You may be right there, although I'm flying out of Leicester so its not quite as far. If I did go Leic to IOW, I'd probably plan a stop at somewhere like Booker as it saves me having to dodge all the CTA's between Gloucester and IOW.
Interested to see you went to Welshpool. I started my PPL there and lost half my money when it closed down after 27 flying hours!
I'd really love to meet the flying school owner again!