Adventure Bike Rider Forum

Hi there,

I live in Surrey and have been out exploring the Green Lanes over the past few weeks. Today I did the Polesdan Lacy green lane, then headed to Mickleham to do a route which is indicated as a BOAT on the Explorer 146 map. Its starts in Mickleham and heads towards...well, Epsom Racecourse.

The start of the lane had a circular No Bike, No Car red warning sign, so in the end I gave it a miss. I'm unsure how this plays off against the map...where it is clearly a BOAT.

Anyone have any experience of this route at all? The idea would be to follow it North, then at its end, take the other one that heads SSE to Leatherhead.

Any advice welcome!

That's not a 'warning' sign it's a prohibition indicating that the route is subject to a 'no motor vehicles' traffic regulation order (TRO).
In short, it had vehicular rights, but they have been removed.
It's an offence to pass the sign in a motor vehicle.

There used to be quite a lot of byways around Box Hill, National Trust had the majority closed. The one you're referring to (I think) is the old Roman Road, it's been closed to motor vehicles for at least a decade, which was a shame as it went right past where I lived. If the other lane runs past Exxon I'm afraid that's also closed (although a fella on a DR used to ride past me fairly regularly without challenge)

Surrey CC have a pretty decent interactive map, I used to use that quite a lot, although again I wouldn't trust it to be completely 100% accurate. There are still quite a few lanes up on Ranmore Common that link up onto a pleasant couple of hours.

I did move from Headley 4 years ago, which is a long time in TRO land

Greetings,

The issues around using an OS map to find routes are many and in some cases complicated. One needs to remember that all maps are only a guide, they do not show legality and even the latest version can only be regarded as historical documents.

Basically a route shown on a map can have its status changed, eg Unclassified Route to BOAT, Bridleway or Footpath and you might only know when you get there and see signs similar to that which you have described. It is also possible that the local Highway or National Park Authority has imposed a Traffic Regulation Order, TRO, banning certain activities temporarily or permanently but the route still carries its original classification. So a route might still be classified as a BOAT but motorised vehicles may not use it

May I suggest that if you wish to venture on 'green roads' that you consider making contact with your local GLASS or Trail Riders Fellowship group as they will have Members with the knowledge that you seek and organise ride outs ensuring safety both in numbers plus less chance of inadvertently going down an incorrect route.;

https://www.glass-uk.org

https://trail.trf.org.uk/local-groups-m ... 22&reset=1

TTFN

Hugh.