Jimbo4x4
Well-Known Member
What a corker of a day! Met up with Gav and my bro Mike at a National Trust carpark in the back of beyond, somewhere south of Caernarfon and east of Porthmadog at about 10am with a good day's laning ahead. Gav had been up since the small hours to run an errand down Brum way before coming out to meet us but seemed wired enough. Unfortunately his 80 had failed its MOT on one or two discrepancies but after promising the wife he would never fart in bed again he was allowed to borrow her Colorado
The day was a bit of a recce, in the sense that some of the lanes I hadn't driven before and some of the lanes I knew nothing about. The first lane, however, was one I had driven before. Let's just call it Croesor as said village sits at one end of it. It had been half-heartedly blocked off with a hay-bale but both Trailwise and a mate in Gwynedd council who has driven it with me assure me it's a legal right of way. Lucky for Gav he had the 90 as his 80 would have had some trouble climbing between the bale and the dry stone wall.
Here's some pics from the first lane:
The climb after the hay bale
Porthmadog in the distance
Shortly after this we descended into Croesor and continued due south on some interesting roads..:
Damn sheep.
We were looking for "Ivy Bridge" but when we got to the starting point we found that the access was far too narrow. I walked down to Ivy Bridge and it looked stunning. I'll have to go back with the mountain bike methinks.
We decided to stop for some eats before starting the next lane as the little ones were starting to get a bit restless, so picked a nice scenic spot:
My brother, Mike, came along with his wife Sheena and my nephew Nathan. Laura and her sister Dani and nephew Oliver were in with me. The little'uns had a great time, despite being strapped in the car so long.
Back on the road:
The next lane on the books was Pont-Scethin. My source told me that he'd done this on his motorbike and that there was a formidable bog to take on. He reckoned it would be a long day of winching to do it in a 4x4 but we thought "hell, it's been dry and there's three of us with plenty of tow straps", so we went for a look.
The first 1.5 miles was fairly plain sailing.
After that it got a little interesting..:
This picture says it all really. I'm walking back because we've missed our turn off the gravel track. That's it on the right. A stretch of muddy ruts leading into the great unknown. These ruts lasted about half a mile. At one point I got a little cock-sure (a landcruiser can do that to you) and entered a deeper rutted section that my 32" tyres just couldn't hack. I was well and truely beached on my axles but after finding an alternative route around the ruts, then a heavy bit of pursuasion from Gav's 90 and a decent snatch strap we were on our way again.
No pics of me stuck this time (that bribe seems to have paid off), just one of the aftermath.
After this, though, the track seemed to stabalise a bit.
I squeezed through. Mike, however, decided to take the oportunity for a gratuitous flex shot or eight.
Then came the highlight of the lane...
If there was ever a time Gav was glad his 80 wasn't on the road, this is it.
Mike, in the widest truck, makes it with less than an inch to spare on each side. That smile gets turned upside down once we've all touched down on the other side, though.
That's me on the far right, trying to find a way around this impossible bog that I've pulled up next to. The RoW goes straight up the hill but it's hard enough to walk it, let alone drive it. There are deep rut marks left by motorbikes and quads and despite the several very dry and warm weeks we'd had, we decided it's best not to chance it. We turned back.
All was not lost though, for although we now had to drive a good 25 miles (as opposed to 10 if we could have carried on) to the next lane, we still had time for two more good tracks. The first of these was the Dark Road. This is a tame lane I wouldn't hesitate to take a showroom shiney Rav4 along, but the views were spectacular. We rounded one rocky outcrop to come upon this:
That's Barmouth down there, with the historic railway bridge crossing the estuary.
More rolling vista's
The last lane was a bit of a surprise. I had heard Happy Valley was good, just never knew quite how good
This is my new favourite greenlane. Best of all, it's right next to my girlfriend Laura's parents place. I know who's car we'll be taking every time we visit from now on
The pictures don't do it justice but I'll let them do the talking...
We did one more short lane after this as a shortcut to take us into the back of Aberdovey which would have been a nice trundle, except we were in a rush to make Laura's mum's chippy before she closed shop for the day, so it was more of a WRC course for us. Our FOC dinner was eaten on the beach at Aberdovey before Gav and Mike made like dyslexic skiers and "piste off".
It's well past my bedtime now so I'll check back tomorrow. Hope you all enjoyed the pics.
Jim.


The day was a bit of a recce, in the sense that some of the lanes I hadn't driven before and some of the lanes I knew nothing about. The first lane, however, was one I had driven before. Let's just call it Croesor as said village sits at one end of it. It had been half-heartedly blocked off with a hay-bale but both Trailwise and a mate in Gwynedd council who has driven it with me assure me it's a legal right of way. Lucky for Gav he had the 90 as his 80 would have had some trouble climbing between the bale and the dry stone wall.
Here's some pics from the first lane:

The climb after the hay bale





Porthmadog in the distance

Shortly after this we descended into Croesor and continued due south on some interesting roads..:

Damn sheep.
We were looking for "Ivy Bridge" but when we got to the starting point we found that the access was far too narrow. I walked down to Ivy Bridge and it looked stunning. I'll have to go back with the mountain bike methinks.
We decided to stop for some eats before starting the next lane as the little ones were starting to get a bit restless, so picked a nice scenic spot:



My brother, Mike, came along with his wife Sheena and my nephew Nathan. Laura and her sister Dani and nephew Oliver were in with me. The little'uns had a great time, despite being strapped in the car so long.

Back on the road:

The next lane on the books was Pont-Scethin. My source told me that he'd done this on his motorbike and that there was a formidable bog to take on. He reckoned it would be a long day of winching to do it in a 4x4 but we thought "hell, it's been dry and there's three of us with plenty of tow straps", so we went for a look.

The first 1.5 miles was fairly plain sailing.


After that it got a little interesting..:

This picture says it all really. I'm walking back because we've missed our turn off the gravel track. That's it on the right. A stretch of muddy ruts leading into the great unknown. These ruts lasted about half a mile. At one point I got a little cock-sure (a landcruiser can do that to you) and entered a deeper rutted section that my 32" tyres just couldn't hack. I was well and truely beached on my axles but after finding an alternative route around the ruts, then a heavy bit of pursuasion from Gav's 90 and a decent snatch strap we were on our way again.

No pics of me stuck this time (that bribe seems to have paid off), just one of the aftermath.
After this, though, the track seemed to stabalise a bit.


I squeezed through. Mike, however, decided to take the oportunity for a gratuitous flex shot or eight.


Then came the highlight of the lane...




If there was ever a time Gav was glad his 80 wasn't on the road, this is it.





Mike, in the widest truck, makes it with less than an inch to spare on each side. That smile gets turned upside down once we've all touched down on the other side, though.

That's me on the far right, trying to find a way around this impossible bog that I've pulled up next to. The RoW goes straight up the hill but it's hard enough to walk it, let alone drive it. There are deep rut marks left by motorbikes and quads and despite the several very dry and warm weeks we'd had, we decided it's best not to chance it. We turned back.
All was not lost though, for although we now had to drive a good 25 miles (as opposed to 10 if we could have carried on) to the next lane, we still had time for two more good tracks. The first of these was the Dark Road. This is a tame lane I wouldn't hesitate to take a showroom shiney Rav4 along, but the views were spectacular. We rounded one rocky outcrop to come upon this:

That's Barmouth down there, with the historic railway bridge crossing the estuary.



More rolling vista's

The last lane was a bit of a surprise. I had heard Happy Valley was good, just never knew quite how good

This is my new favourite greenlane. Best of all, it's right next to my girlfriend Laura's parents place. I know who's car we'll be taking every time we visit from now on










We did one more short lane after this as a shortcut to take us into the back of Aberdovey which would have been a nice trundle, except we were in a rush to make Laura's mum's chippy before she closed shop for the day, so it was more of a WRC course for us. Our FOC dinner was eaten on the beach at Aberdovey before Gav and Mike made like dyslexic skiers and "piste off".
It's well past my bedtime now so I'll check back tomorrow. Hope you all enjoyed the pics.
Jim.