Richard Porter – the Sniff in Smith and Sniff – describes two diametrically opposite drives that vie for the title of his Favourite Detour.

In 1969 Chris Wall, Mike Palmer and Waxy Wainwright set out from London in their £400 Land Rover “TEN”. Nine months later they were home after driving 40,000 miles through 40 countries.

The world’s only dedicated Land Rover museum owes its existence to an act of love.

Filmmaker Alex Bescoby drove 13,000 miles in a 64-year-old Land-Rover from Singapore to London, to recreate one of the world’s most famous overland adventures.

Even the best 4x4 in the world is no match for a Honda Civic on a mission, discovers Nik Berg.

Land Rover’s Trans America Trail took intrepid explorers 5,000 miles from coast to coast without touching tarmac. The entire route was off-road, as Gavin Conway can attest.

Cutting a path parallel to the Indian-Pacific railway, Gavin Conway explores the vast emptiness of Australia’s Nullarbor Plain as he drives from Perth to Sydney.

As the esteemed Dr Emmett Brown once said: “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads!” If that’s your idea of the most awesome automotive adventure then you’ll probably want to go fully off-grid as well as off-road when you hit the trail. Here are five fantastic vehicles that are mission-ready.