Once you understand which routes are legal to ride, the next challenge is finding them. Green lanes are hidden in plain sight, but they won't announce themselves, and getting it wrong means either missing out on brilliant riding on your doorstep or, worse, straying onto a route where you're not allowed. This guide walks through how to find legal green lanes near you, from reading a map to using the right tools.
Start with the right map
The classic starting point is an Ordnance Survey map. Most green laners opt for the OS Explorer series at 1:25,000 scale, because it shows rights of way in enough detail to catch the small lanes that are easy to miss on a larger-scale map.
On an OS map, the two route types you can legally ride are marked clearly once you know the symbols. Byways Open to All Traffic (BOATs) appear as a line of green crosses (plus signs) along the route. Unclassified County Roads (UCRs), also called other routes with public access, appear as a line of widely-spaced green dots. Learn these two symbols and you can start spotting legal routes anywhere in the country.
It's worth remembering that OS mapping isn't infallible. Experienced laners report occasional errors, with some lanes marked incorrectly. When in doubt, cross-check against another source before you commit.
Use the access organisations' resources
The single best shortcut is to use the mapping resources built by the people who protect these routes.
The Trail Riders Fellowship (TRF) produces the Green Road Map, which shows legal byways and unclassified roads across the UK, aimed at motorcyclists. GLASS (the Green Lane Association), mainly 4x4-focused, offers the Trail Wise mapping resource. Both require membership, but that membership does far more than unlock a map: it funds the legal fight to keep lanes open, connects you with local groups, and gives you access to people who know which lanes are worth riding and which are currently restricted.
Every local council also publishes a free rights of way map. They can be harder to read, because footpaths and bridleways are shown alongside the routes you can ride, but they're an authoritative source for your area.
Always check the current status
Finding a BOAT or UCR on a map is only half the battle. The other half is confirming that no order restricts it right now. A Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) may close a route to motor vehicles permanently, seasonally or temporarily, and some byways are restricted to motorcycles only. A lane that was open last year may be closed this year.
Check for restrictions before every ride. This is exactly the kind of information that local groups, the TRF and GLASS keep their members updated on, which is another reason joining pays off. Getting halfway down a lane and hitting a locked gate or a restriction sign is no one's idea of a good day.
From map to navigation: using GPX
Reading a paper OS map at home is great for planning, but you also need to follow the route on the move, often in mud, rain and with no phone signal. This is where GPX tracks come in. Once you've identified a legal lane, having its GPX track on a navigation device means you can follow it precisely, without stopping every few minutes to check a soggy map.
The best approach combines both: plan on the map to confirm legal status, then load the GPX to navigate on the day. Just make sure any GPX you download reflects a genuinely legal route, because a track existing doesn't make it legal, exactly as we covered in the guide on which routes are legal to ride.
How WildTrack helps
WildTrack lets you load the GPX track of a green lane, download offline maps of the area, and follow the route even where there's no signal, with an off-route alert if you stray from the track. Because staying on the legal line matters so much in green laning, knowing exactly where the intended route goes, and being warned the moment you drift off it, is genuinely useful. It works on iOS and Android, so you can use the phone or tablet you already have.
In summary
Finding legal green lanes near you comes down to a few reliable steps: get an OS Explorer 1:25,000 map and learn the BOAT and UCR symbols, use the TRF Green Road Map or GLASS Trail Wise to shortcut the search, cross-check against your council's rights of way map, and always confirm current restrictions before you ride. Then load the GPX and navigate with confidence. The lanes are out there, often closer than you think, waiting to be explored the right way.