Salisbury Plain
 

So what is the story with riding around on the plains? Where may and may you not go? We've been a couple of times; with the detailed OS maps to find the byways; but there is just a maze of roads which are not shown on the OS.

I'm sure the official line is you must stick to the byways as shown on the map but what is the tolerance of the wardens? Is it ok to take any road (twin track)so long as you aren't crossing open grass fields or inside a clearly marked "Out of Bounds" area.

Who of you go there regularly?

We are hoping to go there quite regularly so give a shout and we can meet up if you want.

Red flag
 

Hey Bossies,

I was lucky enough to be lent a military map of the plains from a friend who lives out there. Unfortunately I no longer have it. The crucial thing to note are the red flagged areas - so that you aren't mistaken for a target!!
I was given instructions to stick to the tracks, avoid the flagged areas, and give it some welly if I got stuck :)

I can't advise on the warden tolerance I'm afraid. But there'd only be one way to find out!

Howzit,

Thanks for the tips....I'm too sensible and I've been on the island too long so have lost my disregard for authority :)

(ps:Nice pics of Morroco. I think my missus would like to meet up with you some time to talk girlie travelling stuff before we head off in September.)

That used to be the case when I used the plain in my Landy, Charley. I got buzzed a few times by helicopters at night and one night got warded off a byway that goes right past one of the training villages during a night exercise but I was never stopped and nobody seemed all that upset by my presence.

Admittedly I did *try* and keep to the byways and any deviations were due to being lost and choosing to follow a propper track. This was before I got a post-Y2K GPS.

x_AJ_x

BTW, never got a chance to post congrats to you & Rensche (sp?) when you got married as I no longer had a presence on YDC.

" If you drive “off road” where no such right exists, you commit an offence under section 34 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. The MDP do prosecute under this section - expect a fine of around £300. For persistent offenders there is a power under the Bylaws for Police to seize vehicles and/or any other item connected with the offence and apply to the Magistrates for it to be forfeit to Her Majesty."

Driving on the Plain

Oops!:eek3:

We ride on the plains a lot, normaly start out around the Bustard pub for cooffe, most of the marked roads have a muddy track running along the side if you are into that thing. we have been stopped once and had our names taken but we were in an area that we should not have been in.

Most of the time we say hello to the warrdens and pass the time of day, they are only doing there job and trying to keep people safe. Its the tossers on motocross bikes that they are after.

Keep to the tracks and you will be fine, let us know when you are going down next, another good meeting place is the 303 services at Amsbury.

Ye I saw that AJ; hence this enquiry. I hear they can give a £60 spot fine if they catch you on the tank "ramps"...although it was fun doing a 45 degree slope up...and down ;)

We are going down over the next bank weekend. Most prob camping at Wykes Down near Andover. Good steaks and ale!!!

My dad used to drive tanks over that way when I was a kid... I stopped even thinking of going anywhere near where you 'shouldn't' be when my dad came home and told us he'd killed a motocross rider who was coming over a tank ramp.... sad day.

m

Come to the Andover Rugby club on the 7th 8th & 9th July to the annual UKGSER Hograost and you'll have a good chance to explore the plains with a local guide. It's become an annual pligrimage and aside from a few bruises and odd broken limbs it seems to be a fine event. More infor over on UKGSer* ::::* For BMW GS Enthusiasts search under hograost (note raost spelling not roast !!! ....it's a long story)

Sniff...Sniff Boo hoo
 

:rolleyes2: Still staring at my bike....longing for my licence.
Orrin

Hi get your self a copy of OS MAP 184 Salisbury and the Plain
And have a look at this site and off you go
http://www.army.mod.uk/ate/public/salisplain.htm

If you look on the map to the south and a bit west of Salisbury there are lots of good lanes around that area well worth a look
I find the plain gets a bit boring after a while it’s all very much the same

If you are up for it let me know and we can meet up for a ride out

That’s if wishfull traveller doesn’t mind getting his bike dirty :laugh:

Her are a few shots of our last run up there
Bob

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96495

Xrv.org.uk
 

Some of the XRV bods ride there on a fairly regular basis...I've posted the question here also...

Salisbury Plain Question... - Honda Trail Bike Forums

I go up there a helluva lot in my land rover. i live in Swindon, which is only about 1/2 hour away.

There are lots of RoW's there, but 10x more other "tracks" that the military have made, so you need to get good at map reading (or get a GPS) to stay on the legal ones.

there are "cat 1" tracks, these are all the graded and levelled tracks. the MoD allows civilians to drive on them (adhering to the by-laws... 30mph speed limit etc) but these cat1 tracks can be closed at a moments notice.

Obviously, if there are red flags flying around the ranges, then you can go in, cat1 or byway, it's out of bounds (for your own safety!)

If you drive like a tw@t there, blatantly going where you shouldn't be making an arse of yourself, then expect the wardens to give you a good rollocking, and probably the police too.

If you're genuinely trying to navigate, and get lost, the wardens are most helpful, they'll point you in the right direction. (i've been going there years and know most of them on first name terms, so can get away with a little more... :-)

PM me if you want to meet up sometime, i'm usually there once or twice a week bimbling around.

cheers

Jamie

As a serving soldier who has been based in Tidworth on the edge of the plain i used to ride on it on a weekly basis. In my experience the range wardens were tolerent if you dont take the mickey, ie road legal bike, proper riding gear.

there are set areas which are more heavily patrolled than others, the very obvious cross country driver training area behind the barracks at Tidworth is a case in point.

my best advice would be if you see a range warden drive over and say hello rather than attempting to do a runner, they do occasionally have access to helicopters and the local police co-operate in joint patrols, especially at the weekends.

as well as the plain it self there are some reasonable trails heading out through shipton belliger to the South of tidworth towards boscomb down and around collingbourn woods to the NE.

Any further questions ask

38th foot

illegal laning of course puts everyones hobby at risk, so don't do it!! sometimes on the plain it is impossible not to accidently off road illegally because when a tank drives along some grass it instantly makes a new track, so navigation can be very difficult, but as has been said, don't kick the arse out of it and at least make some pretence at driving legally and there shouldn't be many dramas.

Bear in mind this is where the army trains, and trains seriously, in new and exciting ways to kill people so behave accordingly, this stuff doesn't hurt just a little bit!

Go get your jollies on the army's off road driving course and you will deservedly be nailed to the nearest wall and shot!

There are many miles of unpaved (or extremely badly paved) road on the Military area (SPTA), and a lot of dirt and mud tracks. I've been riding/driving there for years and the only time I was ever stopped was on a byway that isn't often used, in my Jeep with Northern Ireland plates.

The land wardens are friendly and uderstand that it's very difficult to tell which of the unpaved roads you can or cannot use. I've often used ones that don't have a right of way and passed police or wardens, sometimes several times on the same day, who didn't say anything.

Mudplugging will probably only be tolerated on rights of way though, and using vehicles away from tracks is never tolerated.

The SPTA is split into four parts:

The eastern area between netheravon and tidworth which is not used for live firing is always open to the public except during very large manouveres and has long sections off 'mud' tracks and miles of unpaved roads. This area is good because there is a large hill at one side, and the perimiter track is quite high up so you can easily get your bearings. the downside is there can be a lot of vehicle manouvres so you sometimes have to stay out of the way of the military.

The central area between Netheravon and Tilshead is an artillery firing range, the unpaved roads here are potholed and more interesting and can be very remote when they cross the middle of the ranges, and there are numerous 'military curiosities' by the roadside (not to be interefered with though) and some very tough mud tracks. However much of this area can be closed during live firing, call 01980674 763 for a recorded message detailing safe periods, updated Friday mornings. The Bustard Inn is at the southern end of the major route across this area.

The Western most area is divided into northern and souther sections. The North-Western section, between Westbury/Warminster/Tilshead, known as 'Imber range' is always completely closed to the public, except for a few days a year when the paved roads are open to the public (usually Xmas and Summer bank holiday periods). Very pleasant countryside but no 'off roading' to be had in this section. Well worth a visit when open as the village of Imber is an interesting curiosity (See Welcome to Scott Wylie's Photography Emporium - powered by SmugMug ).

The South-Western section is similar to the Eastern section, but has the Copehill Down facility in the middle, which is an urban warfare training site comprising several streets of houses and a fake middle-eastern village amongst other things. I don't think there is much off-road around this section but Copehill Down is an interesting curiosity (See Picasa Web Albums - Scotbot - Copehill Down ). Be careful around here as there can be a lot of troop and vehicle manouvres, a parachute drop zone, and you may cause a nuisance to training exercises.

Hope this helps...