It's fashionable right now to hate owners of 4x4s. Apparently mums love to pick up their kids from school in gas-guzzling, road-hogging, monster "Chelsea tractors". Or else they are irresponsible townies tearing up the byways and footpaths of the countryside a la Jeremy Clarkson. Well that's not the whole story. Not even most of the story. All the vehicles in the picture above, for example, were on statutory byways in Wales, all taking care not to break their vehicles or the countryside.

Of course you cannot please everyone. There is nothing so withering as the self righteous glare you get from hikers and horse riders as you pass them by in some remote piece of countryside which they feel is their particular ownership and discovery.

Actually I have my truck for business - it's a single cab Ford Ranger that can carry a ton of sand or whatever in one load. Very useful if you're a builder and your guys need some ballast "right now". It's also great fun. My wife and I prefer to explore in the truck because you can see ove the hedges as you drive, and then you can get close to where you want to walk from. Yes, and 4x4ers do walk, too.

Now I've got that off my chest, try my video of an off-road weekend in mid Wales in 2005