Ok,

I ride with Shimano pedals and cleats. Over the last couple of rides they have become heavily clogged up with chilterns mud, grass and rock, to the point of not being able to clip in.

Do Time pedals and cleats keep working for longer in muddy conditions or do you find that they pretty much are the same as the Shimanos ?

I used to use SPDs for mountain biking + cyclo-cross, but had so many clogging problems i switched to Time ATAC's on LBS advice (LBS manager also rides cross).

Never looked back since - only clogged once last year when running lots in damp sand. Bearings are still real smooth, plenty of float for swinging the bike about.

The plastic spring covers can also be taken off to clean out any muck inside, but a quick squirt with the hose after wet rides means i,ve never had to do this.

Also much lighter than my old SPDs. 10/10

James, I've never had much trouble clipping in even with lots of mud. The only time was when I had so much mud caked on to my boots that I had to scrape a layer or two off to find out where the cleat was. After that it went in.

James, I know the Chilterns mud well!!! I've got a kiwi-brand similar to SPDs, and the night before each ride I just give them a squirt of silicon or wax lubricant and the same on the shoe plates. Helps the mud slide off much better.

I was having the same problems you were James, but in my case I was cursing lack of preparation not the design of the pedals themselves.
Simply squirt the cleats and pedals with a little WD40 just before the ride (I forgot this!) and the mud won't stick.
It not perfect though. If you want real mudproofing the Crank Bros eggbeaters are the pedal to get - but they aren't cheap.

I'll stick with the SPD's for now. But with some lube on the plates and cleats.

Cheers Guys.