Greenlaning in Northern France

As I regular visitor to Northern France and a regular traveller on the green lanes when there [which are totally unrestricted like most of them are (or are going to be soon) in the UK!] I was contemplating leading (low-cost) small groups of like minded 4x4 owners on some of the lanes in Normandy. Access would be mainly via the port at Caen, which is served by Portsmouth, or if you don't mind driving, about 3 hours from Calais.

My post here is to basically to see if anyone would be interested in spending a couple of days in France exploring these lanes, which vary from relatively easy to seemingly not driven in the past 100 years! Nothing would be on the extreme side of things though, I drive them in my P38, which doesn't suffer more than surface scratches (duly polished out afterwards!)

Anyone with interest or comments please e-mail me, or reply to the thread.

Cheers,

Matt.

Hi,

yes, i'd be more than interested in doing some green laning in france.

My friends and i were planning a "booze cruise" in our Defender 90's.
So if we could combine this with some offroading it would be perfect.

I happen to live about 20 miles from portsmouth (or 5 miles from poole.. the other ferry port that might also go to caen)

What kind of terrain are normandie green lanes like ?

If you want to get hold of me, my number is 07737790089 or you could email me [email protected]

I would be interested to! keep me posted!

hello, yes it interests me and several others , we are looking at going to the Somme area first sometime soon for a weekend with B&B, but our biggest problem is getting info, problem is we are all Essex based and wanted to go Via Dover / Calaise, any advice on where to look ?.

Hi,

It is a bit of a minefield at the moment. France is going through the same sort of thing we are in the UK at the moment regarding 4x4 access to the country lanes. I am trying to wade through the legal status of driving these lanes at the moment, my French is ok, but legal French isn't so easy to translate!

The pro 4x4 lobby is rather more forceful of their opinions in France, and there isn't so much of an organised wolly jumper brigade in France, so the oposition and restriction is more on the grounds of real proven environmental damage rather than the obscure rantings of a few noisy selfish people. As I understand it, you can drive down any "country" road that is wide enough to allow a normal car to fit down. But do be aware of the posted signs as it is a 1500€ fine (on the spot!) if you are found driving the lanes illegally! There are also restrictions in France on certain routes to guard against fires, and the local commune can close roads in its juristriction providing they can justify it - but they should post signs if the roads are closed.

Best source is the IGN ("Institut Geographique National" - French equivalent of OS) 1:25000 maps which mark the unclassified roads in the area. I have marked out the ones I want to drive and next time I'm over intend to go to the Gendarmarie and local town hall to make sure that I can legally drive these particular lanes.

If you can understand the French, this is a pretty good page describing basic rights of driving "off-road" in France.
http://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/article.php3?id_article=5052

In my own experience, unless you really **** someone off, you are unlikely to be challenged driving the rural lanes.

There is someone (Mudplug I think) who run organised trips in northern France, but it isn't cheap!

Matt

I am going on a green-laning trip in Belgium & France (Ardennes forest) this Easter. This was originally planned with some Belgian friends of ours, but it's uncertain now whether they can make it. We (me & she) are still going coz we've paid for the ferry now, but it's never a good idea to go laning on yer own. So if anyone out there fancies coming along give me a PM. The laning part of the trip should take about 2 days.

BTW we're taking the U****G

y not try www.fwdfwd.com its my mum and dad they can help with off roading in normandy

Now Now Nemily, enough of this dumbing down.

i think nemily should be voted the chatshow guest of landyzone, she can't help getting a plug in at every opportunity

yella disco said:

i think nemily should be voted the chatshow guest of landyzone, she can't help getting a plug in at every opportunity

Click to expand...

now that would be interesting to see on the photo gallery

Can't blame the lass it's worth the try but softly softly would catchy monkey - Try some other marketing stuff Nemily, i.e. weekend package for £xx crossings accomodation etc - people may be more interested, post it in the for sale section. In fact if you do the legwork you could try posting on Ebay as well.
Best of luck -

He said "opportunity" not "orifice"

Ooops there I go again. lowering the tone.

springs an interesting picture into ones mind tho eh grunter

GRUNT said:

He said "opportunity" not "orifice"

Ooops there I go again. lowering the tone.

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My thought sexactly

ps like the typo?

what typo??? it the kind of spilling we xpect on theis wubsight

Thanx 4 the message we live in normandy and have a 4x4 off road centre. We have an off road course and workshop ect. Why not have a look at our website and you could maybe use the facilities on the way down. drop us a note or to my email [email protected].

oh come on nemmy we have all looked on the website, we just want to see pictures of you xxxx

dont forget the plug either.

I think I saw a pic of nemily on the website.

Look harder yella

only way YD,s gonna look harder, is by taking those viagra eye drops.

James said:

I think I saw a pic of nemily on the website.

Look harder yella

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ffs james she's covered in clothes, we want a skimpy flesh revealing shot