My first outing

[gords]

Thanks to alaric supplying me with a copy of a recent Surrey route from TOR (http://forums.mud-club.com/viewtopic.php?p=28472&highlight=#28472), I had my first greenlaning experience :D

My brother came with me and we did 2/3rds of the course. I took the lead as I knew the area better, which was fine most of the time...

There were a couple of "interesting" bits, for a beginner anyway. The first was when we came to a descent which started off easy, but turned into a narrow track with a very deep (it seemed to me ) gulley which switched from side to side. Amazingly I managed to get down without a problem - what a godsend 1st / Low is :)

The next tricky bit was a climb up a narrow track which also had a deep gulley, which was pretty much right against the left hand side, which was a near vertical bank. Add to that a significant lean to the left. Oh yes, just near the top was a whacking great tree with exposed roots :shock:

The first try failed as the front wheel reached the tree roots and span. So, I backed up a bit and gave it a bit more revs/speed - and tried to forget about the bank which was about 6 inches away [-o<

Well, the second go got me to the top without hitting anything! I stopped and turned round to see my brother taking a slightly different route and making the climb with ease - oh well, he does know what he's doing!

For the very experienced out there, the route would probably be quite easy, but for a beginner it was very good fun! And I was really impressed with how well my bog-standard Discovery (with road tyres) handled it all.

I can hardly wait the the next outing :D

[Tiny Tim]

It's a good route innit ?
If you can find your way round the deliberate mistakes that is  :lol:
I drive those lanes almost weekly and use that road book as the basis for my Surrey Safaris.

The lane you descended is Beggars Lane and the one you climbed is London Lane. Did you go down to the logyard (right before Beggars Lane) ?

The one to watch for locally (not on TOR route) is Bucklands Lane which has a raised causeway and needs company and extreme caution.

[gords]

Did you go down to the logyard (right before Beggars Lane) ?

Err, not sure... was it part of the TOR route?

The one to watch for locally (not on TOR route) is Bucklands Lane which has a raised causeway and needs company and extreme caution.

Yes, I've heard about that one! My plan was to leave it until I've had a bit more experience and have fitted better tyres :)

We plan to do the first part of the route some time soon and maybe (another time) do the last part. I decided to start from Bocketts Farm this time as it's quite close to home and I didn't expect to complete the whole thing.

The stated time for the whole route is 5 hours - that seems quite quick considering how long it took us to do the part we did. Although we did have a couple of lunch/snack breaks.

[Colin 009]

Hi Gords, well done on your first trip =D>

Fun isn't it :lol:

Give us a shout next your planning to go out, as I might join you if thats OK :D

[V8MoneyPit]

Hey Gords

What a pleasure to hear such enthusiasm for what is, after all, a simple pastime. I can sympathise with your comments. It is a pity that the days of these simple pleasures may be numbered.

Get out there. Drive the lanes and make it clear to the local authorities you are doing so. And just maybe, we can carry on doing what we enjoy.

[Tiny Tim]

Did you go down to the logyard (right before Beggars Lane) ?

Err, not sure... was it part of the TOR route?

No - it's a detour off it - well worth it

The one to watch for locally (not on TOR route) is Bucklands Lane which has a raised causeway and needs company and extreme caution.

Yes, I've heard about that one! My plan was to leave it until I've had a bit more experience and have fitted better tyres :)

Good plan

We plan to do the first part of the route some time soon and maybe (another time) do the last part. I decided to start from Bocketts Farm this time as it's quite close to home and I didn't expect to complete the whole thing.

Scratchy round that bit ain't it ?

The stated time for the whole route is 5 hours - that seems quite quick considering how long it took us to do the part we did. Although we did have a couple of lunch/snack breaks.

We have done it in 6 hours (and you need to push on for that but five is deffo pushing it !

Gimme a shout if you want help finding your way round - I'm always out and about round Surrey lanes to make sure the lanes are open before me runs.

We are well lucky round ere to have such a variety of terrain, so many lanes open and a sympathetic county council.