How to find greenlanes

RossR23 said:

Hi All,

I am currently in the process of setting up a website dedicated to just this. when finished it should provide mapped locations of all the countries greenlanes, as well as a platform for reviews, photos, discussion etc.

I am just in the long and laborious process of finding greenlanes on OS maps and plotting them into the site.

Any feedback on the general feel and use of the site would be much appreciated. hopefully this can be a resource we can all enjoy.

The Greenlane Finder | All of the UK's Greenlane's in one place

Thanks in advance

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Sorry to upset those who only want club users to enjoy greenlanes, but I think this is a good idea in principle. A lot of people seem to be of the opinion that greenlanes should only be used by those few people who belong to certain clubs & communities. Personally I am of the opinion, that more use, provided that it is responsible use , is important. There are a lot of lanes around Dorset and Hampshire that are becoming less & less useable due to neglect and lack of use. Because nobody uses them they are becoming very overgrown & restricted, and not only that, but it also gives councils opposed to people driving on greenlanes more of an excuse to close them, due to the very low number of riders & drivers using them. On the other side of this, I think there needs to be more enforcement of laws governing Byways and UCR's, both by the police and by the responsible drivers & riders who use the lanes properly. It would also be nice if more users of the lanes took more responsibility for their care & maintenance. How many people on here have driven down a lane that is a very poor state, but done nothing about it, either by reporting it to the local council or repairing the damage themselves. I think that the greenlanes in this country need more use, provided that it is the correct type of use, as many councils are just as keen to close lanes through lack of use as they are through over use.

@ Minty and others:

Sorry that you feel that way. i had thought about it a lot, making greenlanes more accessible may come with more misuse, but the information is not secret, i am just making it easier to find.

LRO publishes about 25 lanes in each issue and as far as i am aware, this has not led to any extra destruction of the track.

If there are issues arising from this, i can make the entire site accessible to members only, but i am hoping that this is not the case.

is it the view of the majority of users that the negatives of increased awareness of lanes outweigh the benefits of having an easy place to go and find them?

RossR23 said:

If there are issues arising from this, i can make the entire site accessible to members only, but i am hoping that this is not the case.

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So you will vet all your members to make sure they are green lane user friendly? I think not

*minty* said:

So you will vet all your members to make sure they are green lane user friendly? I think not

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Does Os vet anyone it sells landranger maps to? or LRO check that people it sells its magazines to wont misuse the lanes?

I was thinking the system could relate to contributions, those who contribute their knowledge of lanes to use, can use other peoples. but that is just an idea.

I am absolutely against misuse of lanes, but i don't think that making this information slightly more accessible will contribute to this.

RossR23 said:

Does Os vet anyone it sells landranger maps to? or LRO check that people it sells its magazines to wont misuse the lanes?

I was thinking the system could relate to contributions, those who contribute their knowledge of lanes to use, can use other peoples. but that is just an idea.

I am absolutely against misuse of lanes, but i don't think that making this information slightly more accessible will contribute to this.

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I think it absolutely will. At the moment if you wish to go green laning you either do a bit of research and show some commitment to the pastime - which generally shows both an understanding of the activity youre doing and the consequences of that being misused by finding TROs and reasons for them and liasion with ROW officers. Or you go with a group, people from the local vacinity who also have a vested interest in keeping their local lanes open.

Having an easy accessible site is just a green flag to any brainless ijut with a 4x4 who wants to spray mud and who can't differentiate btw laning and P&Ps to just trash the lanes.

Ask the locals in dorset what happened when LRO published their local lanes and what were the consequences ?

Sometimes making things easy is not always the best way- you're right it's not a secret but equally we know there are a huge number of knobs out there and I'd hate to think ,I in any way contributed to them being able to access and ruin more lanes than they already do

they are like a secret fishing spot where you will always catch fish, they take time and effort to find and seldom shared

It's a shame there isn't some sort of organisation that can control the lanes, as it is illegal to use them with an unroadworthy vehicle ie uninsured etc.. As they are public roads..

I've always been for proper control of the lanes even if they put tolls on them as this would help cut down the abuse that is going on. Some of the lanes I used to go on are no longer passable by anything other than trial bikes and highly modified vehicles..

At this rate of abuse all the lanes will be permanently closed. And there will only be pay and plays left.. It's a sad state of affairs..

There is an 'organisation' that can control the lanes. It's called the law and the police enforce it. Do you really want more enforcement thrust upon us?

The lanes are there for the public to use. Is it real to think we are so high and mighty that the public can't have a means to access them easily? This isn't a secret club of ours.
And I realise I'm being hypocritical as I've been guilty in the past of not giving info out.

The police do not have time to enforce laws of this nature.. They only have time to point speed cameras at you . Hence why I said we need a body to regulate them if ya like , that can take control of them like the waterways etc..

They could be managed then , repaired etc instead of being run down to the point of closure because the cost of repaired are to great...

neiltce said:

The police do not have time to enforce laws of this nature.. They only have time to point speed cameras at you . Hence why I said we need a body to regulate them if ya like , that can take control of them like the waterways etc..

They could be managed then , repaired etc instead of being run down to the point of closure because the cost of repaired are to great...

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I'm not sure the British Waterways Board or similar would be too great a model, but I agree it would be a plus to have someone at least take an interest in maintaining them.

Of course it would mean we'd have to pay more taxes for the priviledge, just like canal and river users...

agree with 110womans post...... also thor1950....

Havin easy access to routes that they can just copy from a website etc... instead of goin through the procedure of finding lanes / workin out a safe route / contactin ROW officers etc...makin sure the lane they want to drive aint closed for a valid reason.... is just daft imo.

Its like givin a stranger your house keys You dont know them so you dont know if they will make a mess, empty it, trash it... or water the fookin plants.

why not organise groups of local greenlane users and do the repairs yourself. I am fairly sure the council would be more than happy to let you do this as long as you do it safely and have the correct insurances. I often take a chainsaw and some hedge trimmers with me to cut overgrown hedges & branches back when I go out laning, and would be more than happy to go out with a few other guys and repair the surfaces of the lanes with some hardcore or ballast, or even just to shovel some of the displaced earth back into the ruts.

RossR23 said:

@ Minty and others:

Sorry that you feel that way. i had thought about it a lot, making greenlanes more accessible may come with more misuse, but the information is not secret, i am just making it easier to find.

LRO publishes about 25 lanes in each issue and as far as i am aware, this has not led to any extra destruction of the track.

If there are issues arising from this, i can make the entire site accessible to members only, but i am hoping that this is not the case.

is it the view of the majority of users that the negatives of increased awareness of lanes outweigh the benefits of having an easy place to go and find them?

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I believe what you are trying to do is a complete waste of your own time, efforts and life. Also I cannot see anyway that you would be able to provide an authoritive and up to date base of all green lanes particularly when you consider most local authorities have a PROW department and even they struggle to cope in just their own regions.

Also all you are trying to do is repeat what has already been done by the like of Trailwise and Wayfinder who have far more resouces and access to local knowledge than you do.

If you feel passionately about this, why not join GLASS or one of the other nationally recognised groups, I am sure they would welcome your input to help them keep the existing databases up to date.

With regards to routes being published in the magazines, TOR published a route in my part of the world a few years back and lanes that were previously only ever driven by local green laners are now regularly driven by groups slitty drivers from all over the UK, they come from 100's of miles away, so these lanes are now much more widely driven and believe me this does annoy those living adjacent to the lanes and they start to become vocal and approach the councils complaining about anything regardless of whether or not it is true! This could be compalins about noise, abuse, speeding, disrespect for other users etc etcFortunately most of the lanes around here are pretty hard and we do not have many soft/muddy lanes which are more prone to damage so at leats we don't have that problem as well, but other parts of the country I can imagine would suffer in this respect if suddenly there is 5000% increase in traffic along the lanes.

So try and think very carefully about what you want to achieve.....

Anyone who thinks that publicising Lane information is a good idea has obviously had a brain transplant! :crazy: Do you honestly think that joe bloggs who goes out and buys his £500 zuki is going to give a flying fook about maintaining the few ROW we have left? The thought process for these kind of people is to buy a 4x4 and go and find some mud. They dont care about the fragile state of lanes or that the council will close them down if they become over used. In fact thats the exact thing they want, they want mud, and water and they want a challenge.

If you speak to treadlightly and to ROW officers there are people going as far as blocking drainage pipes etc with objects in order to create mud runs!

The upside to this thought process is that these people dont have the inclination to figure out how to find lanes, and if they do there far to tight to buy an OS map and know how to use it. They usually find lanes through word of mouth(nothing we can do to stop this)

You talk of responsible use of lanes and of laners needing the info. Responsible laning is encouraged here and help is given to those that ask. The very thread that you are commenting on has instructions on how to find lanes and check them :doh: If people are serious about 'greenlaning' then they WILL find the time and put the effort in.

No one is trying to keep lanes 'secret' or for an 'exclusive group' but by not giving out lane locations on a public forum you stop making it easy for the people that fall into the group above.

I agree that driving lanes is important and that organisations like treadlightly and sites like trailwise are important as they log and record the use of ROW which are shown to councils etc so they can see they are being used. These sites already exist so why not help them out and devote your efforts to maintaining there logs and updating there database like I and many other do.

But there wont be lanes left open to drive if you record the locations and make them readily known to any tom dick and harry.

I am currently drafting a letter to send to the magazines explaining why thats also a bad idea. I have seen the damage caused on some local lanes following there publishing in LRI. I need to get proof from the council of the date a couple of byways had permanent TRO's placed on them, but it happened months after they were published and people turned up from afar to "try and get through"

Obviously i wholeheartedly disagree with your idea and i hope you come to your senses and stop.

My problem with websites like this, of which there are a few, is that most of the info is so minimal as to be almost useless.

For instance, Long Lane ... the only info, other than grid co-ords is "Long Track narrow in places with a rocky section." Rather skimpy for a lane that actually comprises maybe five named sections with field tracks between!

No mention of legality, the fact that the straight bit is extremely tight and scratchy, that some of the higher ground and flatter areas are animal grazing areas, with Telegraph Poles used by the farmers to stop 4x4's (and others) straying onto the land rather than keeping to the lane! The 'rocky section' is actually quite steep and pretty slippy when wet, and potentially dangerous, or that it's in a particularly sensitive area ...

If I turned up in a Freelander or D4 thinking I could drive the lane with impunity I'd be well disappointed.

How do I know that the info given is good? Who are you to say whether a lane can be driven or not? With such skimpy info it's next to impossible to go to a new area with confidence.

Is legality checked? I couldn't see anything ...

What yu are asking for is a code.....

Long lane - 14635
1= Gaylander friendly
4= steepness
6= difficulty
3= water depth
5= mud

Easy to do - just needs agreement on headings...

guys I just want to say thank you for this thread, lots of good detailed info. It will come in very handy.

i just seen this Stanage Causeway Resurfacing Fiasco | Ride Sheffield

Interesting thread. As a new member to the forum, I've already come across the "cult of secrecy" re lane locations, which I find sad but perhaps understandable considering the idiots out there.

I was out the other week for a Sunday drive in the hills around Llan, and came across a couple of idiots on trail bikes tearing up the mountain side. Its a known problem up there and although the police do visit the area periodically, they are not very effective.

The thing is, there are several lanes in the area where it would be legal for these guys to go..Other areas seem to sign post such lanes, but I've never seen such signing around Llan, apart from the old "Unsuitable for Motors"..

I don't do much laning, partly because its so hard to determine what is currently legal to drive and what is not..

I don't particularly want to spend a week preparing for an "expedition", but rather pick up a map, or maybe access a web site, and then go for a drive..

If the lane is too severe for my vehicle, then its up to me to use common sense and try somewhere else..For me, laning is not about testing the limits of my vehicle, but just getting out and seeing somewhere new and doing a little exploring..

Sorry if this approach is not "hard core" enough for some here, or I don't show enough "dedication", but not everybody has the same out look on life..