LANING tales

Vale of Neath lanes

GREENLANING IN SOMETHING A BIT DIFFERENT - South Wales Part 1

(Part 2 in future edition - Buggying in The Heart of Wales)

John Askew and a newly formed group of buggy owners take to the lanes of South Wales for their first group scenic green lane outing along the southern part of the well known Sarn Helen byway in the Vale of Neath.

Further to our recent quad biking article, the buggy market is also rapidly growing off the back of the booming quadricycle market, with the open-frame, dune buggy, sit in styled four by two wheelers falling within the same quadricycle legislation as the sit-on type quads.

Initial demand had been on the road legal machines, but the off road side has also picked up aswell. The road legal and off road machines are typically identical, but there are tyre options for both available from proven larger manufacturers. All road legal machines should be EC homologated, so there will be no problem getting them MOT’d in three years time, unlike some of the cheap far eastern imported alternatives.

This prompted one of the earlier adopters of this summers now “cool tool” to be seen in, John Askew, to start investigating the green laning options available to him and other buggy owners within his home county of Carmarthenshire and it’s surrounding neighbouring counties in early 2007, before setting up new club, West Wales Buggies. From the initial recce, investigations and GLASS advice, John had already made note of the code of conduct, Traffic Regulation Orders and track suitability, aswell as real practical issues such as trailer parking, overall distances and fuel. Armed with OS maps and fully loaded up, two teams of four buggies set off up the Sarn Helen byway around late morning lead by John.

Critical of the vehicles abilities and equipment, John was keen to ensure the route was sensible for the buggies to attempt without any impact on the surroundings, yet task them with some minor challenges along the way to make an enjoyable day for all drivers. Luckily the weather remained on their side for the entire leg of the byway.

As minimal backup, a small ground crew remained on the main road nearby in case of an emergency throughout the day and remained in radio or phone contact at regular intervals.

Like most newly formed clubs, views of other owners were typically the same. That was to ensure their vehicles were used lawfully and driven sensibly within the correct areas available to them.

After further investigation through local websites and 4x4 clubs, John initially started by checking out local pay & play farms within the county to see what facilites Carmarthenshire had to offer. Only to find that a handful of farms that existed were not suitable for 2WD buggying and better suited for motocross racing. Such rutted motocross style banked tracks did not make for an enjoyable afternoons buggy driving, and the boredom soon set in driving around in circles for several hours at a time, especially when these lightweight vehicles are capable of so much more, under the right circumstances.

After digging a bit deeper into the green laning and Land Rover communities, John opted to join GLASS and seek out his local area representative for more advice on his own growing interest in laning as a potential current alternative. Whilst helmets and suitable clothing are recommended and often needed in these types of vehicles, most opted to dress down somewhat to avoid drawing any further attention to themselves, than these somewhat unique looking buggies do already. Funny looks are expected when strapped into one of these things.

The usual tea stops and checks were carried out along the way with the initial ascent from Aberdualis falls past the farms towards the summit, appearing the most challenging for these vehicles. One driver from each team experienced serious punctures on the steep rocky ascent, which John said with hindsight could have been achieved even more slowly, resulting in a successful damage free crawl up for all. Luckily teamwork prevailed and spares were fitted after concluding that various types of expanding foam were not going to fix 1” soft compound tyre splits.

This proved to be a wise decision, not only to get an understanding of the legal aspects of laning nowadays, but so this information could be relayed and used to structure sensible green laning meetings for other buggy owners.

John then undertook various recce’s to see what green lanes were sensible for buggies to use, not just within Carmarthenshire but within it’s surrounding counties. Weighing in at 400kg these buggies are easy to tow or trail further afield and, in fairness to other buggy owners, start arranging greenlane meetings across the regions of South Wales.

Consideration also has to be given to trailer parking, which is typically an issue that 4x4 drivers don’t have to be concerned about, so careful thought and planning goes into each group meeting for overall suitability. This led to a fairly reasonable turnout of 8 owners arriving at the southern end of the dulais valley on a warm summers day in June 2008 to drive their first group outing, north along the Sarn Helen byway to Banwen.

The two small teams continued along the ridge along the old roman road and through some of the most scenic areas that the Vale of Neath has to offer. John opted for the safe and sensible approach of hopping out of the buggies to recce the area ahead again on the day, before progressing adjacent to the forestry land and exiting past the open cast quarry works to the village of Banwen.

Overall the buggies achieved this stretch of the byway in 4 hours and then opted to drive back in a loop along the main road to Aberdulais Falls, by now, in the stinging rain.

One or two limped behind with minor engine faults but all in all a fantastic enjoyable day with everyone completing the outing safely and sensibly. Lets just hope these more reputable buggy owners and green lane users set the standards for other similar vehicles to follow in future, we look forward to following them on their next adventure in the Elan Valley.