Nant-y-Moch to Machynlleth a link route to die for

[ellebarto]

This is a film from a recent laning weekend we did. Often when you’re trying to navigate from one area to another you spend too much time on tarmac and in this case one of our guys reckoned he had discovered something pretty special between Nant-y-Moch and Machynlleth.

It’s not all thrills and spills but for the sheer variety in terrain this could well be my new favorite route in the area.

[missingsid]

Wow I'd be happy with just this lane! Great find.

[Orgasmic Farmer]

THere is a reason why that lane is so overgrown! The legality has been in dispute for a number of years and the general consensus is that it is not a ROW (which is rubbish as it used to be driven loads in the distant past). This is a shame as I have wanted to drive it for a long time. I guess you didn't meet anyone along the track?

[ellebarto]

I think our route planner was a little unsure but it had clearly been driven and wasn't signposted with any restrictions. No we didn't see a soul all day long!

[steve b]

We first drove that lane back in the early 80's , it should have a county road number as an unsurfaced road , or at least it used to .....

The last time I drove it the section from the reservoir to the then heavily wooded hill descent heading north had been levelled and built up for waterboard traffic to use we thought ?

We knew it as the long county road and used it in the same way as you , it cuts out a lot of road miles and is a superb high moors drive

cheers

Steveb

[GW8IZR]

Yep drove it in the eighties.. maybe 86 or so. I suppose its lost now as a legal ROW but worth researching.

(edit) its where I found a dismounted mountain biker who had become incapacitated by hypothermia.. took him to Mach with his mate and bikes.

They seemed happy to see me regardless of the ROW status.

[ellebarto]

We first drove that lane back in the early 80's , it should have a county road number as an unsurfaced road , or at least it used to .....

The last time I drove it the section from the reservoir to the then heavily wooded hill descent heading north had been levelled and built up for waterboard traffic to use we thought ?

We knew it as the long county road and used it in the same way as you , it cuts out a lot of road miles and is a superb high moors drive

cheers

Steveb

Ah brilliant info mate. Thanks for that. Great to have some background info

[pat_pending]

I meant to post on this earlier, not had the time.

I love your films but your route planner needs to do some homework.

That lane, good as it is, lost any vehicular rights years ago, reclassification has meant it's now a mixture of footpath and bridleway on the Powys side..

It used to be regularly driven, it even had a national speed limit sign on it as it entered Dyfed from Powys, quite bizarre on a dirt track in the middle of nowhere..

There was another section to that lane as well, but it became impassable some time in the late 80s, again now reclassified.

Sadly most of the really good lanes in that area, collectively known as the "Ho Chi Minh trail" are also long gone.

[ellebarto]

I meant to post on this earlier, not had the time.

I love your films but your route planner needs to do some homework.

That lane, good as it is, lost any vehicular rights years ago, reclassification has meant it's now a mixture of footpath and bridleway on the Powys side..

It used to be regularly driven, it even had a national speed limit sign on it as it entered Dyfed from Powys, quite bizarre on a dirt track in the middle of nowhere..

There was another section to that lane as well, but it became impassable some time in the late 80s, again now reclassified.

Sadly most of the really good lanes in that area, collectively known as the "Ho Chi Minh trail" are also long gone.

As I've said, I'm getting conflicting info on that and I'm still checking it out. If your right I'll remove it from my nav list. I think I've said this before, we drive a hell of a lot of lanes and we do all we can to get it right. Mistakes will happen on occasion. For instance I drove a lakes route as listed by LRM the week after the mag was published and it turns out 3 of the lanes had been shut for 5 years. In my mind it's all about how you react and your attitude. Always happy to get other peoples knowledge to improve what I do.

[steve b]

........the Ho Chi Min trail ......what a lane that was . Did you know Dave D Pat Pending? we christened that lane which iirc with some legal (back then)

forestry roads used to hook up to Anglers Retreat?

As you say that whole high Cambrian area used to be littered with fully legal UCR's and byways

What a shame it's all gone

cheers

Steveb

[GW8IZR]

Ho chi min and stuff round anglers retreat was a fantastic area. I think I know why it was called ho chi min and I did meet the man himself who actually was quite reasonable with me.

(Edit) Monks Trod before it was lost as well.. happy days

[steve b]

Yep Always friendly with us when we passed by his place

I was lucky enough to do the Monks Trodd once before it was shut down in the late 80's

...if I get time I'll dig out some of the old photos and scan them to get them on here

cheers

Steveb

[pat_pending]

........the Ho Chi Min trail ......what a lane that was . Did you know Dave D Pat Pending? we christened that lane which iirc with some legal (back then)

forestry roads used to hook up to Anglers Retreat?

As you say that whole high Cambrian area used to be littered with fully legal UCR's and byways

What a shame it's all gone

cheers

Steveb

Yes, always made a point of filling up at his garage, Dave and Jenny were always helpfull with routes and imformation.

We were up there every month or so in the 80s. You could spend days exploring without seeing a soul, lived off tea, fags and pot noodle!

Yes, you could link up most of the lanes around the Anglers, Ho Chi Minh and the old mine roads.

I can't believe how much is now gone.

We stopped going in the early 90s when all the closures started and convoys of paying guided tours became a regular sight.

[steve b]

That's good to read Pat , Dave and Jenny were the ones who introduced me to LandRovers - I had an Austin Champ at the time I met them. Both lovely

people and extremely sad that Dave lost his fight with cancer a few years back .

My least successful laning week with them and some other old friends in this area was in a 2 door rrc on 7.50-16 alliance AT's , it all turned a bit Darien Gap for the poor

old Range Rover when they towed me back to base with two broken diffs , mind you we had just done the ARC national CCVT at Eastnor with it and towed a 16' caravan up some mad single track hairpins - the devils staircase ? 1986 iirc , the RRC was 6years old then

Good Days

Steveb

[GW8IZR]

That is sad to hear about Dave .. I only met him a few times apart from fuel stops and as above the local knowledge was invaluable.

[ejparrott]

My 109 did it's timing belt on Devils Staircase many years ok....Had to have a 110 pulling on the front and a 90 on the back pushing to get it out to a point where the RAC would recover it

[steve b]

All round good guy - a top LR mechanic , and always ready to help with whatever he , and they, could offer . The local knowledge

started from over here , they started laning in Wales in the 70's while living over here .

.. oh and a real petrol head , you have no idea how much stick I got when I turned to diesel...

I'll try and make time to scan those old skool photo's and post them

cheers

Steveb

[steve b]

Devils staircase was my idea with caravans .....well it looked interesting on the map ..and got a lot more interesting meeting

half a dozen Army LR's coming down

Steveb

[pat_pending]

Very sad to hear about Dave, a genuine top bloke.

Trips to Wales were always a huge adventure back then, no mobile phones or GPS. Getting stuck, lost and hyperthermia were constant risks.

I've come over all nostalgic!

[GW8IZR]

And whilst perhaps contentious.. mainly done in standard series motors

On a lighter note than the above sad news (to me) we had some laughs - in those days before forums and face-pod we used to take the pi$$ out off each other n the Monday back at work by FAX.

All the excuses for getting stuck or breaking something ridiculed by hand drawn cartoons distributed to various offices.

I've lost touch with everyone I used to lane with and I must put that right.

[honitonhobbit]

I was thinking about this the other day - we were out laning in East Devon; in the Mighty G.

West Wales, Mid Wales, North Wales, Exmoor and the Quantocks, Cornwall.... Crazy routes. How far can we get off tarmac? Guys like Matt Moore looking for a route almost across the South of England. Laning with Auntie Liz, Andy B, Mike Scott, Martin Lewis, Chris Daniel, John Day and the Hillingdon crowd, Mike Hackwood, Tris....

Brown Trousers in the fog; Putham Lane in the rain and the river crossing on the Fosse in the winter. The RUPP's round where I live now were infamous in the winter - break through the crust and your were stuffed. We drove one on Saturday, as my driver owns fields along it; broke through into the sedge at one point...

This all came about as The Mighty G is running 7.50 SAT's; and between the two vehicles - Disco 300Tdi and 2.8 G Wagen we had one Tirfor, waffles and a spade. Simple laning on a budget. One vehicle worth £1k at most, the other dragged out of a barn a week before the day, after 10 years laid up, welded, MoT'd and Taxed. Then off to do some of the most technical lanes in the UK. Best laning in years.

[GW8IZR]

A mate of mine bought a 6x4 series 111 from a journo in international off roader magazine and I dragged that shed along the ho chi min with a 2286 series 2.... It was like laneing tied to a tree. without SATs I reckon the two of us would still be digging and tirforing today :-)

[honitonhobbit]

That was the mate of Frank Elson and Bill Jones... Lovely vehicle, cr&p off road...

[pat_pending]

IIRC the middle wheels were supported on trailer suspension units. It was built for a trip across the sahara I think.

[GW8IZR]

And I can't remember his name, ( was it not Bill Jones?, now you mention him) but he was a regular contributor to the mag. That shed had one redeeming feature, a nice dihatsu engine which was really well suited to land rovers, my mate sold it for 25 quid 'cos he didn't think I'd be interested!

Yes indispension type units supporting the drag axle. I have photos of it in some unusual cross axle conditions somewhere.

Two winches fitted but we only found out neither had shear pins in them until we needed a jcb :-)

One last edit.. all those hard mid wales lanes driven in that shed and my v8 series 1, 1 tow rope and a bunch of bananas + loaf . No 2 inch lifts, air lockers or 33" tyres :-)