Holloway
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Our data · England, Wales & Ireland

How we check our lane data

Holloway shows where you can ride a motorbike, so getting the legal status right matters more than anything else. We check council records and orders by hand, go back and re-check them, ride lanes ourselves wherever we can, and review every update riders send us from their own rides. Here’s how it works.

20,000+lanes open to motorcycles*
703lane sections with a closure or seasonal order
32counties with council orders checked

Four ways we check

No single source gets every lane right, so we combine them and keep checking.

01

We check council records by hand

Legal status starts with the council’s own records: the definitive map of rights of way, and its list of public roads where it publishes one. We read council traffic orders and closure lists ourselves, county by county, and match each order to the right lane by its council code or grid reference, never by name alone, because lane names are often placeholders.

For example
  • Gorbeck Road in the Yorkshire Dales is closed to motor vehicles by a 2010 traffic order. We found that two records of the same road disagreed, one closed and one still open, and closed every section.
  • In October 2026 we worked through every rights of way closure Warwickshire County Council lists and added each one to the lanes it covers, with the date the order ends, or a caution where an order’s exact extent wasn’t clear.
02

We re-check, and the stricter answer wins

Councils update their records, new orders are made and old ones end, so we go back over data we’ve already checked. Seasonal closures reopen on the map on the date their order says, and dated closures end when the order does. Where a new check disagrees with what we had, the more cautious answer stays on the map until it’s confirmed.

For example
  • Re-pulling every council’s definitive map in October 2026 added seven byways Northumberland County Council had newly recorded.
  • The same month we checked every unsurfaced road we had added from Ordnance Survey data against each council’s definitive map, and removed 99 that turned out to be recorded footpaths or bridleways.
03

We ride the lanes ourselves

Wherever we can, we go and look. Holloway’s founder, Mat Stuckey, rides and grades lanes on our own Voge 300 Rally, which has covered more than 8,000 miles doing it. A lane we’ve ridden gets a real difficulty grade, surface and hazard notes. One we haven’t is clearly marked “not yet graded” or “estimated” instead.

For example
04

Riders tell us what’s changed

Every lane on the map has a red “Report a closure” button, and riders can suggest a grade, a surface or hazard note, a missing lane or a video from their own rides. Every report is reviewed by a moderator before it changes the map. Once approved, it feeds straight into the map riders see.

For example
  • A rider spots a new traffic order notice at the end of a byway and reports it from the lane card, with the dates on the sign.
  • A rider who rode a lane last weekend suggests it’s harder than its grade after winter erosion, with a note on where the ruts are.

Safeguards across the whole map

On top of the checks above, every lane runs through the same rules each time the map is rebuilt.

The council record wins

If a council records a route as a footpath, bridleway or restricted byway, we never show it as open to motorcycles, whatever another source says.

Strictest closure applies

Where we hold more than one record for the same road and they disagree about a closure, every record gets the strictest one.

Private roads filtered out

Some private forestry and estate roads look like public roads in map data. We remove roads that run through forestry or are marked private or permissive.

Matched by code, not name

Traffic orders are matched to lanes by council code or grid reference, so a closure on one “Green Lane” never lands on another.

What the labels on a lane mean

We tell you how sure we are, so you can decide how much to rely on a lane before you set off.

BOATA byway open to all traffic, recorded on the council’s definitive map. The clearest legal right to ride.
UCRAn unclassified county road. A public road, but its rights for motor vehicles are less certain than a BOAT, so check locally.
Type inferredWe’ve worked out the lane’s type by combining sources, for example a council or Ordnance Survey road record with an unsurfaced track in OpenStreetMap. Treat it with extra care.
Closed or seasonalA closure we’ve found, with its source and dates. Closures are always shown on the map, free or paid.
Not yet gradedNobody has graded this lane from riding it yet. Its difficulty is a placeholder or an estimate.

Where the data comes from

Council definitive maps

Every council’s map of rights of way, through rowmaps.com, under the Open Government Licence.

Council road lists

Lists of public roads that some councils publish, such as Norfolk’s unsurfaced roads and Derbyshire’s adopted highways.

Council traffic orders

Closure orders, winter closures and closure lists from councils and national park authorities.

Ordnance Survey

OS Open Roads, to confirm a road is a classified public road.

OpenStreetMap

The line of each lane and its surface, mapped by volunteers.

Ireland (beta)

The Local Road Network from the Road Management Office and local authorities.

What we can’t promise

Councils can close a lane with a temporary order at short notice, and no dataset of rights of way is ever perfect. Holloway is for reference: always check signs and current traffic orders before you ride, and if the ground in front of you says something different from the map, believe the ground.

*“Open to motorcycles” means open by its recorded designation. See the winter closures for the seasonal orders we’ve found so far.

Who’s behind Holloway

Mat Stuckey

Holloway is run by Mat Stuckey, a trail rider who rides and grades the lanes himself. It’s a trading name of MLS Ventures Ltd. When something’s wrong, it gets fixed by the people who ride these lanes.

Seen something change?

Tap Report a closure on any lane card in the Holloway map, or Suggest a grade to tell us about difficulty, surface or hazards. You can also email hollowayapp@gmail.com. We review every report before it changes the map.

Is Holloway’s data always right?

No dataset of rights of way is perfect, and legal status can change at short notice when a council makes a traffic order. We check carefully and correct mistakes fast, but always check signs and current orders before you ride.

How often do you re-check?

We re-check council records and orders regularly, county by county, and whenever a rider reports a change. Seasonal and dated closures update on the map automatically on their dates.

How do I report a mistake?

Tap “Report a closure” on any lane card, or use “Suggest a grade” for difficulty and surface. You can also email hollowayapp@gmail.com. Every report is reviewed before it changes the map.

Do you cover Scotland?

No. Scotland’s access law doesn’t give motor vehicles the same rights on unsurfaced routes, so we don’t show Scottish routes as open to motorcycles.

Find lanes you can trust.

Every lane on the map shows its legal type, its source and any closure we know about. Browsing is free with an email sign-in.

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