Noob here, all advice listened to!

Firstly, hello!

I've had the idea of green laning after chatting to some people at work about it. Ive wanted a disco3 for years now, but cant really afford. I love 4x4 vehicles, so had the idea of gettin a nice cheap old discovery, and doing a bit of green laning, possibly with a view to maybe doing off-roading one day.

After some research, it seems a minefield of law, legislation and difficulty. Im a police officer, and the last thing i need is to be getting reported for summons for an obscure highways offence!

Anyway, i guess my complete question is, how easy is this to get started? Is it as simple as getting the maps, and just taking off? Im in lancashire, so id be looking around the lake district area.

I know the people who go green-laning seem incredibly passionate about it, and im not here to just go gung ho and start destroying the countryside, but essentially i have no hobbies, dont get out much etc, and need something to occupy my time. I love to drive, and think this could be ideal. Id like to be on my own on some rough roads in the country just enjoying it all.

Any advice on getting started, with the + and - points will be very much appreciated. Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance!

PM ADZ or Stig.Adz is up in the Lakes stig is further south. or you could Join NW4x4Response then you could help the community and go out greenlaning etc.

other than that look out for someone responsible leading a trip and get yourself out there with them, you may find joining GLASS helpful and there data base is helpful to newbies and regulars alike for lane resserch, other than that get maps and study them, plan a possible route and then contact the local rights of way officer at the council in the area your planing to head for....

Don't Go On Your Own

all legal BOATS are on the OS maps just a question of sitting down and finding them!!!! Many of the Lakes ones are now under restriction but the legal one do appear on the Lake District National Park website (there are 74 of them). North Wales is the better area to look in as there are hundreds of miles of them, just do a search on here for the Easter Shindig for sum idea. Always welcome to tag along with us on the next jaunt which is in the proces of being planned.

Which part of Lancs are you, I am South West Lancs

Davec said:

Don't Go On Your Own

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Personally, I would say that that rule doesn't apply 100% of the time.

As your a copper and an adult, I would assume that you have quite a hefty amount of commen sense?

Obviously some of the longer, more challanging, more remote lanes it is always advisable to travel in a group, but around my way, (Sheffield / Chesterfield), there are many lanes that are not too remote, not very difficult, and I often go out on my own. It's just that when I do go out on my own, I travel on the lanes that I deem safe to travel solo on.

I have no idea what parking is like where you live, but my advice would be to get yourself a decentish Disco or Defender for a couple of grand and use that as a plaything. That way if you do do any damage to the vehicle, (and you will, scratches and minor dents or dings), it won't matter too much.

Causing panel damage on a £15'000 Disco 3 in a whole different ball game.

stig said:

Which part of Lancs are you, I am South West Lancs

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North west lancs

Personally, I would say that that rule doesn't apply 100% of the time.

As your a copper and an adult, I would assume that you have quite a hefty amount of commen sense?

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Yeah, im not looking at climbing everest, just something to get me off normal surfaced roads and out in the middle of nowhere really, not to challenging, but a bit of mud and bumps will do fine

If you have no experience I stick to my advice

Don't go alone

When you have gained some experience you may be able to judge which lanes are safe to drive alone. If you're on your own you only need 2 punctures and you're in for a long walk!

Davec said:

If you have no experience I stick to my advice

Don't go alone

When you have gained some experience you may be able to judge which lanes are safe to drive alone. If you're on your own you only need 2 punctures and you're in for a long walk!

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DON'T GO BY YOUR FECKING SELF!

You WILL get stuck for up to 2 days in the mud. Could I be speaking from experience? You only have to fall into the right rut and you've had it!

Saying that, some decent recovery equipment would greatly improve your chances of not being stuck

TheVengefulElephant said:

DON'T GO BY YOUR FECKING SELF!

You WILL get stuck for up to 2 days in the mud. Could I be speaking from experience? You only have to fall into the right rut and you've had it!

Saying that, some decent recovery equipment would greatly improve your chances of not being stuck

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Going by yourself is foolhardy if you don't know what you are getting into. Even if you are fairly sure that the lane is safe for you to drive down solo, carry phone numbers of a friend who can come to your rescue if you need him to. Getting stuck is not the only hazard. Mechanical failure or personal injury (god forbid), can change from being an inconvenience (with friends) to potentially life threatening (out solo). No degree of common sense can rule out the unexpected.

Expect to be stuck... it is going to happen. My longest is 29 hours but I am sure that there are people on here who have done or heard worse.

Finally: I was a **** and went out solo with family the week after we discovered green laning. Looked at the entrance to a fairly mild lane and decided to have a look. 100 yards and then stuck fast. Luckily we had a friend (spyderman) who came to our rescue about 3 hours later. Drove the lane the next day and took 4 hours to get through it.

Just goes to show... you never know.

For my two penneth -

DO NOT GO ALONE, always have a phone. Make sure you have recovery points and ropes and shackles, carry a good torch and some essential spares.

If you can do let somebody know where you're going.

Get talking to the kind folk on here, you'll be unlikely to go far wrong - there're a good bunch. You'll learn alot very quickly and you'll have fun doing it.

TheVengefulElephant said:

DON'T GO BY YOUR FECKING SELF!

You WILL get stuck for up to 2 days in the mud. Could I be speaking from experience? You only have to fall into the right rut and you've had it!

Saying that, some decent recovery equipment would greatly improve your chances of not being stuck

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any recovery equipment would help,wunt it?

I look at it as being there are 3 ways you can set up with laning, 1st have a very well equiped and maintained vehicle that will get you out of most problems and reduce the risk of being stuck when out on your own. But to do this you will have to spend a lot of money from the start and know how to get the best out of your vehicle and recovery gear and even then still have a back up plan. 2nd run a fairly standard vehicle and go out with a group to be sure you make it home. 3rd option, buy a very cheep vehicle, spend very little money on it so if it becomes stuck and you have to leave it to get help or return to it the next day you don't have to worry about it possibly being damage while you are away. I have a cheep vehicle i take out on my own and a well set up vehicle that i would sleep in overnight if i had to than leave out on a lane.

Kris 300TDI said:

I look at it as being there are 3 ways you can set up with laning, 1st have a very well equiped and maintained vehicle that will get you out of most problems and reduce the risk of being stuck when out on your own. But to do this you will have to spend a lot of money from the start and know how to get the best out of your vehicle and recovery gear and even then still have a back up plan. 2nd run a fairly standard vehicle and go out with a group to be sure you make it home. 3rd option, buy a very cheep vehicle, spend very little money on it so if it becomes stuck and you have to leave it to get help or return to it the next day you don't have to worry about it possibly being damage while you are away. I have a cheep vehicle i take out on my own and a well set up vehicle that i would sleep in overnight if i had to than leave out on a lane.

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Hey Kris, I can see what you mean with the above, but this is a noob... equipping a vehicle is all very well but pointless if you don't know how to use the equipment safely. Your option 2 is almost definitely the way to go. AND being with a group doesn't guarantee you'll be going home with the vehicle

Using a completely unmodified vehicle for as long as is practical will teach you to get the very best out of it. It will also make a great basis for deciding what mods are best for the type of terraiin being driven most frequently.

Of course that's just my opinion and I'm no expert!

I aggree with the above, I think that modifying slowly will teach you the limits of your vehicle, and because to begin with your vehicle won't be amazingly capable, it will really help improve your driving skills, as they will be that much more important!

TheVengefulElephant said:

I aggree with the above, I think that modifying slowly will teach you the limits of your vehicle, and because to begin with your vehicle won't be amazingly capable, it will really help improve your driving skills, as they will be that much more important!

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well said the man that wants a series v8

oil dripper said:

well said the man that wants a series v8

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shh! smirk!

I don't think using a box standard vehicle for as long as possible is a good idea. If you wanted to hammer in a nail you wouldn't use a stick, you'd use the right tool for the job, and what i've found from past experience is that people are more than happy to help each other out when they get stuck, but when you get the same vehicle getting stuck time after time because the owner hasn't bothered to sort there vehicle out, it soon gets the rest of the group annoyed. Run a standard vehicle for as long as possible and what it teaches you is to be lazy and have to depend on other people all the time.

Buy a off road modded one! They go cheaper. Get one with mud tyres and a 2" lift. Get a winch on it too and u can offroad alone with a possible self recovery solution. Discojamz just sold one like that for a grand.