What about intermediate riders though, can we have an opinion? I haven’t been riding bikes for long, but love riding trail centres as much as local natural stuff. So far I have ridden Kirry as a rank beginner on a 100mm travel XC hardtail. It was bloody difficult. I then rode Dalbeattie on the same bike, and having been a bit demoralised by my performance at Kirroughtree I was utterly thrashed into a pit of despair at Dalbeattie. What you riding gods forget is that some riders want to be challenged, and definitely will be by rock steps and rock gardens. They aren’t all on gnarrcore enduro sleds with years of experience under their belts. My experience at Dalbeattie left me asking serious questions about life, the universe, and everything. A year later I rode Kirry on the same bike, but with wider higher bars and the saddle at the right height, and I still found it challenging, but this time got round it more or less intact.

A couple of days later I rode Ae. That was rough on an XC hardtail. To the point of intimidating in places. The loose rocky stuff with steepish chutes thrown in is testing on that sort of bike, and by the time I finished I felt like I’d been beaten up. Great fun though.

Move on another year and I was on a 140 trail bike at Kirry. Much more confident and better biked I had a whale of a time. SO much so that I thought Kirry was the business. Still do in many ways. It’s fast and fun, with some good challenges for us “lesser mortals”. Being 50 and needing both hips replacing I have to be a bit circumspect in what I ride, or at least how I ride it. Two days later and I was on a Soul at Mabie in the pissing rain. There’s nothing there that I can’t ride on the Soul, and loved the fast singletrack stuff, especially Descender Bender and the in trail jumps/whoops.

This year I took the Ibis with me. 160 front 140 rear, and rode Kirry again. Awesome, but still enough of a challenge to get the juices flowing. It did all that I asked it to do, but unfortunately the black was shut according to the notices, so we just did the red. It is far from “Meh”. Not for us mortals anyway. At the end of that week we revisited my bete noir, and rode Dalbeattie. It’s great. Really challenging for an intermediate type of rider, even though I bottled the qualifier and slab, but there’s still easily enough in that first half to challenge and excite. The second half has less to recommend it in terms of adrenaline, with a lot of fire road, but there’s a smooth fast bit with jumps and steps in it across the open land at the top, and the last mile is great fun as you come in past Log On Log Off and the playground stuff towards the end. My lad and I have voted it the most fun we’ve ridden so far.

Another confession. I love Cannock. First time I rode it I was on the Ibis. Too much bike. Next time was on the Soul, which given that this was the second time I rode it, I loved every minute. It has loads of features packed into it, and the wear and tear on the trail means you have to take high aggressive lines through the berms and so on, but on the hardtail ridden as fast as I can, I thought it was mint.

Ooooh – interesting Nobeer…

We are just at the debating it as a leftfield choice at the moment, there are more reasons to go that way than not though. The alternatives being somewhere else in the South Lakes, so it isn’t really a choice between two bad locations.

Another choice would be to do the Merrick , up nr to Glentrool, either park at Glentrool visitor centre and do the first mile or so of the 7stanes trail there and join up to the forest road that will lead you up behind the rig of stroan to the top of Bennan hill where the radio mast is, from here you can follow a rough but almost cycleable tussocky path down to the visible path that climbs Benyellary and once on the path continue up to the Cairn at Benyellary, from there you drop down the neive of the spit before finally climbing up to the summit of Merrick. On the way back down retrace the path and continue down from Benyellary to Culsharg Bothy and either take the forest road to your right (just before Culsharg bothy) that will lead you for 1 mile back to the forest road you cycled in on or continue down the trail to Loch Trool and then swing a right and pedal the 4 miles on the single track road back to Glentrool visitor centre.

It’s a brilliant descent, from the Merrick to Benyellary it’s an absolute blast, from Benyellary to Culsharg bothy it’s very fast from the Summit of Benyellary then you encounter the shale path as you descend the hill and by this point you’d better have control over your speed as there is switchbacks and water bars to hop, further down it is extremely washed out with massive roots sections but entirely rideable, there is one massive washed out drainage ditch/flood/burn area but it’s do-able (just) and the descent is very steep in places. Further down the hill you’ll eventually come to a boulder strewn path that is rideable in places but in others it’s wiser to lift over, this section is only a couple o’ hundred meters before it finally becomes rideable and spits you out at Bruces Stone above Loch Trool.

This is taken from nr the summit of Merrick looking towards Benyellary, the section with the dyke running along is known as The Neive of the Spit

Exactly the same pic as before but zoomed in so you can get an idea of scale

View from the top of Merrick looking down towards Loch Enoch then Loch Arron then Loch Neidrickan with The Murder Hole, this was in Samuel Crocketts novel titled The Raiders.

This is below Culsharg Bothy heading down to Bruces Stone above Loch Trool, stunning views.

There is various other ways to descend from the Merrick but unless you know the terrain i’d advise against exploring, The Galloway hills ain’t like the Lake District or the Peak District with their clearly defined paths, I’ve come across quite a few walkers in states of utter panic as they’ve tried to navigate for themselves but got totally lost (there’s some areas where compasses act funny due to the underlying rock) and unfortunately not everyone knows how to use a compass or read a map or even the terrain correctly.

Do the Merrick, and Cairnsmore of Fleet, you’ll not regret it. 😀

If you have a look at a map you’ll be able to pick out the italicised names with ease and plan the route accordingly

My reasons to go list is growing….

A ride I need to do Kenny…. 😆
Capt K there are loads of rides around this area if you fancy a bit of exploring. OS 78&79 for starters + the one Kennys route is on 💡
You do need to accept a fair bit of hiking 😐

Scapegoat has a point re the stw definition of how difficult or otherwise a trail is to ride. When posters on here and other sites ask for info I generally say go try for yourself!

You mean to say you’ve not done the Merrick yet Trekster?, if there was one person in D&G who i’d have to bet £ on for previously riding this route then it’d have been yourself.

Do yourself a favour and do it soon before the rain/wet weather sets in, at the moment it is bone dry up there and just ideal conditions – i was up last month for an overnight Bivvy on the Merrick wi now’t but a Stove for a brew and a 250ml flask full of Balvenie Doublewood – a perfect night with not a cloud in the sky nor a breath of wind, very warm as well so i didn’t even need to use the Bivvy bag or the lightweight down bag. Stars as bright as led lights in the sky above me and the milky way was just a humoungus stretch of illuminated night sky, it was one of those nights where you have to remind yourself to breath in as you find yourself holding your breath as the nighttime views were just so eye wateringly/ jaw dropping stunning that you forget what you are doing 😀 (or was that the whisky?)

That was my #1 trip/experience this year, nothing will top it.

Next year?……we’ll see what happens as i plan to take 6-8 weeks and ride all the way from Kirkcudbright up through all the Western isles and onto Orkney/Shetland so i should experience a good few sights along the way – i can’t wait!…

Hiked it but not biked it! Was running a river when We hiked it…… Next time we hiked it we had a white out whilst practicing a search & rescue with the dogs from Galloway Hill rescue team just before F&M.
Guilty of not exploring the Galloway hills I must admit 😐

Yeah the weather can very suddenly take a turn for the worse, i’ve had to take cover on a few occasions behind the dyke on the neive of the spit as the wind/rain/sleet or snow howls up the gully and when it is safe to do so beat a hasty retreat back down, what can be a fair day down at Loch Trool can often turn into a situation up on the hillside, the speed at which the weather can turn nasty is always something to be aware of in the Galloway hills and the speed that fog/mist can roll in from the sea has caught me out a few times, they ain’t the Cairngorms thats for sure but the weather can be just as wild and unpredictable for the unwary.

Aye, lots of folk underestimate the Galloway hills, as you say, the Merrick has it’s own bloody weather system!. Best avoided early morning I reckon, if you want views. I can see it from the office, and it only ever seems to be clear in the afternoon/evening. It’s a cracking descent, especially the rocky section coming into the forest.

Scapegoat – great post, very descriptive for anyone who hasn’t ridden the western stanes before.

Soma, have you ever ridden the rhinns of Kells? The RoK challenge was on last week, 5 tops from Carsphairn end finishing down toward St Johns town of Dalry. Couple of guys from work did it, not cyclists, and as ever, my interest was piqued by comments of ‘naw, ye couldn’t take a bike up there’ 😀