Laning near Coventry

I gorra mate going to the Coventry area soon (mid Sept) anyone fancy taking him on a lane or two?

There's not much in the immediete vecinity, I'm afraid. Theres probably no more than twenty miles of lanes in a 15mile radius of the city, and most of them are either undriveable or contentiouse; basically, if there's trees, its posh, and full of NIMBY's. In the 'gaps' between connobations; theres a few trails on the Kenilworth side, one or two on the Solihull side; nothing on the Nuneaton/Bedworth side, until you cross the A5 into leicestershire.
which is why the midlands lads have such a poor rep, on the whole for blasting the National Parks; usually spend less time on hard top if you to head to Wales or the Peaks, than trying to navigate between the few, short patches of unsurfaced there are in the district!
Which is why, TBH I haven't really driven many of them..... But, if your mate fancies some trail blazing, and seeing what of those on the OS are actually driveable, might get me off my butt to go try them!

Teflon said:

....... until you cross the A5 into leicestershire.

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..but of course! There's a decent selection of lanes in Leics!

Thanks Teflon and Durtee - aint there anyone else up there that goes laning?

dont all rush to give up the info at once
sounds like a bunch of secret squirells to me

buckshot said:

sounds like a bunch of secret squirells to me

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Oh, we got loads of them too, so anyone visiting the area might want to bring a gun......

Dirty Gertie said:

Oh, we got loads of them too, so anyone visiting the area might want to bring a gun......

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mmmm sounds fun !

Had a good Week-end Girtie?
Fancy doing some of the twycross trails tomorrow?
Kaine turned up yesterday & helped me bleed the brakes, and have 1/2 tank of gas I wouldn't mind burning............

Teflon said:

Had a good Week-end Girtie?
Fancy doing some of the twycross trails tomorrow?
Kaine turned up yesterday & helped me bleed the brakes, and have 1/2 tank of gas I wouldn't mind burning............

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Yes thanks mate, we had a fab day out yesterday, I took my visitor to Foxton Locks, where we had a lovely lunch, and took the scenic route back via the gated road to Gumley (where we saw a Pea-Hen and her chicks, of all things!!) and also had a couple of paddles through Watery Gate www.wetroads.co.uk
went through in low first to test the depth, but it was very shallow, so on the return I bunged her in high and let her splash! might be a bit of vid of that to follow..... Don't think I'll make tomorrow as it's a bit silly o'clock now and I've only just seen your post which is a bit of a bugger, cos Twycross has some nice lanes! might be up for it in a few more weeks though, when to quote Thin Lizzy "The boys are back in Town"

:doh: Pah! Means I'll have to think about looking at my steering damper instead.........

Right now, I'm trying to figure out what I have lost from mi puter......

Yup.... that blue screen of death and the 'wibble' it chucked on Friday......

Formatted the second hard disc.......... think I've lost two years of photo's and vids, plus all the music.........

got Mem-Map loading at the mo....... about 30Gigs worth.... taking a while......

What we'll have to do, is a little home-work, on it, and work out a route; I'm SURE there has to be a way to 'loop' Cov, and take in some sites of interest, Like Meriden Cross, middle of England, Hatton Locks, Warwick & Kenilworth, castles, and as much unsurfaced as there is in the district.....

Of course, we'll have to do some path-finding, and check out the more obscure ones, before trying the full circuit.........

Maybe stick the relevent explorer maps onto a single DVD and bung it on your lappy...... see if my gps widget works!

Meanwhile....... back to parusing back-up discs to see what I can salvage!

Dirty Gertie said:

Yes thanks mate, we had a fab day out yesterday, I took my visitor to Foxton Locks,

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A 'mystery' guest..... how intreguing......

Dirty Gertie said:

where we had a lovely lunch, and took the scenic route back via the gated road to Gumley (where we saw a Pea-Hen and her chicks, of all things!!) and also had a couple of paddles through Watery Gate www.wetroads.co.uk
went through in low first to test the depth, but it was very shallow, so on the return I bunged her in high and let her splash!

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That's not really a substitute for fixing the pressure washer you know!

Hi can a complete novice like me join you some time ?

Nicktrackside said:

Hi can a complete novice like me join you some time ?

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P38.... what tyres have you got on it, and how preciouse are you about the carpets and paintwork?

We can always do with an 'experimental penguine' to stick down a trail and find the holes before we drive into them.........

Dont worry, we can haul you out backwards........ well, as long as you have a hook on the back.......

Jesting aside; how much of a newbie are you? Lanes in the area are 'thin' which means quite a bit of black-top twixt short tracks, and when you find them, they can be 'contentiouse' as in running into the back of a posh housing estate or through some-ones retirement cottage garden; and possibly deliberately blocked or hard to 'read' on the ground; they can be so under used as to be almost undriveable from over-growth, or so over used as to be a mud-bath, or any combination of!

This sort of laning is very different to the stuff you read about in the mags; which is more typically provincial 'long trails' which are usually fairly well marked, quiet well used, so known to be passeable, easy to follow on the ground, and of a length that lets you feel you have actually done something 'special'.

Its much more of a lottery, or paper-chase; you drive a lot of black top to where a trail may be found, and the challenge is in identifying it on the ground, assessing if its driveable, then trying to folow it, if it looks worth attempting........ and after lots of preparation and assessement; you spend about ten minutes actually driving the soft-surface.... before spending an hour trying to do another one........

Big grin factor, in the joy of 'discovery' and often knowing that you AREN'T in the middle of no-where; but it can be very frustrating if the 'targets' you have lined up for the outing dont prove fruitfull.....

For a newbie, the frustration and let down from so much effort to drive so little, can be very dissapointing, and it can seem a lot of difficult and hard work, pouring over maps, looking at hedges and ruts, and not a lot of waggling shift levers......

And to be honest, 'Path-Finding' is something that I'm a relative newbie at as well....... done the long trails; and given good routes, even lead groups; but taking it to the next level, and doing the exploratory driving is something I'm still trying to 'learn' myself.

But got to start some-where...... and I do need a 'recovery-buddy' to do it...... which is why I'm constantly nagging Girtie there!

Your call, really; what are you up for?

If you want an easy intro; then maybe better to join a couple of runs in the Peaks or North Wales, where you'll get a lot of unsurfaced roads in a day. If you just want to have a 'crack' at some local lanes, and see what they are like, then maybe better to wait till some-one has a full 'run' in teh district planned, plotted and ready to lead.

But if you fancy diving in and having a crack at a bit of path-finding, then, yeah; I have a few tracks that could be worth investigating, I'd welcome a Rec-Bud for.....

Teflon, i'm expecting to be in Brum roundabout the 20th Sept for about 10 days or so, would definately be up for a bit of searching round for lanes.LEE

so would i

Sounds like fun Teflon. Dont think my P38 is ready for much abuse also in need of some new tyres soon. And no recovery points fitted apart from a tow bar and factory tie down points. But would love to help find some local lanes even if i cant drive them. I have a green lane POI on my TomTom that says there is a green lane in Fillongley between Wood Ln and Sandy Ln.

Nicktrackside said:

Sounds like fun Teflon. Dont think my P38 is ready for much abuse also in need of some new tyres soon. And no recovery points fitted apart from a tow bar and factory tie down points. But would love to help find some local lanes even if i cant drive them. I have a green lane POI on my TomTom that says there is a green lane in Fillongley between Wood Ln and Sandy Ln.

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Yup, Grange Farm; it's on my 'hit-list' and keep meaning to go check it out; there's actually two lanes there; there's a dog-leg off the track runs back into the houses on the Fillongley road; but warned as to narrow for a 4x4.

Fancy going and taking a look at it?

There's another, just the other side of the M6, Kinwalsey that's a bit 'contentiouse' I'd like to have a look at too, and both are within spit of Packington ford, which could make a nice evening 'closer' you could do in the Metro-Cab........

How does your Tom-Tom work BTW? Can you only load POI's or can you add way-points or tracks to it? and if so how?

I have Mem-Map (not GPS'd as I dont have a lappy to run it on as yet) buy plenty of data......

The Tom Tom just show start and finish points. Dont know if the lanes are legal to drive as my out of date OS map does not show any of the lanes on the Tom Tom, most are marked as paths. I think we need a look at the Definitive map at the council.

Nicktrackside said:

I think we need a look at the Definitive map at the council.

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You'll be lucky ...

Coventry City Council: Public rights of way

"
Can I check if a path is a public right of way?

If you wish to check whether a path is a public rights of way please contact us providing the location of the path. On receipt, an officer will check the status of the route on the definitive map and statement of public rights of way. However the council is, at present, only in early stages of creating a definitive map with very few footpaths recorded. The council does benefit from a map produced by the local ramblers association, which shows routes they believe could be included on such a map - though this map has no legal status.
If a route is not recorded as a public right of way it could possibly be a claimed path through prescribed right. In which case you should speak to us for more information."


... seems the ramblers have already got their toe in ...

(edited) Should have added .. the 'Public Rights of way Plan' is worth reading .. it's where I start all my research for lanes local to me or in areas I intend to go. Coventrys appears singularly unhelpful though .. my local one has all the footpaths, bridlepaths and byways marked up on a map! and so do many other councils ...

Maybe you aught to offer your services to check them out. If you also offer a couple of days lane clearing under the council officers control, they might take your arm off.
You could, at least, offer the council an unoficial "BOATS" map in the same vein as the ramblers map??