Been a while since I updated this thread - though we've had a couple of lockdowns. Jimmy is coming out in a couple of weeks, but I also went out for the day on Saturday. My ex-stepson wanted to do some more challenging lanes so I came up with a route from Gloucestershire to Warwickshire, ignoring quite a few lanes en route which we'd done before or which were apparently straightforward and doing some less well trod routes.
It was a glorious day for it; apart from one group of trail bikers who we passed on a tarmac section going the other way, we didn't see anyone out on the lanes other than horses and a few walkers. Started the day at Stanton, where there's a lane up the Cotswolds from behind the Mount Inn which until a couple of years ago seemed not to have been used much at all and even now seems to be off-putting from its description. I'd cycled up it a couple of months ago so was confident there were no obstacles which were impassable, but I realised later on that you get a very different view on a bike.
There was a request that the lanes weren't too scratchy. So I took the gardening equipment and made a fair bit of use of it (in Glos at least - Warks lanes seem to be wider on the whole so the loppers came out just once in the afternoon). The Stanton lane was pretty narrow and scratchy in quite a few places so after that, I didn't care so much about a few scrapes and it seemed neither did the others. Great views from a convenient stopping point half way up:
From the top, after a discussion with a horse rider who claimed it was a footpath (it isn't - it even says 'Public Road' on the waymarkers on gateposts) we headed down towards Kineton where I'd cycled a possible lane the previous week. Kineton (the Glos one) has 4 or 5 fords in and around it, so first we drove the three main ones then headed down to the lane which I'd been slightly trepidatious about after cycling it. I'd thought it was probably too narrow; a hard soil surface with a steep drop down on one side. It turned out to be plenty wide enough; on a bike, you don't just drive through the soft foliage at the side of the track but in a 4x4 that's exactly what you do. A nice little climb after an unmade ford:
From there we found a few more previously unexplored lanes on the way to Stow on the Wold, where the world and his wife had gone in their interesting cars to sit in a traffic jam on the southbound Fosse Way. We were heading north so crossed over into Warks and stopped for a Ginsters at the start of the next lane; very different in character, appropriate for the change in county. Warwickshire lanes seemed to be more field-based so wider, more gates and often with deep ruts from farm vehicles and equipment. Some were clearly not well used; I regret I omitted to take a photo while driving through 4-5ft high grass and weeds along the edge of a field, stopping quite a few times to check that we really were on a legal route. Even better, that particular lane went into a hole in a hedge at the end of the field, taking a nearly 90 degree right inside the hole and exiting through a gate barely wider than the Disco Sport, over a large hidden concrete block or post of some sort.
We had a pit stop at a nice pub in Tysoe next, with quite a few pictures on the wall of the landlady with George Best. Then to the Dassetts where we found the two legal unmade routes to the top (more interesting of the two below); this one pops out directly next to one of the car parks so plenty of people gawping.
Not expecting too much from the remaining couple of lanes since they were nearer to civilisation, the first half of the penultimate one was just tarmac. Little did we expect this to become the biggest challenge of the day. The lane was so narrow, my gate opener couldn't get back in the car after closing it behind us so he walked down. It was tight for a Jimny, with quite a few side slopes which made it particularly interesting when I reached a wall to the right; I had to pull in the mirror to get past. The Disco Sport scraped its folded mirror along the wall to get through.
The whole of the second half of this lane was great fun. We found a GLASS waymarker at one point, so it is worth remembering that it's down to volunteers to fight to keep these open and to work to keep them passable; we gave back a bit by maintaining and cutting back fallen boughs during the day.
Finally, the big ford I'd found to finish off wasn't particularly deep - a 2wd Qashqai went through after us - but being pretty close to Stratford it was easy to get back home from.
Stopping at Stanton again on the way back for refreshment at the Mount Inn, bookending the day with a fabulous view again (Ferrari GTC4 departing the pub not in shot):
was otherwise rather enjoyable and pretty easy (as per pic below). I only came flying off the bike once 
I hope you had the land owner’s permission… 
