Unsuitable for motors

What a joy the latest freeze has been. Sure it makes life a little harder (certainly for the bird life that has come to depend on my feeder) – but many of the backroads are free of most traffic other than the hardiest Landrover. I have been walking to work along the old somerset pineline railway enjoying rare views of bullfinches, fieldfares and flocks of redwings. The tracks of hares, foxes and badgers and those of the other walkers who use this path. The poor driving conditions show how easy cars are to drive under normal conditions – cars lying abandoned along most roads, the tracks of moments of panic with slipping cars and the sliding backends of BMWs. The over spun wheels, the use of brakes not gears the brief impession of what life would be without the ubiquity of cars.

This is the lane that prompted this site. My SatNav often chooses an adventure – but this was a great one. Fun in a Discovery – not so much fun in a Nissan Primera in full downpour. I had the kids with me and the track was a rutted river cutting through some woodland and steep slopes (“Dad, what is that noise?”  instead of “Are we there yet..”). Not advisable to take roads marked as Unsuitable for Motors – especially in a Primera. I have driven some rough tracks and bad roads across the world from Southern Africa to the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – so a little lane in Somerset should be achievable.

So I thought I would share some of my various GPS and non-GPS adventures, review some SatNav enabled devices and explore the rights of way and driveable tracks in the UK. I’ll get others to share their ‘trips’ too and compare notes.

So this is the start. We’ll post here great drives, green lanes and tracks “Unsuitable for Motors” that you can try (or avoid) for yourselves. Let us know of any you find.

We’ll even have a fun challenge – find the most unsuitable route chosen by your SatNav in ‘My SatNav is trying to kill me!’