Salisbury Plains in Standard Jimny

Hi,

I was just hoping to get some advice before visiting the Salisbury Plains for the first time. 

I have a more-or-less standard Jimny, with the only mods being rear recovery points and Goodyear Wrangler tyres. I have some waffle boards,  and a hand winch, I've been doing a bit of laning the last couple of months but I'm pretty new to this stuff. 

In Salisbury Plains, are the more "hardcore" areas (really deep water and mud) easily avoidable, by going around or turning back and going a different route? I have Trailwise, so I can read up on the indivisual lanes to get an idea of what they're like. My main worry is probably going down a long narrow lane and then it becoming too rutted for me to get down without hitting the underside of my car (because the car is not lifted). Is this a realistic concern on the plains? I've only come across one lane so far where this was a problem, but luckily it was very near the start so I could reverse out ok. 

Also, any general tips?

Thanks
Lee

Any of the green lanes are part of the Queens Highway. You really shouldn't need anything extreme to drive them. I'd suggest anything looking 'hardcore' is probably off piste and really shouldn't have a vehicle on it anyway.

As always, laning with another person or small group is always advised. Going solo, you completely rely on self recovery, but there are very real limitations to this.

Trailwise is probably your best resource. I am not on it myself but understand that each route has details on the conditions you can expect and then you can make your own mind up if it is fit for you and your vehicle.

Not all public rights of way (Byways Open to All Traffic and other Green Lanes) can be driven by car, and a few not even on a motorbike as they are just too rough or have large ditches. You could try looking on Google Earth to see if the route is likely to be driveable if Trailwise doesn't say so.

Of course if you do find some good routes, you could post them on here for other Jimny owners to enjoy.

Robin

Do not attempt to enter the "Austrian Village" map ref. ST 016455. You can drive past it to the north and west but the army closely monitor it and lippy trespassers are dealt with harshly.
Ditto Imber village, ref. ST 965486.The village is usually open during bank holidays, but you must obey the rules.
There are more driveable lanes on the plain than anywhere else in Britain but please remember to give way to Challenger tanks.

Roger

Good point Roger, this could happen.....

 

 

There used to be a legal ford through the River Avon but it has been closed for a long time. I once watched a Scorpion tank take the ford at approx. 40 mph. Unfortunately the bow wave swept up the glacis plate and totally inundate the driver who would probably have been the one to bale the tank out later.

Roger

Thanks, all, for the tips and advice. Sounds like it is probably not as tough as I was expecting. Seen a few videos on YouTube with a lot of deep water and mud with people getting stuck and needing to be towed out, but maybe these are people going off-piste and just messing about.

I think Trailwise should at least allow me to keep to the allowed lanes, and stay clear of any tanks.

Thanks
Lee

A GPS unit will allow you to follow the tracks you mark on your map so you shouldn't get lost. The plain is pretty flat and the majority of the tracks are driveable in a Mini. From memory most of the bigger holes are to be found at junctions.
Personally speaking, the ranges at Otterburn are much more interesting.

Roger

wrote:

Thanks, all, for the tips and advice. Sounds like it is probably not as tough as I was expecting. Seen a few videos on YouTube with a lot of deep water and mud with people getting stuck and needing to be towed out, but maybe these are people going off-piste and just messing about.

I think Trailwise should at least allow me to keep to the allowed lanes, and stay clear of any tanks.

Thanks
Lee

I would think almost anything on YouTube showing extreme terrain is not on an actual 'green lane'. Sadly it is twunks doing stuff like that, which result in lanes being shut or slapped with a traffic order restriction.

We were in Wiltshire and Salisbury plains a couple of years ago. It was middle of summer, but you really could have driven the very vast majority in something like an Austin Metro.

I'd recommend getting a mapping app on your phone. Trailwise is good for planning, but doesn't show your live location.

On my iPhone I use an app called Outdoors GPS. Which will give you access to all of the OS maps for £19.99 a year. OS maps offer something similar, although not sure if you need internet access to use theirs. The Outdoors GPS one allows you to download maps before you go or stream live.

The 1/25,000 scale works well and will show your exact location and the lane. And you can record your route, so if challenged, you can provide proof of where you have been driving. It was amazing watching large numbers of people driving on tracks that had no public right of way.

Some pics showing the general terrain:

I have used ViewRanger on both IOS and Android for a lot of years, I was a Beta tester (unpaid of course) once for new versions especially IOS.

Viewranger will use OS maps as well as Open Street Maps and will show your position, you have to pay for the OS maps, but they are good value as you can just download the squares you need. There is also a large library online of routes, mostly walking routes, but a reasonable number of 4x4 routes as well, a number of these are free.

I have recently started using OSMAnd (Open Street Map And), this is similar to Viewranger and the base version is free. OSMAnd also works as a Sat Nav and will get you to the start of the Green Lane.

Open Street Maps have good clear mapping and you can see the smallest of lanes on here, but it is not as clear as OS maps to see if they are a public right of way.

This is where www.rowmaps.com comes in, they have all of the public Byways (open to all traffic) as downloadable GPX, KML etc and you can import these in to Google Earth and OSMAnd.

You can of course plot your own routes or you could get the GPX from Trailwise and import in to OSMAnd or Viewranger to show your vehicle as a moving dot whilst on the lane.

None of these mapping apps confirm that you are allowed to drive down the lane, unless it is a public right of way, so you still have to do your reseach and make sure before setting off, but at least they keep you on the lane when driving.

Thanks, DrRobin. I setup OSMAnd and it seems really good. That was the problem with Trailwise, you can't easily use it for tracking where you are/navigation.