On a recent family trip up to Cumbria UK (Lake District) I made 100% Sure that we would include a Green Laning adventure to get the Grand Vitara’s shoes (Tyres) a bit scruffy and perhaps get a few cherries on the new Bash Plate! Mainly to get some good views and a better feeling for the G.Vitara’s Off Roading Abilities …
As Green Laning is under threat due to misunderstandings of general users who aren’t fully aware what a Byway or BOAT (Byway Open To ALL Trafic) is or means, there is contsant calls for 4×4 cars to be banned from using the tracks / lanes (in some cases the Motorbikers too are under threat from being banned). I will hereby exclude the name of this Byway, so as to ensure that other potential users will spend the time and effort in finding BOATS for themselves and hopefully learning the requirements of the car/s, drivers etc to be able to properly use them.
Within a few minutes we came across a farmer, this time not a very pleasant bloke – I waved and smiled but just got a begrudging look back and as we drove through he yelled ”Are you here to drive off road?” …. Maybe he has come across immature users before but that’s no reason to paint everyone with the same brush!
We disappeared over a bit of a hill and started enjoying the drive to which the pine plantations started falling behind and opening up to Fells and open land with Sheep grazing in groups.
Note the new Roof Rack with the Ultra Budget Recovery Boards which cost me £0.00 !
A nice slow drive, with perhaps some stopping to take photos or video of the scenery will make this trip a good 30 or so minutes long!
In parts it became quite misty / foggy as we ascended higher up the fells, this only added to the mystery ad enjoyment of driving a green lane in a national park such as the Lakes.
The next time we are about in Cumbria, I will definitely have had added more modifications to the GV making it more capable to be able to handle some of the more difficult lanes – thereby I would be able to plot a route of perhaps 50-100 miles and include as many of the lanes within the journey.
The main issue with the GV at the moment is Ground Clearance, the Springs (Coils) and Shocks are still factory stock – despite the Insa Turbo 4×4 tyres giving and additional 2″ (5cm) height to the car, another 2″ from a taller Lift Kit will help loads!
Green Laning allows you to go where other cars can’t reach, although we share the lanes with walkers, hikers, horses, bikers and cyclists (plus the antis) we all share the same goal, GETTING AWAY FROM IT ALL! So you can slow down to any pace you like and take it all in…
I managed the lane in 2WD the whole time only needing to engage the 4WD when decending as I wanted a bit of help from the low range to ease off on brake usage.
The GV has a very different clutch-feel to my weekly company car and so takes some getting used to, this trip was a definite help and so was the travel to and from Cumbria. We had Amber Warning weather which included heavy winds, this gave me good handling practice and feel for the car when on the drive back to London.
All in all we had a great time! We experienced another much more challening lane a few days later, this one I will name because you definitely cannot use it or even attempt it without a truly capable car unless you are careless and willing to break down on the track, to which, you would begrudgingly have to call a 4×4 recovery service to get you out!
We hit up Grizedale on the final day – this track included myself having to track build a bit to ensure the GV didn’t get damage and also so we don’t scrape and damage the steps / rocks etc.
Grizedale was great, an awesome Green Lane but unfortunately we only have a few photos and a little video of the event on our phones as our main camera had already sucked dry all of the batteries ..
Due to the ”bad weather” and the trip going on a little bit longer than anticipated, we went into the local town to grab some take away Pizza which was such a welcome after such a cool experience!
Watch how the Engine Guard / Bash Plate was installed onto the GV:
Cheers
Bushman
Bushman AllOutDoors 