NeverRodeBefore said:What about coming riding with me... I don't have a very large list of roads, but some people I've spoken with can't seem to believe that I went from pedal power to R1200GS in about 7 weeks... that's got to worth a magazine page surely?
Longdog, you want to be carefull when apportioning blame for trail degradation?
Parts of the Pennie Way have been tarmaced for quite some time.
Motorcycles are often perceived as noisy, primarily due to short exhausts and a desire to maintain speed and hence engine revs. The 4x4 on the otherhand tend to often have good exhausts, unless the get battered too much, and the engine speeds are generally low due to the desire to produce torque over power, which is why the old Rover V8's were popular before the more high tech turbo diesels came along.
Most byway traffic is done by LandRovers on a statistical basis, but the maximum wheel sizes are typically 235 or 7.50 on 16" rims, and these can create deep ruts, often characterised by a third rut in the middle as a result of the axle casing grounding out... and if that happens, you're generally in a rut left from a tractor...
What is needed is careful management, not a total ban, it won't take long for the lanes to become so overgrown that people won't be able to walk down them... When I 'used' to go out and about in Lancashire, Wales, Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Cheshire, I would meet a few people walking dogs and the like, often having left a car blocking the exit to the lane! Generally most people didn't have a problem with me trundling past, and are generally not the committed rambler type with rucksacs and ord.survey maps, just a pair of boots and a waterproof.
An awful lot of footpaths round my immediate area aren't used at all, and virtually no trace remains of them, but the old cart horse trails are all still visible, and the council has tried to maintain them, and indeed my local 4x4 group does a lot along those lines... We spent weeks practically rebuilding one lane with salvaged hardcore and redug the drains and ditches, fantastic job! The council used tarmac on the next lane over, and after one winter I went to drive it with a couple of standard LandRovers and mine was the only one that got down the tarmac section without picking up any body damage... the ruts were so deep and zigzagging along you could've broke something just trying to walk down the lane.
The problem is, the boom in 4x4 use led to an increase of traffic in the general area, and the pristine body brigade circumnavigate any difficult bits, thereby spreading the problem from the tricky stone path to the delicate grassy bits, and you end up with something like a brown M62 to Yorkshire.
Of course, perhaps this boom is coming to an end, thanks to the petrol price, why else do you think I wanted a motorbike?
Reasoned response
I've done the 4x4 "thing" in the past and wouldn't rule out returning to it as a past time at some stage,but since Bliar banned Foxhunting I've had the desire to give that a try first 
By a strange (relevant to this thread) coincidence take a look at the latest issue of Land Rover Owner when you're in your local newsagents,the cover feature this month is a "How To" in this case travel off road from North to South Wales.
It's got the lot,which maps to use,grid references,road numbers etc.
We see it all too often,huge groups of vehicles,travelling in convoy,tracing their route from a magazine,rather than research and plan a route themselves
For me,part of the appeal of "Green Laning" (on 2 or 4 wheels) was "plotting" a route to a destination using as few sealed roads as possible,the journey often being the event as much as the destination,there are similarities with the GS but if I wanted to re-trace some of my old routes I'd need a Dirt Bike
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