land rover defender

[Eric The Viking]

Our village is bounded by ancient Drove Roads which used to be churned up into an impassable morass by 4x4's and Motocross Bikes.
After a campaign we got them reclassified under the Highways Act and had vehicles banned.
The ban works and they have become nice places to walk on.

Don't get me started on the new housing estates being planned, but I'm with you on that entirely. We simply don't have enough land here to behave like the Americans. I enjoy driving my Land Rover, but it does very, very low mileage indeed. I wouldn't dream of "green-laning" it without a very good reason, selfish fun not being such a reason.

It's worth remembering that when byways were left unadopted in the 1920s, the heaviest traffic they could expect was probably a horse and cart. Driven axles were very uncommon, and the damage they do to a soft surface largely unforeseen.

When cattle churn up a surface, and they do, they also fertilize it!

E.

 

[RogerS]

...... I would never drive these should damage occur from the movement of my vehicle - This is NOT off roading as you put it ......

It's the damage from a particular form of off roading which we all find so offensive. I've no objection those who don't cause the damage and who aren't just driving around pointlessly.
I'm aware that there are people in 'utility' vehicles doing sensible, necessary and useful things. It's the others who cause the problems
We get 4WD convoys around here - sometimes as many as 10. They have demolished many miles of tracks making them impassable except by 4wd or tracked vehicle in some spots. They particularly favour wet and steep spots - a combination which rapidly turns a pretty lane into a muddy canyon. I've seen them splash through puddles, gather the convoy and turn and splash through again. Big kids, big toys. They need to know that they are not welcome. They are a real problem.

PS I recall one confrontation some years ago. A convoy was held up by a farmer who was giving them a load of abuse and pointing out that they were making his access to his fields impassable. I got talking to one of the despondent drivers - it turned out that this was his first excursion and didn't know it was a battlefront. He suggested (correctly) that the muddy canyon through which they had just passed was unsuitable for any other use except as a dirt track. He hadn't twigged that it was he and his ilk who had reduced it to that condition.
The point is - there may be off roaders who imagine that they themselves aren't creating a problem because the route is already roughed up, not realising that it's earlier off roaders who roughed it up in the first place.

That's not what you originally said which was this

.....]No fun for everybody else if you do.
All the green lanes around here (Peak District) have been wrecked by twerps in 4WDs. Very unpleasant.
They will be banned eventually but it's taking too long. The off roaders are foolishly turning it into a battle which they will lose. They are a dismal lot and unwelcome everywhere they go.

Now having been called to task (yet again) for shooting from the hip with a poorly thought through diatribe, you're backtracking as per usual.

Perhaps next time Jacob, before you post, maybe stop and think ?

 

[graduate_owner]

Yes, cows do indeed mess up lanes, but farmers don't just send a herd of cows down a lane for the sake of doing so, and then round them up and send them all back again (at least, none of the farmers I know). Similarly with horse riders, they don't look for the muddiest tracks they can find to ride down, just to see if they can make it without getting stuck. It's the reasoning behind the actions that justifies them, and I'm sure no-one in their right mind could possibly do other than praise Dodge for his actions. Indeed, we need more like him around. But when it comes to driving for the sake of driving, and making such a mess into the bargain, then obviously it's a different matter.

I'm sure that 'off roaders' enjoy immensely what they do, else they wouldn't do it. It's just a shame that some spoil it for everybody (isn't that always the case) by using unsuitable green lanes. I'm not sure that banning them from tracks is the solution, as they'll just look for other places to go, driving the problem elsewhere. Stop them using green lanes and they'll wreck open moorland instead - maybe they already do. Perhaps more designated tracks that can withstand the abuse need to be made available for these guys, so that they can enjoy their hobby without causing problems to others - but then, that would cost money so I suppose it'll never happen.

Hey, I've got the solution!! Why not put up the price of road fuel so as to make it too expensive a hobby to pursue? That'll be a solution that is acceptable to everyone, yes?

K

 

[Jacob]

...
Perhaps next time Jacob, before you post, maybe stop and think ?

I might try but it's not something I normally do. :roll:

 

[graduate_owner]

follow up to my suggestion re fuel prices-
just think what the government could do with all that extra revenue. There's tax cuts for the very wealthy, new hospitals, new schools, tax cuts for the very wealthy, increase in pensioners' winter fuel allowance (which hasn't changed since 2000/2001, and whilst I'm sure pensioners find it an enormous help, it really needs updating to reflect the current cost of home heating), and of course tax cuts for the very wealthy.

This might just spark off a whole new batch of comments - it's already way off the original subject of what oil to use in a defender.

 

[Jacob]

follow up to my suggestion re fuel prices-
just think what the government could do with all that extra revenue. There's tax cuts for the very wealthy, new hospitals, new schools, tax cuts for the very wealthy, increase in pensioners' winter fuel allowance (which hasn't changed since 2000/2001, and whilst I'm sure pensioners find it an enormous help, it really needs updating to reflect the current cost of home heating), and of course tax cuts for the very wealthy.

This might just spark off a whole new batch of comments - it's already way off the original subject of what oil to use in a defender.

Yes increase winter fuel allowance. It's gone down to £100 each now that my wife gets it too. I was setting it aside for the Christmas booze.

 

[nev]

Ive been offered one for a fiver! with a free boat too :mrgreen: