Byways

One of the joys of owning a Land Rover is the ability to use green lanes -- unsurfaced country tracks that make their way through the countryside. The pace is gentler than that of the roads, the view is better, and there are hardly any complete wallies or boy-racers around.

Responsibilities

The joys of taking your Land Rover on byways bring with them some responsibilities, including the following:

• not chewing up the ground surface when it is soft
• not starting new ruts when existing ones are available
• not scaring other byway users, including animals

In taking these responsibilities, you are helping to keep open some of the country's oldest roads.

See also Paul Oldham's notes on Green Laning -- these refer the the English and Welsh rights of way regulations.

There are various organizations to encourage this, such as Tread Lightly.

There are further notes on Environmentally Responsible Off-Pavement Travel which are worth looking at; they include a look at the myths about damage.

Practicalities

There's no need to charge around; just keep moving steadily (in a diesel Land-Rover, you can keep going in up to third gear with your foot off the accelerator entirely; it will just keep pottering along).

When driving on slippery ground, it's easy to skid if you put too much power through the wheels. If this happens, simply lift your foot from the accelerator; in circumstances where there is a risk of sliding, you should already be going slowly, and the engine braking should bring the vehicle to rest very promptly. However, the ideal is ``continuous rolling contact'', in which the tyres roll along the surface without sliding, rather like a rack-and-pinion railway.

Other off-roading

If you want to try tougher stuff... don't do it on green lanes (which are unsurfaced public roads), but on land that has been made available by arrangement.

See the Off-Road FAQ for more information both on consideration and on practicality.

A casting jack such as a Jackall can be useful for getting unstuck.

John C. G. Sturdy

Last modified: Sun Jun 10 22:10:12 GMT Daylight Time 2007