8 until the set up at the venue begins, and only 4 days until online pre-registration closes at 9pm this Thursday.

Pro-Oiler are going to be with us at the HUBB UK. These guys specialise in an automatic chain lubrication for Motorcycles

They tell us, ‘The Pro-Oiler System is on the market now for more than 10 years. It’s speed related chain lubrication guarantees extreme chain life (over 60K miles), minimal pollution of environment and rear wheel. It minimizes chain maintenance to the level of a shaft drive motorcycle without the latters price, weight and fuel consumption.’

I gather from their text that the Pro-Oiler works with minimum amounts of any kind of oil, so you don’t need to buy (or take with you on a journey) special chain lubrication oil.

Speed data is gathered from the motorcycle’s on board electronics or from a wheel sensor (supplied in the kit) . The Pro-Oiler calculates and administers the a precise amount of lubricant to the chain.

They’ve also told us, ‘This year we've boldly passed the last frontier: an optional GPS module can meassure speed by satelite! This GPS module is even capable of logging your trip and uploading it into Google Earth!’

You can find Pro-Oiler in the HUBB UK Adventure Travel Zone and for more information, check out their presentation.

Price help? They are offering you the chance to buy a Pro-Oiler chain lubrication kit at a substantial discount. :thumbup1: You can even have your kit installed at the stand for a small fee.

Dunno about you but I'm really looking forward to this year's Roadkill Cookout show run by Danny and Fil, and the competition they are doing this year. If you've never been to see them, learn from them and actually get involved, then don't miss this. Going to be fun! :innocent:

They always get a crowd so don't get to the HUBB Zone late.

And another thing - when we get to the raffle - look out for the hugely generous prize Danny has put on the table (No! Not a dead deer!!! :rolleyes2:)

Snag a beer from the bar and wander on over.

So Blooming Excited
 

Hey Hubbers!

Finally had five mins to register on here and say hello!

So very excited to be a part of HUBB this year

Have a few jeiger

Share some bier with like minded people

And think about where I might travel next :palm:

Too exciting

And typically, things have started to go wrong. Yesterday I got my first ever puncture. Now I had hoped to go to the "How to swear at your bike, bruise strange places and tear your hair out because the manufacturers of your bike chose not to offer a centre stand" (or puncture repair) demo while I was at the HUBB UK, instead it looks like I get to learn the diy way while the local kids walk past shouting "what you doing mister?"

Of course the puncture means I probably won't get out of London to Mr Tricky Walby's shed of wonder where I was going to change the chain, sprocket and rear wheel bearings, so I'll end up having to do those with the bike balanced precariously on a box, on the pavement outside our flat too, cue more annoying kids.

Ah well it's all part of the fun of being a newbie biker and who says that you can't have an adventure in your home country? See you soon everyone. Now where's the number for my breakdown cover?:scooter:

Delighted that you guys are joining us and many thanks in advance for the presentations and demonstrations you are putting on!!! bier

AdventureOverland UK are another of the new companies to join us at the HUBB UK.

What do they do? For over 35 years they have been the authorised UK Distributor for Bimobil, high quality Design & Build Specialist of Overland Expedition Vehicles, Demountable’s and Motorhomes.

Clare and Darren say, ‘Bimobil currently build around 130 vehicles a year, for customer’s all over the world, using highly accurate workmanship and precision German engineering. Every vehicle is bespoke, designed and built to meet each individual customer’s unique requirements and exacting standards. The Bimobil product range has a vehicle for all types of overland travel, from a four wheel drive Motorhome, a flexible and rugged demountable or a full AWD Expedition Vehicle. There is something for everyone. To find out more please visit Home .’

At The HUBB UK this year AOUK will be showing the Husky 235 Demountable on a Landrover Defender Base vehicle. It has a quick mounting & auto positioning system, for which Bimobil is famous.

‘This gives you the ultimate four wheeled freedom and flexibility to explore the most inaccessible places. When the environment gets too extreme, just dismount the self-sufficient habitation cabin at base camp…and continue to explore… Look forward to seeing you at the event, if you need any further info, please just ask.’

I think the only bit of that lot I'm going to 'like' is the bit where you say, '...who says you can't have an adventure in your home country?'!!!!! Hope it goes more smoothly than you think - could always do it at the HUBB UK (not the puncture of course) You'll have lots of proper helpers there! :mchappy: Even connect with Tricky!

If all else fails Alex give me a call and ill pop over after work and sort it for you or bring the parts up to Leicester and ill do it there , off to the shed to collect tent now see you all next week .

The Super Prostate Cancer Raffle
 

So many amazing prizes for the Prostate Cancer UK Raffle I really don't know where to start ...

So the other day I posted that Tucano Urbano would be donating over £500 worth of jackets - great right!?! :clap: well they arrived and there is even more than we were expecting not 1 but 7, yes 7 :eek3: , great quality jackets in various sizes, approx value of about £700.

More amazing prizes which were donated by Twisty Ride are two waterproof iPhone holders one for a scooter and one for a motorbike. :D

Another super donation from the great guys at Cartridge King in support of the Adventure Bike Riders Against Cancer rally, is an amazingly generous 50 SD cards. These will be given away on a first come first served basis to anyone who buys 2 or more strips of raffle tickets.

Wow - that's it for now ... still loads more prizes to tell you about over the next week or so.

Again, anyone who wants to donate a prize for the raffle or a couple of hours over the weekend to sell some tickets - please come and find me.

Thanks

Robyn

Hey Robyn
Frogs Island 4x4 will gladly donate a raffle prize to the cause, being such a very worthy one. A Life Systems Waterproof First Aid Kit.
See you at the event, just pop over to our stand and I will give it to you
Thanks

Super!! Thanks. :D :D

See you then

1 Day Left To Pre-Register Online
 

There are now just under 24 hours left to pre-register and pay online for HUBB UK at the £65 rate (saving £10 on the full price for a 4-day pass).

This is the form to complete if you still want to bag the discount.

Pre-registration will close at 9pm tomorrow night. After that we'll only be accepting on-the-gate registrations paid in cash. They'll cost either £75 for a full 4-day pass, or £40 for a weekend-only pass (for people arriving on the Saturday).

Please note that we don't offer 1-day or Thursday & Friday-only passes.

Finally got around to registering. We leave home on Saturday its a mini adventure to get there, Scotland, England, Wales, England, A wee jaunt in euro tunnel (because we have never been thru it) France, Belgium, France, England.
Tomorrow we start hunting out the camping & travelling gear.
Getting excited :clap::clap::clap:

Being th wild, carefree adventure biker that I am I've just thought, "Hmm, how will I keep my smartphone charged while at the HUBB UK?"

Do I just have to sneak power where I can or is there goibg to be one of those fancy, schmancy phone creches where you can leave your phone for an hour or two to be charged up for you?

I could always leave it at home I suppose. :innocent:

Phone Charging
 

A very good question - and an important answer for everyone to take note of....

HU won't be providing phone/tablet/device charging facilities at the event at all.

That's partly for practical reasons and partly because we can't be responsible for the security of lots of people's expensive kit.

For those people that have the necessary cabling etc to make use of it, and are happy to pay the £4 per day charge in advance, there are plenty of power hook-ups in the camping field.

As for "sneaking power".... I couldn't possibly comment ;)

Hey Alex
'wild, free, adventure bikers' charge their smartphones via 12volts from their vehicles and when parked up awhile and away from them, many use the Powertraveller Extreme.:thumbup:

Indeed, it was one of those "I wonder..." questions as minutes before Google had decided to show me an ambulance converted into a phone creche available for hire for festivals, bike meets etc. and as someone who once flattened his bike's battery charging up his phone, I'd thought what a good idea for the HUBB UK.

Charger up!
 

WE have some 12v charging on our vehicles with split charge systems and we will have a few invertor hook ups! For a small charitable donation for Prostate Cancer

Last chance
 

Two hours left to pre-register and pay online if you're still planning to.

The online booking options will be disappearing at 9pm (UK time) tonight.

:)

There's two of us!
 

Arcing up the pixels!! A roving workshop around the campsite.

A bit slow out of the blocks, I was perusing the planning schedule for HUBB UK when I noticed I am a team of one, when in fact we are a team of two. I wrote to Iain but he has already got the final draft off to the printers (he is a machine that man)

My oversight for not checking when he originally sent it out - DOH!

The other team member is my wife Kristina, we both met as professional photographers.

I am just keen for people to know that we work as a teaching team to give everyone a chance to get their questions answered and some hands on teaching

It looks like we are on show for about 1.5hrs. What we want to get across in that time is:

Taking great photos of your bike
Taking great photos of your destination
Taking great selfies
Taking great photos of your travel companions
Taking great photos of stuff

Plus a bunch of top tips and tricks with storage, bits of kit, back up, camera handling and answer as many questions as possible as time allows.

YOU DO NOT NEED A HIGH END CAMERA!!!!!!! to do this workshop

The best camera to use is the one in your hands right now

See you all there

Cheers

Ken and Kristina

Thanks very much K & K,

I'll be there, Olympus XZ-1 in hand.

It's a point and shoot but I happen to remember what it's called as I've only just bought it.

Morning Chaps n Chapesses,

I'm doing a photographic exercise myself this year. Normally I bring with me thousands of pounds worth of digital SLR camera's, lenses, flashguns etc and enjoy recording the event.

This year I'm bring one camera only, a really basic point n shoot, cheapo thing from Aldi!

Why the change?

Well I thought I'd go back to basics.

No zoom.

No posh features.

Just a cheap n chearful camera.

My goal is to concentrate on the composition and use the limitiations of the camera to my own advantage.

So will I get the images I usually get? No.

But will I get more flexibility, and enjoy the expeirence? Yes.

The results will speak for themselves. It will either work or not but at least I'll have fun trying.

See you all there and, if you want to laugh at my camera then please do, as it's a bit of fun, at a fun event.

TTFN

Reggie

Hotel Rooms - Two Now Available
 

All the hotel rooms at Donington Park Farmhouse sold-out ages ago, but we've just had an email from them to say that two rooms have just become available again from the Thursday night onwards.

There's one double and one twin/double. We understand that the hotel will offer these to folk attending the event at the same £80 per room per night (room only rate) as applied to the original rooms. First come, first served.

If you're interested in having a room, please contact Donington Park Farmhouse Hotel directly on 01332 862409, quoting "HUBB UK" as your reference.

Charity auction items at the HUBB
 

Hi all

As part of the Adventure Biker Riders Against Cancer (ABRAC) charity ride we'll be auctioning off some goodies at the HUBB UK in aid of Prostate Cancer. There will also be loads of smaller stuff in the raffle draw but
check these beauties out!

I'm very sorry to say that for some very late and unforeseen circumstances, I can no longer make this event.. I can't go into too much detail but I no longer have the time free. I will have to work instead.

I am really disappointed to say the least. I was really looking forward to doing my first presentation that I have spent the last couple of weeks of precious free time preparing for :(

I'd like to apologise to those (if any) who were looking forward to my presentation. Hopefully I can present it at another HUBB meeting in the not too distance future.

It's shaping up to be a FANTASTIC even at Donnington and I can't believe I won't be part of it...

WORK SUCKS :'(







My girlfriend has a weekend event ticket to sell if anyone is interested !!!

Hi Ted,

has she had enough of you then?

Regards

Reggie

She wishes......

You know life in the motorcycle industry. All work and no play...

Sent from my HUAWEI U8815 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Hi Ted,

sounds about right eh matey!

Reagrds

Reggie

I feel your pain Ted. Although I've known for a while that I couldn't make it, due to chronic poverty and other fun reasons, I can't deny that part of me has been hoping for some miracle that would make it possible. By all accounts this is shaping up to be one of those classic events about which, in years to come, participants and poets will say "I was there!". :)

It's only today that I have reluctantly accepted that it ain't gonna happen for me :mad:

Maybe Ted would 'give' you his girlfriend's ticket? ;)

I wish I was in a financial position to be so generous. However, I'm happy to give someone a half price ticket :p

www.touringted.com

Alas I'd then still have to borrow somebody's girlfriend's bike :scooter: (cos my two are bust) and someone else's girlfriend's spending money :hammer: (cos mine's all spent):and yet another girlfriend's food :chef: (cos my cupboard's a bit Mother Hubbard)

I can bring my own tent though!!!:sorcerer::thumbup:

Anyway, I'm cool with it now so I hope you guys have a great time. I'll be reading the post event reports with interest and with the hope that all goes well and next year's event is in the same place as it's not that far from me :cool4:

Good luck
 

Really hope this event goes well. We found the HUBB discussion forums invaluable while travelling through Africa and also met some great people through it.

Have fun!

I was looking forward to your presentation. Shame..

We are loading up now and heading too HUBB UK with a fantastically modified LandCruiser, Defender 90 and some great advice and goodies. We also looking forward to the presentations and speakers! See you there, pop by for a goody bag!

Ted , as you cannot go, could you upload your pictures up on the site?

What pics ?? Of my trip ?? See link below :rolleyes:

www.touringted.com

Will be there some time Thursday morning wii call in and say hello:thumbup1:

Accident on my way to the Hubb
 

Hi, unfortunately I won't be able to make it to the Hubb. Yesterday, on my way to Zeebrugge to catch the ferry to Hull I had an accident :( Pouring rain, the car in front of me stopped suddenly and down I went. I guess I've locked my front wheel (no ABS). Fortunately I haven't been injured too bad (some bruises and a mild headache) but I am hugely disappointed that I can't make it now to the Hubb. I had been looking forward to this event for several months. I've sent an e-mail to Sam since I was also volunteering. Sorry I can't help out. I hope you all will have a wonderful event. I'm looking forward to pictures, movies, stories, ... Hopefully I'll be there next year! Take care, Karolien

Sorry to hear about your fall Karolien, and your scuppered plans; but at least you're safe and well. That's the main thing.

Perhaps we non-goers should have our own party :)

Tks 4 link but I was hoping for the Yukon trip ones Ted. :0)

Really sorry to hear of your accident, glad you're ok

Really sorry to hear of your accident Karolien, hope your ok and looking forward to your next trip.

I'm soooooooo excited! I woke up way earlier than normal this morning and just couldn't get back to sleep... can't wait... just got to go to work, then head south on hopefully quiet roads whilst not getting lost! erm... should see you all in time for Tea!

Beej :thumbup1:

I'll get round to writing that one up in the next ten years or so !! doh

PegasoPodcast: Interview with Grant and Susan
 

On the Meeting we spoke with Susan and Grant Johnson about the HUBBUK 2013.
You can hear the Interview on our Podcast:
PegasoPodcast#43 – Grant and Susan Johnson | PegasoReise

Just got back home had a fantastic time roll on next year made lots of new friends had a few beer thanks to everyone who put the work in to make it so good.

Harry &Denise

Does anyone know how many people attended this year ???

Over 700 not sure of the exact number more than last year.

Holey moley. That's a lot of people.

I'm so happy for hu and their success.

Sounds a bit mad for me though. The scotland mini meet was more my thing these days. :)

www.touringted.com

I was a #HUBBUK virgin, and my goodness, there are no words to describe the experience.
Susan and Grant you a true inspiration and thank you for starting a movement that felt like one big family. I know is 4WD'ers are not the normal at your show, and all I can say is we (the Froggies) all felt honoured to be there.
From meeting and chatting at the shower 'q' with travellers, seeing the kit you guys have for bikes, hearing stories, sharing journeys and so much more.
Sam and Iain what a fabulous job you did, your team, the volunteers, the venue (although the planes were a pain.....even more draw to grab passport and head to the airport!!)
It was just simply mind blowing.
To everyone who visited our stand, came to our talks and the PK's thank so much.
We cannot wait until next year. Please do visit us, 4 wheels or 2, we are always a stop off point, if you need oils, checks, air for tyres or just a Nespresso, pop by, your all part of our 4wd adventure family.
Until next year Shalom, Ciao......
Team Frog Island

Ted I think you would be surprised, as although the attendance was very high the place never felt crowded as the site is massive and people were able to spread over a big area.

May I just add our thanks to ALL those who helped make The Hubb 2013 such a wonderful experience. It was our 1st time there but it certainly won't be our last. The venue was great with excellent camping facilities, the seminars mind blowing and the overalll friendliness from folks with 2 wheels or 4 had to be seen to be believed. Even the noise from the planes became less as the weekend progressed !!!!!

Margaret & Mike

Totally agree:thumbup1: Fantastic event. Many thanks to Iain and Sam for organizing and to all the presenters and volunteers:clap: Looking forward to the next one....hopefully having wonderful stories of my own to tell.

fantastic event-I arrived on Wednesday & although wet...the cockles of my very heart were warmed by Ted Simons unique presentation. Ed March..proved that care in the community is working..God how I wish I had a tongue like his!...it(the talk) was excellent, as were many of the other talks I attended. The planes were not a problem for me..but then again neither was the vat of wine that disappeared down my gullet!long live PINOT !

Really enjoyable time..great people, great organisation and well worth the weekend!

After 9 years on this forum I finally managed to get to the HUBB UK and had a truly amazing time despite missing half the talks I'd planned on seeing through chatting to everyone (sorry to those whose ears I bent).

Thank you to everyone who made it happen especially Sam and Iain who were always smiling and chatting when I'm sure they had 200 things to do.

A big thanks from Danny and myself to all those who came over for the Roadkill and for the evenings round the fire.

Really good to see some new faces and to meet some of the 4x4 crowd. Great to have some variety at the event - hope to meet more of you next year.

Saw some old friends met some new ones and had a great time.

One person even guessed the mystery animal straight away - but of course we didn't tell them that... :) Most of you were way off the mark, but some of you made some excellent guesses.

Thanks to the volunteers who formally and informally (yes, that means you Matt!) came and helped out and to the clean up crews. A willing helper at the right time does make a huge difference.

A special thanks to Angus (hope I remembered that right) the young lad on the Piaggio Hexagon sidecar outfit who was good company and had such a great attitude to the whole thing. Hope to see you again next year.

Danny - you'd best go finish building Haggs Bank Bunkhouse now that you have customers lining up to go and stay! Huge thanks to you, Cindy and the kids as always. HU wouldn't be the same without you.

Hubb uk 2013
 

What can I say, brilliant just brilliant.

It was my first time attending this event and as soon as I made my plans to go, way back last year, my wife and son decided that they too wanted to come. I have to admit that I was a bit reluctant to have them tag along but I agreed to it and am so glad I did, they took the car and so we managed to cram in a lot more than I could have carried on the bike which made for a relatively luxurious weekend by normal standards - I think a few people wondered how I carried so much on the bike.

We have all come away truly inspired and raring to go, my son was made very welcome by all and so the next generation is well on their way.

Thanks to all involved and.....see you next year.

Hi from Dilys and Kevin we were first time at this event, all that we can say is what a fantastic show it was, and we will be back next year.
even though we have 4 wheels on our wagon, we were made most welcome by all the friendly people on 2 wheels, we had the blue camper Sasha the sea horse, made some great friends hope to meet again next year, or all will be welcome to come and see us at our show in September. We always have kettle on or thier will be some beers, for the men wine for the women.

Adventure Overland 28/29 September.

hope this is alright Ian/Sam if not delete.

Great event. Many thanks to one and all for organizing, and to all the presenters, volunteers and the people who visited.

As a Landy owner it was so great to see and meet people with a common interest, irrespective of the number of wheels.

Well done the HUBB!

HUBB UK 2013, Well Done !
 

A big thank you to all staff and volunteers of the HUBB UK 2013 in Donington.
As real first timers, my team and I felt embraced by the warmth of the visitors and HUBB crew.

Enjoyed being with you guys !

From the Netherlands we wish you safe trips.:mchappy:

Sincerely, Arnold Wubbels.
Pro-Oiler

http://www.pro-oiler.net/images/banner_S.jpg

Fantastic - that's all I can say!

As a 4x4 member, recently joined and encouraged by Sam to put on our Carawagon Moroccan encampment display in the HUBB Zone, I can say we were all made to feel very welcome.
From the moment we were greeted at the gate, to the moment we left, everyone we met treated us almost as family.

Loads of fantastic outfits on the camping fields - makes us jealous when we see how many parts of the world some of you have been to - it makes our Morocco trip seem a bit boring, though I hope we are seen as a bit different as all our vehicles are over 40 years old :thumbup1:

We were expecting some indifference due to the extra wheels on our wagons, but many 2 wheeled members came to look at our vehicles with loads of questions - I think perhaps there are a lot of closet 4x4 fans amongst the 2 wheeled fraternity :innocent:

I understand this was the first time 4x4s were included in the event - I really hope it was seen as a success and that we are invited to join you again next year :funmeteryes:

Thanks again everyone for making us feel so welcome.

Cheers,
Robin
(The one with the white Carawagon :D)

Another brilliant HU meet. As others have said the whole thing was great. I thought the weekend was only made more special with the cyclists and 4X4 input. The talks by the various cyclists were all truely inspiring. I was only disappointed that more people didn't see some of the presentations that I saw. (Mike Carter was excellent but there were only a dozen of us there)

And great to have Prostate Cancer UK there. I'm booking myself in for a blood test!

A massive thanks to Iain and Sam and everyone who helped make it a great weekend.

Great event, great organisation and super volunteers! Many thanks.

We've had Elle The Body Macpherson, the "face" of many products that made little (and less little....) boys excited....

Now there's Ed The Body March, the face/hair of Radox shampoo... Will HU now get more young females members rather than the stereotypical middle aged beardy blokes? :helpsmilie:

http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p.../edthebody.jpg

Thanks Sam and Ian...
 

For you forbearance as to our missing a presentation and the stresses that where behind that did melt away.

Apart from getting used to the noisy air borne neighbours on the first night, it was great. The new location is sufficiently spacious to let everyone spread out but small enough to be able to be anywhere in a handful of minutes.

The organisation,volunteers and Donington Farmhouse Hotel staff where all friendly and helpful, the presentations where spot on and what a hoot it was seeing Ed March do his stuff. The whole event was a great gathering of like minded folk, the 4x4 clubs and organisations where quickly assimilated into the "family" and a big thank you to the Adventure Overland guys who helped us get the MAG stall sorted in the winds on Thursday.

Some of the new stuff like the skills course was fantastic once it found a home ... even if I did discover that I may need a knee brace to be able to pick my bike up in the future. Everyone on a bike should have tried it,even if only for the fun factor!

Old friends where caught up with, new friends made and a few hangovers directly attributable to Sailor Jerry... oh and who was it decided closing the Real Ale bar early on Thursday was a "good idea"...eh Sam ? ;)

A massive thank you to everyone involved in the organisation of such a fantastic event.
It was such a brilliant atmosphere with plenty of different things to see / people to meet, I only saw a few presentations!
Lovely to catch up with old friends and make new ones.
Looking forward to next year :)

Event Photos
 

Sam and I are chuffed to bits with all the positive feedback about the event, so thanks very much to everyone who's posted on here, Facebook and Twitter, or has taken the time to email us direct. Thanks also to all those of you who completed comments cards at the event itself. We're going through them all and compiling a list of the main issues/ideas.

The first of the photos taken by our photography volunteers are now online in an album on Facebook, with many more to follow as I'm sent them.

View the photos here....

There are also Facebook albums from....

Black Frog Publishing (Andy Robinson and Kirsty McGregor)

Terra Nomade

and Norman Magowan

Very nicely said Iain. I've spent most of the morning today writing back to people who have contacted me personally with feedback on the HUBB UK. They have been arriving from all over the place. From people who have been coming for years and from people who were with us all for the first time. And I must say that those of you who have written PMs and emails on how we can make it even better next year are gratefully received. They key thing most people are mentioning is the amazing atmosphere. Couldn't agree more! Smiles here :thumbup1:

Yeah, a brilliant event it was guys. After intial apprehension over change of venue it just worked a treat and I would say stepped in to a new league of awesomeness. Thanks for putting so much in to it, for the rest of us to get out. See you next year (hopefully sooner)

Grand Charity Muster
 

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/eve...Ettridge-1.jpg

One photo I particularly wanted to post on the forum is this one (courtesy of Dave Ettridge) of the "Grand Charity Muster" where everyone was "giving the finger" to prostate cancer. All the fundraising efforts, including the ABRAC auction, pulled together over £4,000 in aid of Prostate Cancer UK, so huge thanks again to all those who contributed.

The photo is on Facebook too, so feel free to like and tag to help spread the word about the importance of testing and early diagnosis.

Thank you!
 

I just want to say a huge THANK YOU to the organisers, volunteers, speakers and everyone else who made this an awesome weekend.

As members of the 4x4 community, we were made to feel welcome, and were all united by a desire to connect, learn, and travel.

The atmosphere was great, mix of seminars and displays was good, camping field (we were in the overflow field) was good, and even the air traffic became insignificant.

Looking forward to next year! :thumbup1:

Brilliant event!
 

My thoughts exactly.

It was a great time, brilliantly thought out.
A huge Thankyou to all involved. And for the emergency work that was needed to move things to dryer fields. :clap:

Great selection of beerbeerbeer!

I learned that selling raffle tickets is a wonderful way to get around to meet lots of folks.

So I've done a blog entry, here
Horizons Unlimited Motorcycle Travellers' Stories - Ken Thomas
For friends and family really, so it rambles a bit as usual - or a lot.......

Will look forward to next year. :D

Great to hear that the event was a success. Can we take it, then, that the venue will be the same next year?

2014
 

You can indeed. The dates for 2014 are 19th to 22nd June.

Well, what to say that hasn't been said before? Itwas great, almost perfect and those who weren't there shall never truly know what theyhave missed!

This being said, in the meanwhile we blasted through europe and arein ukraine by now. We would really appreciate if people who took pictures of us for thebig send off would be willing to send the ones of us ( seb and kim on the two yellow DRZ's) directly to our mail: seb.leeson (at) gmail.com
We would be extremely gratefull as we don'thave any picture of this... ;-)

Thanks to Iain and Sam for the organization, all the other presenters and attendees, and see you next year when this trip is over...!

You're in Ukraine already? Wow! :thumbup1:

They're always Russian about like that ;)

Thanks Iain. Noted on the calendar, saving up fund started.

Though late June? I bet it will rain. I've noticed recently that we get our best weather in May and early June these days, after which its downhill all the way

HUBB Event 2013
 

First time attendee and what a great event, I thought it was super. I squeezed myself into as many presentations as possible, I was inspired, amazed and laughed until I cried at Ed March's tongue stuck to the signpost fiasco!
Sam and Iain, hats off to you and your team, you did a great job, the venue was spot-on, the atmosphere was friendly and welcoming and the presenters and their presentations were superb. I left already looking forward to next year with dangerous levels of wanderlust - marvelous.

And at the same venue which is brilliant news,

...................... as I seem to have 2 shower tokens left over.