Herts & Essex green laning day ( January / February 2014 )

[steve 1967]

sorry, thanks Andy for the recovery mate.

[Andytats Boss]

Had a great day out yesterday thanks to Ian for leading did a great job, luckily despite it having rained in biblical proportions in the past month the lanes we got to do were surprisingly passable with only Steve's b series bellying out on a difficult part which was a simple tow just to get him moving again and Ian's spectacular slip into some unfortunately placed trees, glad everyone was ok if a little shaken on that one ( luckily for some strange reason Andy has a multitude of spare parts in our scrapyard, sorry garden lol, and his truck will be back to a useable condition soon) hopefully the rain will leave us be for a while and we can get out and finish the route can't believe we have all these lanes on our doorstep and Andy and I have never done them before . Thanks to everyone that came and hopefully those that couldn't make it this time will be able to come when we do it again and thanks again to Ian for sorting the route and the pub lunch.

[Xplorer]

Great day yesterday guys, thanks to Ian for leading the way and sorting the midday stop. Was good to meet Steve and his lad. Only got a few piccys



note the landy has got it's bonnet up lol (sorry rob I know it behaved unlike mine)



and 1 of Owen who really enjoyed the day even tho it over 10 hours long.
The Madbull decided that the lanes were not worthy of 4WD and totally refused to engage still could have been worse, I could have got to the annual and then discovered it was not working, ( another line of thought is been laning with both Dan an Fudge twice and both times trucks misbehaved coincidence mmm)

[hipo1024]

Your not far wrong there mate! Every time fudge comes my truck gets nervous and either brakes down or gets stuck, or 1 quickly followed by the other lol

[RatCav]

Looks like a great day out.

Did Rob drive home crying with all that mud on his truck

Hope the lack of 4WD is easily fixed Dave. Cannor remember if yours is a MK.II or Mk.III ... if Mk.III it might just be a case of the vacuum lines or sticky solenoid on the axle.

Don't be embarrassed about getting stuck Steve ... we all do it .. some more than others. Nice truck BTW. Looks clean under all that mud, and good to see a B series out playing with the cocky A series trucks.

Once again Bobinsjob you do the group proud organising this and leading the pack of kids safely around the countryside and to food and water.

[stretch]

looks like everyone had a great day, gutted I missed it but ear infections and me don't mix very well

[Robfog]

Nahhh just took it to the Polish and said TA DAAAAAA

I did get this on the Disco forum

I'll probably get slated here, but surely laning means tread lightly, leave no tracks, and going equipped with lift kit and aggressive boots is 'encouraged against'? Oh yeah, sure, for actual off roading, sobeit. But Green Laning!!! :/

My reply
Can I say in my defense I have been laning for 5 years, I had worked in agriculture for 15 years of my working life so have a respect for the countryside. I always run AT's with a rule that if you "need" mud tyres the the lane should not be driven.

Sorry for the rant, however I feel slightly annoyed but the comment without even knowing me.

Rob

[steve 1967]

me getting stuck was driver error, we were at the back and having too much fun slipping and sliding in the mud in rwd only, by the time I saw the deep rut ( some 2ft hole ) it was too late to engage 4wd and when I did, no traction, a short tug from andy and we were out and on our way again, really was a fab day out, though somehow did manage to lose my rear number plate somewhere along the route, all sorted now though and its the cleanest part of the truck my shiny new number plate.

[steve 1967]

Nahhh just took it to the Polish and said TA DAAAAAA

I did get this on the Disco forum

I'll probably get slated here, but surely laning means tread lightly, leave no tracks, and going equipped with lift kit and aggressive boots is 'encouraged against'? Oh yeah, sure, for actual off roading, sobeit. But Green Laning!!! :/

My reply
Can I say in my defense I have been laning for 5 years, I had worked in agriculture for 15 years of my working life so have a respect for the countryside. I always run AT's with a rule that if you "need" mud tyres the the lane should not be driven.

Sorry for the rant, however I feel slightly annoyed but the comment without even knowing me.

Rob

was that the discovery owners club rob?

hope they were rapidly put in their place, probably an armchair offroader mate, I get comments like that on some other forums, keyboard warriors.

[Robfog]

You can see my reply I really had to hold back He has been advised that people lift their truck to get the diff off the ground and not purely to get big mud tyres to ruin the lanes

[gregster]

Some people aint got a scooby, but in fairness some of them lanes looked probably best left till they dried out a bit, and another few sets of muds churning through them did them no favours.
Human nature is that people tend to photograph the most dramatic bits, and that will sometimes paint an inaccurate picture, but to the anti's it can look like we are going out of way to rip the place up and then then basque in the glory of the photos of it all.
We took the move to postpone this months woods meet as it is so wet at the moment and WE have to repair any damage where it gets ripped up.

My personal view, and I dont mean to upset anyone, is that if you need muds to go laning, then the lanes are best left till they can be easily driven on less distructive A/T's, which have far less impact on the surface and they stay on top sooner than digging. Some lanes are rocky and can withstand all year round use with aggresive tyres, but some cant, and then when the ramblers and horses start falling into the ruts and the complaint letters start rolling in, then the lanes get TRO'ed or closed for good.

[Robfog]

Totally with you Greg, I always run AT's that was my point to the Disco guys. I have to admit showing them the Glass guide we have here, to show them that we are responsible

[RatCav]

Memories of the last Thetford outing and the 10 or so Green Ovals churning up a farmers field and destroying that huge pile of wood chip he had carefully built driving all over/through it.

[bobbinsjob]

As xplorer proved by driving the whole day in 2wd on ATs, the lanes were just a bit slippy. My incident was purely down to poor driving line

[Robfog]

Wish I hadn't posted anything now, I was so p!55ed off with the Disco guy.

Just needed a rant

[gregster]

We all need one of them sometimes Rob..

I wasnt having a dig at anyone, I know you guys are careful, but "the perception" from antis of pics of trucks with big chunky tyres in muddy ruts could be that the 4x4's made the mess.

Makes me chuckle though that bobbins excelled himself by leaving his talent in his glovebox sooner than his brain, and kinda fooked up on muds on a bit where others got through on a/t's in 2wd...

[steve 1967]

all valid and fair points, though I think whoever it was that commented on the disco forum should have taken a closer look at the pictures before blabbing, the ruts etc were already there, they are byways and obviously get used a fair bit, even when the ground does dry out a bit most of the ruts will still be there, its not like we have all driven off piste and trashed private land, had this conversation not so long ago with the kcc byways patrol, personally I think whatever tyres you drive on is purely a matter of personal choice, moto x bikes have mud tyres as also quad bikes and they all use the byways etc so for someone to attempt to lay blame on any 4x4 vehicle with mud tyres makes no sense at all.

[hipo1024]

It's tractors and 7.5 ton trailers that do the damage, we're just the ones that get caught in the right place at the wrong time

[steve 1967]

we didn't do any damage, we drove byways and didn't do anything wrong, I don't know what the disco fella was even on about in all fairness, he even started by saying ill probably get slated here, so knew already he was wrong, so why even post it.

round my way 4x4,s are encouraged to drive the byways, not just the permit ones, obviously they only want to see sensible driving and correct use of vehicle, but even though there is an offroad code of conduct it is all just common sense.

the fella purely didn't know what he was talking about, I often receive positive comments about my truck and mud tyres are part of it, as im sure a lot of other 4x4,s and their owners also do.

[gregster]

No one is saying you did anything wrong Ste, and I am sure you were careful...but I think the point the fella in with the disco might have been trying to make is that if the ground is soft then a mud tyre will do damage by its very nature. Granted there were ruts already there, but if the ground is soft a mud tyre sinks in, and then the tread blocks drag the car along...they need to sink in to work, thats one of the reasons that muds are not so good on the road. Noone would part their truck on muds on their lawn at the moment because of the mess they would make for that very reason.
People are passionate about their byways, and the number of them that get closed every year, and there are some idiots who relish getting as muddy as poss, driving repeatedly through the same sticky bit of byway until its wrecked.