The space between Christmas and New years eve always seems, well bland. The two celebrations seem to dwarf the time in between which, in my case at least, is filled with recovery from overeating / drinking and well, a general just can’t be arsed’ness. So, this year I decided to do something about it. As the alarm clock sounded, much to Mrs. Wife’s disgruntlement, at 7.15am I dragged myself into the shower, grabbed a much-needed coffee and headed out to meet up with some of the Land Rover Life crew for a day out in the country.

Meeting up with Admin Emma at a layby just before we join the M62, we drove in convoy to our agreed meeting place, the Yorkshire town of Pateley Bridge. A lot of my adventures seem to start here of late; it’s a nice pretty place with lovely cafés in which to gather the troops before the days laning. Soon enough, after arrival, we were all sat around a table having breakfast, drinks and generally having a good old catch up.

Above – The group consisted of an L663 Defender, Defender Puma, Series 3 109″ and an L405 Range Rover

Heading back to the vehicles, we agreed the running order, passed around walkie talkies and got ready for the day out. There were only four vehicles in the group, three of them covering the basic Land Rover blood line of Series (Driven by Emma and Mike), Defender (Driven by Richard) and L663 (My own stead). The fourth vehicle belonged to Admin Dave and was a Range Rover L405 Autobiography. If you didn’t know this, Dave doesn’t like to slum it.

We headed out for the first lane and drove towards How Stein Gorge, a place that if you have never been, is Definitely worth a visit. Shortly after you drive through the small hamlet of Middlesmoor, you start the lane, firm but a little rocky under tyre you start to rise up to around 450 m above sea level as you near the top of Rain Stang, driving along In Moor Lane. Once you have reached the top, you start to descend towards Scar house reservoir. With a rocky undulating base and several tight switch backs it is an interesting lane, and a personal favourite of mine. Fallen rocks lie along the edge meaning Dave had to carefully place the Range Rover wheels as to not damage the 20” Alloys! As you drop down the lane you join the road and do a quick right then left over the Dam. Last time we did this lane the water levels were seriously low, so it was good to see the reservoir fully toped up again!

Above – The descent to Scar house reservoir was one of the highlights of the day!

After the Dam, you join Lane two as you follow Carle Fell road. This pretty lane will take you along the edge of the reservoir and through the former hamlet of Lodge. You can clearly see the outline of the buildings with moss covered stones all around. Several of the buildings have stone tablets telling you who owned the building.

After Lodge you start to climb Dead Mans hill which is around 530 meters above sea level. You drive through Arkleside Moor and eventually join the main road in Arkleside itself. The route is firm and if it wasn’t for a slight mist, offers beautiful moorland vistas.

Next stop was Leyburn, and more importantly the Bolton Arms for a pub lunch. This day was as much about spending time together as friends as it was putting miles of tracks under our wheels. After a splendid lunch and a cheeky shandy, we took Whipperdale Bank Road towards the gun ranges, and shortly after a left turn onto Scarth Nick we took a right into the next lane. There are several different routes over this particular moorland, but we took the lower route that brought us out on Hargill Lane.

Above – Moorland for as far as the eye could see, which due to a mild mist wasn’t as far as we would have liked!

We were keen to drive High Cam Road, as Dave has done this in the past and a few of us had never done this before. This meant a bit of a trek through Redmire towards Aysgarth, and as you take this route you get a glimpse of Aysgarth falls which due to the recent rain fall were certainly worth a look. The road becomes Bishopdale Lane, then after Kidstones, becomes Kidstones bank. Just as the road then becomes the Causeway. You take a right into Gilbert Lane.

As we started the lane, it was clear that a lot of work had been done to grade it. The surface was flat but lots of loose stones meant you needed carful throttle control not to spin the wheels and send the stones flying. The light was starting to fade as we drove along the route, which is certainly a long lane. As you near Busk Moss you have a choice to go either left, continuing on High Lane, or take a right onto Buck Lane. We elected to swipe left. This was the highest point of the day as we were over 560 m above sea level at this point. As we ended the lane, the light was giving its last hurray before setting. We decided that we would do the next lane and call it a day, and what a good shout that was.

Above – The day ended with a watersplash, and what a fun way to end the days laning it was.

Turning left onto Butts Lane we joined the final lane at Stalling Busk. This lane was great, as you get to drive a section of Cragdale Water before a second ford crossing of Raydale Beck. This gave us the chance for some water splash photo’s whilst there was still enough light. The lane ends in the small village of Marsett, which is where we pulled over and said our goodbyes. We did have some more lanes planned but with the light gone we elected to call it a day and save those lanes for another day.

With the sat nav set for home, I started the 90-minute journey, having thoroughly enjoyed the day. There are so many good lanes around this area I still have some exploring to do, so I doubt it won’t be too long before I am back up this way again soon.