Motorcycle Explorer November 2016 Issue 14 | Page 83

So on to the event presentations themselves. The
first thing to note is that Baskerville Halls
conference rooms are named:
•
Africa (290 capacity);
•
Australia (150 capacity);
•
Asia (90 capacity);
•
South America (65 capacity);
•
Europe (36 capacity);
•
3 designated outside areas.
The entire event was not limited to motorcycle
travel, and there were plenty of people who
attended who overland using bicycles, walking,
canoeing, and 4x4 travellers. The presentation
topics ranged from: how to travel full time round the
world, safety and security whilst on your travels;
riding from Nordkapp to Capetown; transversing the
Darian Gap; travels around South America; the pro’s
and con’s of aluminium panniers; trail riding in
Spain; all the way through to how to build your own
overlanding 4x4; toolkits; and even Yoga on the
road!
Practical demonstrations included such items as: off
road training school; adventure travel riding
competition; and even the now world-famous Grant
Johnson workshops on how to change tyres/fix
punctures on the road.
The ladies were particularly well catered for at this
event with numerous “Ladies Only” sessions or
Female focussed travel presentations (one notable
presentation was conducted by world famous
Tiffany Coates who runs a ladies only tour of the
Himalayas).
Although it would be impossible to review all of the
presentations viewed at HUBB UK 2016, my personal
favourites covered quite a wide a range of topics.
Martin Gibson, a young lad from England, gave a
great presentation about the Norwegian “Primus
Winter Rally”. This rally has been running for around
40 years and is held on the last weekend in February
120km North of Oslo. As you can expect, the
temperatures are extremely cold (-20c or lower can
be experienced) and its thought that the rally’s name
was derived from having to use the famous petrol
stove as gas would freeze. The majority of
attendees at the rally arrive on sidecar outfits,
however Martin explained how he took his KTM
North through Denmark, where he fitted studs to his
tyres on to the rally itself. Martin has been several
times to the event, and explained how friendly the
regulars made him feel each time he rode to it. This
was a very pure example of the overlanding
community socialising with one another.