TURNER'S TORQUE

by Damian Turner

With readership figures constantly on the rise, and more folk joining us on all our social media platforms, The Mud Life is becoming more popular than ever. But we’re not there yet, we still need to get the word out, as there are 4x4 owners out there who still haven’t heard of us. So please, at every opportunity, spread The Mud Life word!

In this month’s issue we have quite a mixed bag of contributors joining us, from David C Lovejoy, Wayne from the Northern Greenlaners facebook page and of course Simon, who not only has his monthly blog, but also had to take one for the team when he headed off to Italy on the Renegade EV launch (such hardship). Thank you everyone, it’s much appreciated.

Did you listen to Radio 2's Jeremy Vine Show on Friday 8th September?

He was doing a piece on 4x4s in the Lakes (probably prompted by the ruling that Lauren wrote about in the last issue), and from the start he described us as ‘charging towards walkers’ and ‘churning up the ground’. No bias there then!

He had a person from GLEAM stating their objections to us, and someone from Kanku explaining our side. Lauren from GLASS, who also writes Laning Life in this very mag, contacted the show, though they totally ignored the chance to get her very knowledgeable viewpoint on the subject, and in his usual condescending manner to anyone who drives (my personal opinion), Mr. Vine continued to say whatever he thinks will rile the listeners up the most. It worked; great for his figures, but not for our plight, or for factual accuracy.

Did he mention that there are over 1860 miles of footpaths, yet less than 80 miles of lanes available to us? Nope. Did he share that there are approx 40 vehicles a week that use Tilberthwaite and High Oxen Fell, that's just over 2000 a year compared to 15.8 million other visitors? Of course not.

In all honesty, I expect more from the BBC! (The segment was on Friday 8th September at 13:36, if anyone wants to listen to it on BBC Sounds catchup.)

Ending on a lighter topic, if you missed it in last month's issue, Muddy Madam has created a fantastic new range of clothing and artwork under the brand name Live The Mud Life.

As 4x4 owners we get enough accusations flung at us about being bad for the planet, so we decided not to go with the 'cheap materials and printing in the back of beyond' route that many other clothing brands go for. Instead we’re working with a UK business who only use organic cotton grown by an ethical company, and runs it's factory on renewable energy.

All items are only printed when you actually order them, so there aren't loads of wasted products littering landfills, and another bonus is that everything is sent out in plasticfree packaging that can be put in your recycling bin

All these choices mean the prices work out a tad higher (not our profit, sadly), though it also means the quality of the products is top notch, service is excellent and you are supporting 2 great British businesses. Take a look - livethemudlife.co.uk.