I have not done a great deal of off-road driving before. I’ve been reliably informed that driving down a track to a camp site does not count, no matter how bumpy it is. I maintain that it does, but that’s another argument entirely.

As such, when an opportunity came up to go along with the Series 1-2-3 Club, I jumped. I stuck my series 2 badge on the back of Larry, baked some sweet treats as a bribe, and off we went. Not before adding on some totally not needed but definitely cool underbody protection of course.

The lane we headed up to was Rudd land Rigg in North Yorkshire. After meeting up in Helmsley, and taking the time to take some pictures, we were divided into two groups. In our group was Paddington, a former Post Office series 3, an Swedish Grip Cab, Victor – a series 3 with a 300 Tdi engine and auto box, and Larry.

I drove during the morning session, and the first lane proved to be the trickiest. There was a lot more squishy mud than had been anticipated by our leaders, and the sight of a rather steep hill was a little harrowing.

I did put Larry in low gear range – more because I rarely get to use it and wanted to make sure it wasn’t seized up – and drove slowly. As a complete novice, it was fun. The back end slipped about, Larry went where he wanted to some of the time, but I did manage to keep us from sailing over the edge into the valley. The best part of this lane was hearing Dave’s worried cries over a new noise – a whirring he had never heard before. I told him not to panic, this was just the Traction Control doing what it was supposed to and that it was nothing to worry about! We made it through the muddy lane and back onto tarmac soon enough.

The only major incident of the day came next, which was hitting a pothole in the road a little too quickly. It made quite the bang and apparently, lifted Larry’s rear end up about a foot. No tyres were harmed however, and on we went without a hitch.

Then came Rudd land Rigg and what a lovely experience it was. The sun was out, the views were clear, and they were spectacular. The rest of the morning was spent trundling along taking in the scenes.

Lunchtime came after a steep descent down the Rigg and into a quiet layby. Here, we discovered that one of the bumper fog lights had come loose, so we cut it off and made it a problem for later. After a sandwich and the sharing of baked treats, I let Dave take the wheel for a bit. It seemed unfair to let him be a passenger for the whole day.

Back up the hill we went for some more beautiful scenery of the North Yorkshire Moors. Dave was a bit quicker than I and thoroughly enjoyed the drive. As the husband of a crazy Land Rover owner, he has always gone along with my ideas. When he turned to me at the top of the Rigg and said ‘I get it now,’ it was most satisfying.

We made it through the rest of the lanes without issue – although Dave’s decision not to use Hill Descent Control as we came down the Rigg did make me question some life choices. We did manage to meet a Land Rover Service van on one of the lanes back, but he didn’t have a spare fog light for us. He did enjoy the procession as we all drove past however!

Either way, very soon we were safely back in Helmsley. It was a fantastic first time green laning, and something that I am keen to do again. The views were fantastic, the weather perfect but the best bit was hanging around with some lovely people and their equally lovely Land Rovers!