I gave up on the plan to head to North Weald and opted for WW instead.
It took me 11 minutes to get there and 35 to get home!
I decided to try something out over Newbury and that was to see how fast I could fly backwards. 4000 feet on the QNH, powered right back, nose up and I managed 6 knots in reverse with 38 knots indicated! What a strange feeling. It was interesting that I had to steer 310 degrees to be right into wind at that height and and ground level the wind was right down the strip (260 degrees).
It didn't seem particularly gusty today and as long as the wind is straight down the runway, winds like today's can give some rewarding flying.