[randomeddy]

I live in the UK on the borders of lots of countryside but god forbid if I set foot 'off road'.I would be treated as enemy number one. :naughty:
About fifteen minutes drive from my house there is a very large disused quarry,one day a couple of us went up there,not doing anything stupid,just cruising about in the quarry.On my way back to the paved roads a 'do gooder rambler type' took my registration number down and I got a call from the police, :shock: .
Now my argument was,the place has been a quarry for years,was the 'rambler type do-gooder' there protesting when some buisness was making money out of tearing up tons of rock,I doubt it very much,but a couple of people in land rover's doing no damage warrants a call from the police,with threats that if we went again there was a possibility the vehicles could be confiscated.
What is the situation in other countries?

 

[Rich998a]

I agree with you.

I know some of the LR magazines show legal routes using text, photos and Ordinance Survey map details. I think that's the way to go.

There are too many 'do-gooder' types in the UK. Maybe it's about time we exported them? And why the police are following this sort of information up... Surely they've got more important crimes (like vehicle thiefts) to use their very limited resources for.

Actually, that rant has just made me realise something. Instead of exporting the do-gooders, maybe I'll emigrate. :snooty:

 

[Jon Auty]

i have had the same situation happen to me a number of times, whether it be my road legal quad, my old lightweight i had or my old mahindra i had, its either the "plastics", (community constables) , ramblers or doo gooders, these fun police as it were seem to like making something out of nothing. have had many a do with them, quite often involving me fighting :doh: . whats worse is when you have permission to go on the land by the owner and they still try to do ya! they just need to stick to there rambling or driving there prius's and leave us be, i have to agree rich, export the buggers!

 

[randomeddy]

One area that a lot of people used was 'raided' one day by three police cars.I argued this police woman into silence,she could not give an answer because she knew they were wrong.
They annoyed me because they took down the number of my family car that was just parked at the side of the road,(MK3 golf's dont go off road very well.)
I asked the police woman who had been caught for burning out the cars over the back of the area we were on.There was a Isuzu Trooper on it's roof burned out,a nova burned out and the remains of another car.I said you are here mob handed on a sunny sunday afternoon because a few people are off roading doing no harm,were you here mob handed when those stolen cars were being torched in the middle of the night,(she could not answer).

 

[detroit_pierogi]

A little help, por favor.

What does "UK is pants" mean ?

If I knew that, I could tell you if my area is or is not pants.

The US varies a lot by region. Whatever it may mean, some areas are much less pants than others.

Where I am, things are mostly pants, but not to that 'volunteer police force' degree. I think that I would have to drive a pretty good distance to get to a non-pants, off-road kosher area.

 

[Barnhill4x4]

Pants is a polite way of saying ****. And I have to agree.
Where I live there are mountain tracks everywhere that you could use whenever you wanted, now you cant go anywhere. A couple of weeks ago I took the dogs out in the RR up the closest mountain to me. We had been there about 20 minutes and along came a farmer in his tractor. I called the dogs over out of the way and the farmer came up to us and got out, He then started writing my number plate down and informed us that we were breaking the law and he was going to report the plate to the police. He said that we weren't allowed to drive there anymore and the dogs were worrying his sheep! My dogs are very well behaved and will come back immediatley when called and I could not see one sheep. We had chosen the spot we were in because there were no sheep there anyway.
He then got argumentative with me. I asked him why he was allowed and we were not. He said that the authorities were fed up of people like us chewing up the countryside with our 4x4's, so I pointed to the 6inch deep 2foot wide ruts behind his tractor and then to the bent grass behind my range rover. He just got in the cab and left!
The problem is that we are all tarred with the same brush, the same brush as the illegal motox bikes!

 

[pennfxu]

Depends on where you live. I happen to live near hundreds of acres of unused farmland, and no one says pants. Hell no one could find me if I got stuck let alone come after me :lol:

 

[q-rover]

Illegal in Norway, although there are some roads that are just gravel.
Even a farmer cannot drive off road on his own land without good reason.

 

[q-rover]

Illegal in Norway, although there are some roads that are just gravel.
Even a farmer cannot drive off road on his own land without good reason.

So actually the UK is pretty good. I believe France is quite good as well.
I'll find out in the summer as we are off to the pyrenees.

 

[Iceberg]

Well Pants, I'll be shagged. Like the Austin Powers movie - "lets talk English...no I mean British"


This is where drunken jeep owners ruin the day, they do the damage, we pay the price.

 

[detroit_pierogi]

How much does it take to get a Jeep drunk ?

("What he was doing in pajamas, I'll never know.")

 

[LIRA]

I've met the same farmer sans tractor as Barnhill has and he's a miserable old git (the farmer not Barnhill) as he trundles along tearing up the grass while his herd of cows produce more CO2 in a week than my RR would in 20 years. I think he's wrong too, that track is a UCR (Unclassified Counrty Road) which is legal to drive in my book
We have lots of greenlanes nearby, a greenlane is an unmade countryroad that's legal to drive, up til a few years you could drive bridleways and the like but thats been taken away. I've driven quite a few Greenlanes around locally and in the Brecon Beacons and heard a few grumblings from ramblers, if your legal then they've got no gripe and can go whistle. Some greenlanes have Temporary Restriction Orders applied through the winter, so if your map says it's legal you can still be in trouble if a TRO is slapped on the lane and your caught driving it, we're luckier in Wales than a lot of England were the rights of way have been removed from many legal by ways......I have to agree in part, the UK is getting more restrictive and Nanny State-like with every passing year.

 

[Rich998a]

How do you know if a track is a UCR? Is it written down somewhere?

 

[Tim (Scotland)]

How do you know if a track is a UCR? Is it written down somewhere?

County Council Definitive Maps.

 

[LIRA]

That's it, I checked the maps with our local authority for the lanes or tracks I drive most often. I'm sure my latest version OS map of the area has it marked as such, it's a 1:25000 (enough 0's there?) Explorer map which shows more detail than the Landranger ones. I'll have a look to check.

 

[reedjos]

Wow... despite the ease of accessing a D110, I do not want to move to the UK now.

Approximately 20 miles from my house is an ORV (Off Road Vehicle) Park of about 600 acres. It's was clearly a riverbed sometime in the past, but when the river changed course it dried up. The park itself consists of the old river bed and both banks (probably 100 - 200 feet of elevation change on both sides. With some forested land, artificially piled boulders etc. It is great for saturday entertaining but altogether not very adventurous since you can't really go anywehre except tool around in the park. Usually it's pretty empty on snowy/bad weather days since the atvers and dirtbike crowd down't like the mud as much.

This is looking down on the river bed. Both sides are open to vehicles.

This shows the boundaries... although it's pretty obvious from the tracks.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&ll=47.73814,-117.541652&spn=0.021819,0.055618&t=h&z=15&msid=111225155565636778967.0004608a2ba929ea2ffa6

Additionaly the Federal Gov't is requirng all national parks to publish vehicle use maps detailing EXACTLY where what types of vehicles can be used. Several parks have made maps specifically to emphasize vehicle adventure routes, such as the Gifford Pinchot National Forest near Vancouver, WA. It's a little drive for me, I'm closer to the Colville National Forest or Okanogan National Forest. Here I haven't even addressed other state parks, but there are many.

Information on Gifford Pinchot since I hear it's pretty cool.
General Info & Vehicle Requirements
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/recreation/trailbikes/Adventureroutes.shtml

Pics and Descriptions of Routes
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/recreation/trailbikes/Adventureroutes-Descriptions.shtml

Map
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/recreation/trailbikes/documents/adventureroutes10107clickable_000.pdf

Definitely not pants, but some places can definitely be more than a daytrip. Next summer I want to head out to Gifford for a couple of days... I just have to get the wife ready for the idea first.

 

[Iceberg]

Now I am planning my next road trip....

 

[Iceberg]

Hey, are there other intersting "English" words I can slip into daily language and not get slapped here but would in London?

I must be bored.

 

[Tango]

Hey, are there other intersting "English" words I can slip into daily language and not get slapped here but would in London?

I must be bored.

"Nadgers" is one of my favorites, mostly child safe too!

 

[Iceberg]

Well pants, I need to see it in use to know the right context :wink: