Country lanes with no passing places

[obi_waynne]

Devon is great and very pretty BUT and this is a big but, there are lots of really narrow roads with no passing places for at least a mile.

We are talking grass touching both sides of the car as you're driving along even with grass growing in the middle of the road.

Literally you have to reverse a mile if you meet another car as there are no passing places!

Had any other interesting areas you've driven in?

 

[HDi fun]

I spend a lot of time in North Devon. I avoid the lanes for this very reason

 

[obi_waynne]

I could swear our sat nav is trying to kill us! These seem to be the only roads it sent us down.

 

[old-git]

I use my mother-in-law's VW Fox. She used to live in Devon and the sills prove it as they are both crumpled due to the rocks hidden in the verges of narrow Devon lanes.

 

[HDi fun]

I've driven along some lanes where you can pick blackberries just by opening the windows.

 

[st24]

I spend a lot of time in North Devon. I avoid the lanes for this very reason

I have family just outside South Molton a recent visit confirms a Vauxhall Insignia is not the ideal car for the lanes.

 

[TCJBOLDIE]

Guess the lanes and walls were built before horseless carriages

 

[old-git]

They weren't so much built as evolved. They tended to start out as paths along field boundaries leading to other fields, churches, the next village etc. The popular ones were also used by carts so became wider so they could pass each other. When they are metalled there was no need to provide passing places as vehicles were narrower than today and fewer in number. However, they were wider than they are now. The narrowing is largely due to verge and hedge encroachment over the last 100 years or so.

 

[HDi fun]

Makes for very easy lazy-arse blackberry picking.

Just open the windows and rake 'em in. No need for all that strenuous walking about etc

 

[TCJBOLDIE]

We traveled 100's of miles along those roads on our "back roads"tour last year and were amazed at the dry stone walls and the effort and time it must have taken to collect and build them.

 

[Guybo]

I live on a road that is fun to drive on if I go north, but there's very little in the way of passing opportunities and it seems there's always one slow car with a queue of cars behind it so no one can pass in the one place where you can pass Of course that one car always speeds up in that one spot!

 

[HDi fun]

I live on a road that is fun to drive on if I go north, but there's very little in the way of passing opportunities and it seems there's always one slow car with a queue of cars behind it so no one can pass in the one place where you can pass Of course that one car always speeds up in that one spot!

We're not talking about passing [overtaking] opportunities here, we're talking about a road that is just about wide enough to accommodate one car. Passing places in this context means places where two cars driving towards each other can pass each other. They can be hundreds of yards apart and require lots of reversing by one of the drivers thus trapped within the confines of such a lane.

Lanes like this:

 

[old-git]

Ah, one of the wider roads -)

 

[HDi fun]

Ah, one of the wider roads -)

You know them too.

 

[old-git]

Oh, yes, my parent's-in-law lived in Lustleigh, near Bovey Tracy, for 20 years.

 

[HDi fun]

I like the south west in general.

 

[obi_waynne]

The locals tend to avoid these roads and all the tourists with sat navs use them!

 

[Aerial Andy944]

Don't trust the Sat nav when you're down this way Waynne. Us locals bring out our tractors on purpose just to really stitch you up
Seriously though you get used to it when you drive on them every week. My friend lives in a village that literally has just 4 houses down a tiny lane. Just pray the farmers not working on the day you're visiting

 

[obi_waynne]

Don't trust the Sat nav when you're down this way Waynne. Us locals bring out our tractors on purpose just to really stitch you up
Seriously though you get used to it when you drive on them every week. My friend lives in a village that literally has just 4 houses down a tiny lane. Just pray the farmers not working on the day you're visiting

You've just confirmed My suspicions!

 

[Twamgl3]

Of my many long weekends in Cornwall looking for nice surf spots there was only one when I went in my Discovery I, and to begin with I wasn't keen on these lanes, especially as it the Disco was widest car I've ever owned, but after a while I realised the ground clearance and elevated driving position meant I was able to better see what was heading my way (I could see over the dry stone walls!) and didn't have to be too worried what was in the verges (when there were some).

That said I did put some nice scratches down the nearside trying to squeeze through the width restriction at the Pay & Display at Watergate Bay.

I also spent about £200 on diesel in one weekend.