We’re greenlaning again!

GOOD to see the LRM team out greenlaning again, in the Yorkshire Dales (LRM, April). Excellent timing, because that’s exactly what I plan to do as soon as possible. Being stuck indoors for the best part of a year has made me realise how much I took for granted the simple pleasure of jumping into my Land Rover and I can’t wait to get some mud under my wheels.

It’s always good to read about new lanes to drive, because in my experience the well-known ones in the national parks are the places where you are most likely to meet unpleasant hikers who seem to think they should have the whole countryside to themselves – even the byways where we are legally entitled to drive. I appreciate that there is nothing they can do about it and I shouldn’t let it spoil my day, but I like to go out in the countryside to relax, not have

my day spoiled by confrontations with funny blokes who wear their trousers inside their socks.

Also, by occasionally driving the lesserknown lanes, we are helping to keep them open. I was once talking to a man who worked for the highways department of my local council and he told me that local authorities should be praising 4x4 owners for the job they do of keeping vegetation under control – which benefits everyone, including walkers!

The only reason they don’t he told me, was because county halls are usually full of politically-correct do-gooders who are opposed to Land Rovers and other 4x4s without any firm evidence to back up their prejudices.

Anyway, enough politics. Time to give my Defender 90Tdi a check over, so it’s ready to hit the lanes. Who knows – maybe I’ll bump into you out there one day! Andrew Burrows Ipswich, Suffolk