If like me you live in the UK and find yourself driving through the countryside constantly coming across inviting looking turnings off lanes that look like they could be the start of a great BOAT (byway open to all traffic) or UCR (unclassified road) but are hampered from investigating them further due to being unsure whether you’re legally allowed to venture up it or not – then read on.

During our recent visit to the Adventure Overland Show at Stratford-upon-Avon racecourse in April, we were fortunate enough to find our own TURAS stand located next to an impressive looking stand manned by the extremely friendly and helpful team from All Terrain UK.

If you’ve not discovered this company and their service yet then they’re definitely worth taking a look at. Combining their active promotion of responsible and sustainable green laning, an ethos that mirrors of own values here at TURAS, their innovative SmartTrail solution enables you to effortlessly and clearly uncover where you can, and more importantly, can’t drive in the UK’s plentiful complex network of green lanes.

100% accountable to their members and operating the highest levels of transparency at all times, their network of local representatives regularly arrange family friendly meets and provide members with local knowledge, as well as hosting events such as map reading workshops, SmartTrail tutorials and green lane awareness days.
Membership of their organisation, costs just £25 p.a. (plus a one-off £5 joining fee), and gives you access to their forum where you’re able to share or download routes from their library of GPX files.

Their exclusive mapping system, SmartTrail, is available to all members and was demonstrated to me at the show by Darren Roberts, one of the Directors and founders of All Terrain.

The SmartTrail software compromises of a user friendly mapping solution that overlays online Ordinance Survey maps of areas across the UK and clearly labels tracks and green lanes utilising a simple traffic light system of Red, Amber, Green.

By hovering your mouse over the track you wish to know more about, information appears telling you whether it is legally accessible (Green) and also highlight any possible issues or restrictions that are worth knowing about prior to venturing up it eg. it’s only open and accessible during certain months of the year (Amber). Those highlighted in Red are a no go and the reasoning for this will also be highlighted.

Members also have access to a centrally held maintenance fund, from which you can apply for project funding. To date their projects have included; lane clearances, gate and fence repairs and provision of way marking signage.

Funds can be sought by all members, for any project that helps keep green lanes open and accessible for ALL users.

As initiatives go this is something that we can all learn from, with so many countries in Europe having different rules and regulations when it comes to tackling greenlanes and remote tracks, one thing is for sure is that we should all universally be promoting sustainable and responsible touring particularly when off the beaten track

To find out more why not take a look at their Facebook page, Twitter or Instagram feeds or simply log on to: www.allterrainuk.com to see a comprehensive overview of their service, meet the members of their team and complete the simple membership form to start making use of the service and start safely and legally enjoying the UK’s green lanes.