Advice please - Byways/green lanes UK

[DAVIDWILSON]

Hello everyone

This is my first Garmin (Zumo xt) to be used for green laning and I am after any information on what I need to learn or get to make this work as seamless as possible, please.

do I need different maps? software etc?

The idea will be to plan and upload GPX files to follow so I can find and do byways and green lanes in the UK for now eventually will follow the TET.

many thanks
David

[simoncrewe]

The XT is a great all round unit, unfortunately for use in the UK the best maps for green lane use are Ordnance Survey and the XT will not run them.

What you will need to do is run the Open Street Maps for the UK , whilst not as detailed, will run on the XT.

Personally, I have my XT for my road bike & use an old Montana 600 series with Ordnance Survey Maps for green lane riding on my off road bike.

You can pick Montana's up on ebay for around £250 - £300, whilst the XT screen is vastly superior to the Montana, the Montana has profiles that you can set up & handles tracks better that the XT.

[jfheath]

Take a look at section 8 (and possibly section 7) here.

viewtopic.php?t=1464

It describes different techniques that I have discovered in order to navigate off road without having navigable off-road maps.

The UK OSM maps have some mapping for some legally ridable off road routes. But I checked out all of the BOATs around here, and not all of them were mapped. (BOAT = Byway Opent to All Traffic). In the UK, very few green lanes are legal to ride on.

Also take a look at https://www.adventurebikerider.com/a-be ... en-laning/
which may give you some useful information. It has a free downloadable guide.