A Flying Visit Back to the UK (30th Oct 2025 BLOG)
My original plans for 2025 involved two trips back to my native homeland of England.
The first one , back in June was a racing trip which had to be cancelled at the last minute when I became too sick to travel .
I lost a lot of money, with that one as the insurance didn’t refund me for the flights.
The second trip was the one that I’ve just returned from.
50 Years ago, back in 1975, my sister Anne and her husband Pete were married in our local church in the village of Totternhoe, Bedfordshire.
Pete was a farmer and they both ran a farm at Heath and Reach on the busy A5 Watling Street , just a few miles away.
About ten years ago they retired , gave up farming and moved to the Cotswolds
They now live in the sleepy little village of Milton Under Wychwood , near Chipping Norton , Oxfordshire .
To celebrate their 50 years together , a Golden Wedding Party was planned for lunchtime on Sunday the 26th of October at the village hall in nearby Shipton Under Wychwood .
So . I planned a short trip , where I’d be staying with my long time friend , Lynn Longden who lives in Havant , Hampshire , on the south coast of England
My flights and car rental were all booked , with my credit card travel department.
As usual , when I go away on trips , this report will be on a day to day basis
DAY ONE Tuesday 21st OCT
My good friend Don Simpson picked me up from my place in Cornwall, in the afternoon and gave me a ride to the Montreal Airport.
I got there a lot earlier than needed for my 10-10 pm flight , but that’s the way I like it . I’d rather do that, than be rushing around at the last minute.
The British Airways flight took off on time bound for London Heathrow. B.A is not my airline of choice nor Heathrow the destination of choice , but that was the only direct flight, I could get .
I prefer AIR TRANSAT direct to London Gatwick but there was no flight available.
DAY TWO Wednesday 22nd Oct .
The flight arrived early at Terminal 5 in London , and apart from the disembarkation experience it was plain sailing.
When getting off the plane , it was like a trip back into the past.
Instead of a jet way ramp from cabin to terminal, it was the the old style , mobile steps that you walk down on to the run way.
Once down the steps, we got on a ‘rickety ‘ old shuttle bus for a quick and erratic ride to the terminal.
Once through customs, I headed for the bus station to pick up another shuttle to the GREEN MOTION CAR RENTAL office ,which is located at the Holiday Inn beside the M4 motorway .
It was at this point when things started to turn sour . The problem began when we started doing the rental formalities .
My credit card , which I used to make the reservation expires at the end of December (in two and half months time) . Even though I was only renting the car for six days , this was apparently unacceptable. It needed to be valid for at least the next six months.
So I was basically stranded, through no fault of my own, and someone else’s mistake. They obviously knew the expiry date , because I gave it to them with the card details when I made the reservation.
After a few panic phone calls to my daughter, Carla. and my friend Lynn, we came up with a plan. (Carla and her husband Alex were also attending Anne’s party but were spending a few days in Portugal first)
I cannot fault the two ladies at Green Motion, they were just following orders and sympathetically helped arrange an UBER ride for me to the rail station in Guildford , Surrey, where I bought a ticket to Havant .
Lynn met me there, in her SEAT Arona, and ten minutes later we were at her place.
She then rang her insurance company to get me covered to drive her car.
That was a ‘no go’ . After more than 30 years living in Canada, my UK driving license was no longer valid and the Canadian one was not acceptable.
So Lynn , who was going to accompany me to Anne’s party , became my chauffeur for the duration.
Once, I’d chilled out at her place , we went out for a Fish n Chip supper at the Ship Inn at Langstone
DAY THREE . Thursday 23rd October
After a good nights sleep , we took off in the SEAT to Havant for Brunch .
Lynn had booked a table at an American Style Diner in town , called AJ’s
The rest of our day was a lazy one , looking around local charity stores in search of diecast treasures.
In the evening we were out for another ‘pub’ meal with Lynns good friends Des and Pete Saunders.
DAY FOUR . Friday 24th October
The town of Havant is very close to the Isle of Wight and some time ago , I happened to mention that I’d like to visit there again, some day.
I’ve been there before, but the last time was over 30 years ago.
My late father lived there for a while when he was a kid , at the time when my grand father was stationed at the Needles Naval defense base during World War Two.
So, Lynn kindly arranged for us to make trip .
She reserved seats on the 9-20am Hovercraft from Southsea to Ryde .
We were at the port early enough to sit and have a coffee and watch the busy marine traffic passing up the Solent . It was a sunny day , but a bit chilly with the sea breeze.
We watched as our vessel arrived, then boarded for the 7 minute trip.
We were soon on the Island and catching a bus for the 40 minute journey to Newport , the principle town on the Island.
The roads over there are not very wide and there’s a lot more traffic since my last visit.
Our original plan was to visit the Needles but it would of involved a lot more time sitting on busses, and very little time to spend seeing things. We needed to be back at Ryde for our 5-50 pm return on the hovercraft .
After looking around Newport, we decided to get on another bus to Shanklyn , and check that out.
Once there, we had a late lunch before hopping on to another bus back to Ryde to spend most of our time there .
When the Hovercraft arrived we, boarded and headed back to Southsea
We had a lovely day and I’m very grateful to Lynn for organizing everything .
DAY FIVE Saturday 25th Oct
Saturday morning we were on the road heading for the New Forrest , located a bit further along the south coast between Southampton and Bournemouth .
It’s an area where wild ponies are allowed to roam free .
It’s also where you can find the village of Beaulieu , the Beaulieu Abbey , and the home of the National Motor Museum.
I’ve visited this place a couple of times before, when I lived in England , the first time being in 1968 on an Easter Holiday outing with Mum , Dad , sister Anne and brother Chris.
FLASHBACK to Beaulieu 1968
The last time I was there was in the 1980’s .
Lynn had also taken her grand-children there once .
We spent a few hours looking at the many exhibits .
There was so much to see . A lot more pictures are in the ‘LATEST GALLERY’ of this web site.
There was one section called ‘We had one of those’ devoted to vehicles some of us once owned .
There was a Ford Capri, in that section, and both Lynn and I , have owned Ford Capri’s back in the day.
There was also a section devoted to old Motor Cycles , and they had a few old AJS’s on display . One of them was similar to one I once had .
Not quite the same, as mine, because I had a 500 twin, but it brought back some great memories from our teen age years..
FLASHBACK TO 1971 when I owned a 1953 model AJS .
Yes, we had a great time checking out all the exhibits, and I finished off the visit with a monorail ride around the grounds .
From Beaulieu , we continued through the New Forrest to the town of Ringwood .
After a nice meal in the centre of town, we headed to nearby Matchams Park.
A few months back , when I was planning this trip, and knew I’d be in the area , there was somewhere else , I really wanted to check out .
On that same Easter Holiday back in 1968 , when Mum and Dad took us kids, to Beaulieu, they also took us to the stock car racing at Matchams Park .
By 1968, I’d already become a school kid addicted to the sport, so the family spent the afternoon watching the races.
I returned to Matchams a few times over the years , and was curious to see what it looked like now.
Sadly they no longer run BriSCA F1 or BriSCA F2, the UK’s premier oval racing formulas , but regardless of that, I still wanted to take a look.
Here is Matchams Park , Ringwood in 1968 (Unknown Photographer) .
The #8 car coming in to the picture belonged to Pete Webb , of Slough . He was still racing BriSCA F1 when I began racing them, back in 1974.
He occasionally races in F2 style racing at Matchams , and I was hoping to see him in action ( he now lives in Spain) .
Jerry Fisher Photo
Racing began at 6-00pm and we arrived about 20 minutes before start time.
We had no intention of staying for more than an hour because we had to be in Oxfordshire later that night. My plan was to take a few pics and be on our way.
Once inside, I headed straight for the pits and looked for the F2 style stock cars. Most of the formulas seemed to be the low budget saloon variety with the exception of the more racey looking, Hot Rods.
Once I’d located the F2 cars, I saw the familiar name of Webb on a couple of the cars.
I soon found out that Jessica and Charlie Webb were the grandchildren of Pete Webb.
He wasn’t there, but his son Andy was , accompanying his two youngsters.
I had a chat with him before the racing got under way.
Their first race of the night , was the fourth one on the program , so I figured I’d watch that before making my exit.
My action pictures didn’t turn out as good as I hoped, it was a challenge , as I was shooting on the outside behind the mesh safety fence.
Once I’d seen the Webb’s in action, it was time to hit the road .
It was now 6-30 pm and our next stop was the Premier Inn , about two hours away in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire .
After a brief stop along the way we were checking into the hotel at 8-45 pm.
DAY SIX Sunday 26th of October .
This was the big day and the reason for my trip .
My Sister Anne’s Golden Wedding Day Party.
After a bit of shopping in ‘Chippy’ during the morning , Lynn and I returned to the hotel, to meet Carla and Alex who had arrived.
We then all went to the party in Carla’s Vauxhall rental.
It was a big gathering of over 90 people. Family and friends filled the hall.
All my cousins were there as well as Oliver Young , the latest member of the family. (My nephew Thomas’s son).
After the food, Anne gave an amusing speech about how she first met Pete, and then the cake cutting began.
It was so nice to see all my family together at one time . Things all came to an end around 5-00pm and we returned to the hotel .
Later that night the four of us, went out for a drink and a bite to eat in Chippy.
DAY SEVEN Monday 27th October .
Before leaving the C0tswolds, Lynn , Carla , Alex and myself dropped into Anne’s place for coffee and proper ‘good bye’ .
Carla and Alex were heading for London and an early morning flight to the USA , while Lynn and I were bound for Havant.
I had some car parts to deliver to Rob Sellar, one of my stock car buddies , so we met him and his partner Donna , around midday just off the A34 at Abingdon .
Rob restores and builds replicas of old stock cars and I had some bits for an Olsmobile Rocket motor he’s working on.
We chatted for over an hour then carried on to Havant . While I was chatting with Rob , he happened to ask if I’d been to Greggs on this trip (they are my favorite bakery chain in England) . I hadn’t, but this was soon rectified when we stopped at the Chievely Services near Newbury .
Lynn treated me to one of their delicious Cheese and Onion pasties .
We were back in Havant by mid afternoon and had plenty of time to go walking in the olde worlde village of Westbourne, where Lynn’s former animal feed business is based. (Her son Adam now runs it) .
Later that night, it was our final time for some pub grub at a Carvery at Langstone before my departure the next morning.
DAY EIGHT Tuesday 28th October.
We were up early for the journey back to Heathrow to catch the plane.
Lynn drove me to Guildford where I picked up an Airport shuttle bus .
While on route , we passed the HQ of the world famous McLaren F1 team in Woking.
Once again , I arrived really early at the Airport, but that’s how I like it .
There was plenty of time before my 4-10 flight back to Montreal.
Things went a lot smoother on the return, and I was back in Canada at 7-00 pm.
Once through the formalities , Don picked me up outside the ‘Arrivals’ .
After a Tim Hortons coffee stop . I was back home and indoors by 10-00 pm.
Wednesday , the 29th October.
I must have been a bit jet lagged because I was wide awake at 4-00 am so decided to stay up. Then took my Impala for an oil change at Seaway GM as soon as they opened. This was preparation for another road trip that’s coming up.
As well as doing this , I visited my bank to file an official complaint about the mess up with the credit card.
I relaxed a bit in the afternoon with joy ride in the T Bird for some shopping and Tim’s coffee .