In no particular order, I like these as they’re my level of technical ability and the trails have a level of remoteness that is lacking on others. Most are about 2-3hrs in duration too. Longer is good.

Penmachno
Red route, Glentress.
The Skyline, Afan

To a lesser extent, Dalby Forest’s Red route.

Not having visited every trail centre, what else would you recommend based on the list above?

Inners is a great red loop where you can pick the black sections that appear on the way round.

Golspie? I love the red section there.

Brechfa is in with a shout, IMO.

Laggan Wolftracks

Laggan,
however I thought Golspie was quite a tough 'red'.

'V' graphics have 'mountain bking trail centres the guide'. A comprehensive guide to all the graded trails, facilities and where they are situated in Britain.

borrowdale bash – north lakes trail centre

I don't think much of the brechfa red. forest road after forest road after forest road. Very little bang for buck IMO.
Does W2 count? Now that I like.

2nd Golspie. Only problem is that it is looong way from most folks and the red is not that long which for me at least means the self generated pressure to crap myself by adding on the notorius black. Good for the sole I guess & one day I'll clear it all.

'V' graphics have 'mountain bking trail centres the guide'. A comprehensive guide to all the graded trails, facilities and where they are situated in Britain.

and the picture on page 69, for stainburn, is me 😀

and isn't golspie miles away from anywhere?

I could fly to the alps quicker than getting there, now you are talking "reds" 😀

I've only ridden Afan so cant comment otherwise.Skyline is a great route, but too much fire road to be called a great Red Route.White's level on the other hand,is the bee's knees.A good slog up single track,and its 100% fun all the way back to the Drop off . . .

Golspie is a 'bit north'! I don't think that it's a very tough red though, it's quite smooth and there's very clear lines round all the drops and stuff. It's worth the drive now though because there's plenty of riding to do up there to make up a longer trip.

For me
1 penmachno – it's just awesome
2 whites level – fun from start to finish
3 skyline- if only for the last descent

also liked tawr trail at cyb . Can't say I think much to brechfa either though seemed like a lot of fire road climbing for very little downhill action. The last section on the red was good but can't say I'd go back.

Laggaon. Some of the views especially from the top of the new red / black are like being right out in the mountains.

GT red remote?

Skyline a proper 'out there' route.

Kielder! (and Newcastleton)

On their own none of the Reds are on a par with the likes of Glentress but the fact that you can now sling together a really long ride doing Lonesome pine, Bloodybush, Newcastleton and Deadwater makes them one of my favourites of late.

Not jumpy and bermy but has the feel of a really good day out in the hills with some quality natural riding. I like long rides though so I'm biased. I get frustrated at going to trail centres and only finding very short loops when I want a days riding.

Failing that, Glentress is popular for a reason and you can mix it up with black and red to make a proper day of it.

I like Penmachno and the Marin myself

I'd say Innerleithen Red Route is a lot remoter feeling then Glentress. It comes up out of the trees and over the hill top which is fun. I think Glentress has more variety on it's red route for sure but parts of Innerleithen are more technical especially on the ascent.

kirroughtree for me, although the best stuff is supposedly graded black… But its not really 😉

Ti29er – Member
In no particular order, I like these as they’re my level of technical ability and the trails have a level of remoteness that is lacking on others. Most are about 2-3hrs in duration too. Longer is good.

Penmachno
Red route, Glentress.
The Skyline, Afan

Seriously?

Ae has a more remote feel to it as it's one big loop with no real shortcuts. Even Kirroughtree, which is a more technical trail, runs largely parallel to a main road.

Kirroughtree or Penmachno are tied for top place IMO.

Inners for me

If i'm riding on my own its glentress. A lap of the red and then a lap of the blue. However if i'm riding with mates its lagan. For some reason i just don't enjoy lagan on my own, it needs mates. However the red i can't wait to do again is nevis. I'm excited even thinking about it! I loved it! 🙂

Marin, Penmachno , Whinlatter in no particular order…

Glentress is about as remote as my local tesco I went there once, stopped for a wee rest in the shelter at the skills loop and honest to god, heard someone say "It's so good to be out here in the wilderness". Yes, here you are, on a TREE FARM, looking directly at Peebles which is, oh, 20 minutes walk away, and 20 feet from where you are is a fire road. The last great wilderness indeed.

Innerleithen's really no different, it's harder sure but you're still right on top of the town.

Now, Nevis Red… You have to drive or get a train to the middle of nowhere, and from there you travel 6 miles out of the middle of nowhere, and then you can't get any further by any means other than a cable car or helicopter, and only then have you arrived 🙂 Now that's aloof.

doug_MTB.com – I could understand why you would find 'Golspie' fairly easy, you are afterall, a seasoned mtb guide. I however am a wuss, once/twice a week rider, who is off the bike months at a time and spends the rest of the year trying to gain confidence and build up fitness again 🙂

My all time favourite is Penmachno.

My favourite trail centre experience is probably Laggan – but after this weekend I'm a big fan of CwmCarm and Penhydd also.

For wilderness Laggan is definitely the best of those three. Learnie is another which was very very quiet when I was there, but doesn't quite have the same 'out in the hills' feeling as Laggan.

I'm not particularly overawed with Glentress, I think I prefer Ae (the only other Stane I've done)

But to be honest, if you like being out in the wilderness go and do it properly. Leave the trial centres to the kids 😉

Why limit yourself to trailcentres? If you like the 'out there' feel then you need to get away from where everybody else is.

I was going to say Nant Yr Arian, but then I saw the Syfydrin is graded black.

So I'll second Ae as feeling more 'out there' than most trail centre red routes.

Funny question though? Why just red routes?

Best & Trail centre should never be seen in the same sentence.

Golspie is phenomenal, but nothing beats a decent wilderness loop in terms of overall satisfaction.

Inners red is far better than GT, it's a far more technical route and hasn't gone the sanitised way that GT has.

In Wales nant y Arian summit trail is still my fav red trail. It's not hard it's just good

of all of them ive done, betwys y coed was my favourite then llandegla. HAVE to do nevis red this year though 🙂

mcmoonter – Member
Best & Trail centre should never be seen in the same sentence.

A***

I've not ridden everything, but Kirroughtree is one of my favourites. Dalby, Dalbeattie, Ae, Marin, Nant-yr-Arian are also great (no particular order)

But yes, try some wild routes as well! Get to the top of a proper mountain!

Bunnygirl, sorry I wasn't meaning to come over all 'it's easy for me'! It was more based on the fact that there's nothing that's not easily avoidable on the red and that, for the most part, the trail is quite smooth and at a nice gradient. Having said that, if you take on all the obstacles then that's true that it's quite tough. For me, the Laggan red for example would be a bit tougher because there's a lot of rocks which you can't avoid easily.

Some good suggestions here & ones I'll look up in more detail.
Of the riding I've done thus far, I much prefer the trail centres TBH, hence the rather specific question, although I have enjoyed the Meridas (2 rides this w/end if my R knee allows me).

I'm riding the centres one by one as I get around to them, although I do seem to have ridden some more than others, losing my mtn bike virginity in Cannock a few years back, through several trips to CDB & Dalby, & latterly Afan.

I'm not particularly taken with any of the Welsh trail centre red loops- too much "traverse" style trails and the DHs are always a lot less fun than they ought to be- less flow, less technical, less gradient.

For me it's-

1- Golspie
2- Dalbeattie
3- Kirroughtree

I don't think the Laggan red is exceptional, although the Black is the absolute best trail centre trail there is, and I'm very excited about Fort Bill red. Afan is also good.

Worst are Ae and Mabie by a long way, though. Not a massive fan of the Marin or Coed-Y trails either.

OP – if you like Penmachno then you will certainly like Kirroughtree IMO.

Looks like a long weekend in Scotland might have to be arranged! 😉