Amazing greenlaning videos from Ireland!

TireeTerror

A group up in Donegal have been making some fantastic videos of greenlaning and camping. The one from January shows loads of snow.

Any of you been on one of these things?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6QAthvB6LLSpKZKsUM90Ow

biko

This one yeah?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znajpex3ofI

traco

That looks great crack! Seems like the landies are the way to go.

Would love to try something like that, I often find myself watching jeeps rock crawling. Incredible what the right set up can do!

Isambard

is that legal here? I know the UK clamped down on it

The J Stands for Jay

There's a few more of them here: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCIJ3iJLKIcPLRo7C01iAksw

Neilw

A G Wagen wouldn't have need a tow

TireeTerror

Neilw wrote: »

A G Wagen wouldn't have need a tow

I didn't see a G Wagon in that video. Do they even go off-road in Ireland?

the_syco

I wonder if they put the fence back in place? I doubt it. Some farmers may not care, but if the vehicles scared the farmers livestock, I'm sure the road in will be blocked fairly sharpish!

Tiercel Dave

the_syco wrote: »

I wonder if they put the fence back in place? I doubt it.......

What makes you think that?...

TrailerBob

It's almost impossible to drive off road in Ireland unless it's your own land or have full permission. Tracks are mostly private/coillte forest. Try go anywhere and you'll be told very quickly

TheDriver

It doesn't look cheap. There's a group in North Cork do same thing though their defenders look more mad max compared to these

The Backwards Man

the_syco wrote: »

I wonder if they put the fence back in place? I doubt it. Some farmers may not care, but if the vehicles scared the farmers livestock, I'm sure the road in will be blocked fairly sharpish!

That was a wire gate, not a fence.

And hill sheep would be well used to turf cutters filling the pipe so a couple of piddly jeeps won't bother them too much.

Still, can't see the attraction of it meself, bad enough getting bogged to the hoozles when you have no choice, never mind going looking for it.

TireeTerror

the_syco wrote: »

I wonder if they put the fence back in place? I doubt it. Some farmers may not care, but if the vehicles scared the farmers livestock, I'm sure the road in will be blocked fairly sharpish!

Clearly looks like the sheep were following them hoping it was food coming. Grass wouldn't be easy to eat with all that snow.

foxy farmer

TrailerBob wrote: »

It's almost impossible to drive off road in Ireland unless it's your own land or have full permission. Tracks are mostly private/coillte forest. Try go anywhere and you'll be told very quickly

I think the green lanes / by ways are viewed as historic public rights of way from a legal standpoint in the UK.

TrailerBob

foxy farmer wrote: »

I think the green lanes / by ways are viewed as historic public rights of way from a legal standpoint in the UK.

True, but they are being shut down one by one as the small few idiots ruin it for the genuine enthusiasts. We have no such history of public rights of way here. Private land ownership and right of way is just about the most divisive topic there is

TireeTerror

TrailerBob wrote: »

True, but they are being shut down one by one as the small few idiots ruin it for the genuine enthusiasts. We have no such history of public rights of way here. Private land ownership and right of way is just about the most divisive topic there is

Yeah its such a shame. Responsible access should be permitted. The way everything is locked on for a tiny minority destroys this country.

The problem is trying to educate people to be responsible when they do have access, its always a small number of morons that ruin everything for everyone.

CorMc

TireeTerror wrote: »

A group up in Donegal have been making some fantastic videos of greenlaning and camping. The one from January shows loads of snow.




Yeah ha. I go to a fair few of them. I've a Facebook page for photos and videos of the events:

Facebook.com/OffroadingDonegal/

Well worth the trip to go to them.

CorMc

TireeTerror wrote: »

I didn't see a G Wagon in that video. Do they even go off-road in Ireland?

Yeah ha. But they're just not seem among the amount of Landrovers that do!

CorMc

TrailerBob wrote: »

It's almost impossible to drive off road in Ireland unless it's your own land or have full permission. Tracks are mostly private/coillte forest. Try go anywhere and you'll be told very quickly

We've found quite the opposite. We've found it very easy to drive offroad in Ireland. That being said we've never ventured out of Donegal for offroading.

Donegal Overlanding

We are Donegal Overlanding linked to by the OP.

I would like to answer a couple of the questions that have been raised on the thread.

Land Ownership/Rights Of Way

Pretty much all of the land in Ireland is privately owned and although there are a few places with Rights Of Way, these usually do not extend to vehicular access and where vehicular access exists, it is normally for specific bodies or personal, such as the local council, or home owners.

The land we use to drive our 4x4s and to camp on is all privately owned land. There are no rights to go anywhere on them. We are in the very fortunate position whereby the landowners have displayed remarkable tolerance towards us and they permit us to use their lands so long as we treat them with respect and don't interfere with their operations. We ensure that lane use is rotated so that no particular location is overused, this is important even though we all have our favourite places to travel.

Sheep Worrying/Gates

The fence in the video is what we locally call a "Donegal Gate". Its a break in the fence basically along the tracks to allow easy access without the additional cost of a gate. I'm sure they have these all around the country, but they are everywhere in Donegal. The lead and last vehicle are always in communication by CB radio. Any gate or fence is always left exactly as we found it. So if its open or closed it will be left in such a state.

Whenever we come across any livestock we always exercise extreme care. That tolerance we are afforded by the landowners would be short lived if there was any concern about our interaction. You can see from the video that we were travelling slowly and rather than being worried, the sheep were chasing us looking for a feed.

In the last 18 or so months since Donegal Overlanding was created, we have came across various sheep trapped by wire or among rubbish that people have dumped in rural locations. We have freed them and possibly saved their lives. It certainly makes you feel great when you have saved it, even if you did get scratched to bits in the process!

Who are Donegal Overlanding?

Donegal Overlanding is not a commercial enterprise, it is a group that I setup on facebook because I was personally interested in camping with our 4x4 and no such groups existed in Ireland. I created it because I wanted somewhere for like minded people to be able to post up about their adventures and for us to meet new friends. Nobody has ever paid 1 cent to come on our runs. They are very informal actually. I simply post up in the group saying I am going camping and if anyone wants to join in to do so.

We created the youtube channel because we wanted something to be able to look back on in years to come. Although we are called Donegal Overlanding, which is where we live, we have been camping in Cork, Wicklow, Louth, Leitrim, Meath, Galway etc. We also had our first trip abroad overlanding last August/September to France and Spain when we toured the Pyrenees. That was a fantastic trip and I have been making a small video series of that which is on to episode 5 now.

I would like to take the opportunity to ask any of you who like our youtube channel to subscribe to us, its a small channel and is all done in my spare time and it is difficult to be noticed. So every sub on there really means a lot to us. It certainly spurs me on because it takes me hours to edit the videos as I really had no idea what I was doing and have spent hours on youtube myself trying to figure out how to make the editing software work. Hopefully you will be able to see the improvements I have made as the videos are much better now than they were when I started.

If any of you are interested in camping or overland related travel, we would love to welcome you to our facebook group. It is a closed group so just request to join and I will accept you. All types vehicle are welcome, do not be put off by the fact so many land Rovers are in there, its just a very popular marque in Ireland.

I cannot post links as I am a new user, but you should be able to work out how to reach the info below.

facebook.com/groups/343419002657790/

youtube.com/c/donegaloverlanding

TrailerBob

Nice informative post there, the routes being on privately owned land makes sense. Where I am there's hundreds of km of coillte tracks within easy reach on foot, but not a chance of being allowed to drive them. It's a safety and stupidity and insurance issue mostly, as the tracks are used by logging trucks.

CorMc

LIGHTNING wrote: »

CorMc wrote: »

We've found quite the opposite. We've found it very easy to drive offroad in Ireland. That being said we've never ventured out of Donegal for offroading.

To be honest the last time I drove up to Donegal it seems all the roads up there are all off-road :pac:

Don't I know it. I had to put new shocks and springs in my road car at the weekend from our "great roads"

The J Stands for Jay

CorMc wrote: »

Don't I know it. I had to put new shocks and springs in my road car at the weekend from our "great roads"

I think that's got more to do with your driving style

CorMc

McGaggs wrote: »

CorMc wrote: »

Don't I know it. I had to put new shocks and springs in my road car at the weekend from our "great roads"

I think that's got more to do with your driving style

Smiles per gallon, not miles per gallon!