So I seem to have an opportunity to move to Dundee next summer for a new job. The job and prospects all sound really promising. However, it is in Dundee, a city I know literally nothing about. Any STW thoughts on the matter would be appreciated? Whats the city like? There must be tonnes of good riding nearby no? I’m currently in Sheffield and I really like it, but future employment prospects there look a little bleak at present.

Ta

A fair number of folks live here. Plenty decent riding on the doorstep, with more and better if you’re prepared to travel an hour or so. the Cairngorms are about an hour away. As a walker, getting up reasonably early means you can do 2-4 munroes and be back in the pub by 5 or 6.
I left about 17 years ago and the city I left was a grade A shithole. I came back about 10 ago to a much nicer place and it is still improving, other than the town planners having a bit of an obsession with traffic lights. Negative comments are likely to be from the time I left. City centre is a big building site and will be for a few years as the whole bridge landfall area is being redeveloped around the planned V&A.

I can’t youtube at work, but you might want to have alook for some of the following- Templeton Woods trails, Templeton Tangle, Tentsmuir trails. Further afield, look for images of glen doll, glen derry, mount keen, glen shee, hermitage trails dunkeld – all within an hour’s drive

I lived nearby and used to work in Dundee. If you’d asked this in 2007 I’d have said run for the hills. Now, though, they’re putting a lot of work in and it’s actually pretty nice.

It’s quite a nice city, particularly around Perth Road where the nicest houses are. You have excellent riding nearby (Glen Clova is 45 minutes away, Cairngorms proper not much further and Dunkeld), it has a lot of big stores since it’s out on its own a bit.

I’d live there, definitely. I moved to Sheffield from Scotland and Dundee is a nicer place, certainly for riding, although not from the doorstep.

Dundee is great. The waterfront is one huge construction site at the moment, but when its complete it will be fantastic. All the positives as listed above, plus easy access to St Andrews and some lovely beaches and villages in Fife. Dundee is also the sunniest city in Scotland.

Although I originate from Aberdeen and the joke was always that you paid a toll to cross the Tay road bridge to get out of a Dundee, my recent visits there suggest that it’s not too bad a place at all. The redevelopment of the waterfront is positive. A nice ‘honest’ feel to the place.

Some bits look a bit rough, but that is generally the same everywhere with a reasonable size population.

I work in Dundee and studied here too. I like it a lot and don’t plan to move any time soon.

If you like dining out and shopping it perhaps isn’t the greatest but then Edinburgh and Glasgow are only an hour away on the train.

If you don’t want to live in Dundee then there are lots of nice satellite villages that are a half hour cycle commute. I live just across the Tay in Fife and have a great commute over the Tay bridge. The weather is better than most places in Scotland too – considerably more sun generally.

There is loads of scenic road cycling around the b roads in Fife and around the Tay with plenty of challenging climbs and long drawn out flats depending on what you like. In terms of mountain biking there are bits and pieces of natural trail within 30 mins – the Sidlaws, Kinnoull Hill and Pitmedden being the best of those. Within less than a couple of hours you can be at Comrie Croft, Laggan, Glentress and Innerleithen. It’s only slightly further to Glencoe or Fort William if you’re into downhill but there are some pretty good courses that are more local such as Falkland and Dunkeld (both good but too scary for me most of the time).

A lot of Scots from Glasgow or Edinburgh sometimes turn their nose up at Dundee but it’s a city undergoing a lot of change at the moment. The new V & A museum is about to begin construction and will be a huge boost for the city. It is being constructed as part of a complete overhaul of the city’s waterfront.

If the job pays a decent wage then I think you’re onto a winner. House prices in Dundee are not too bad at all and I reckon it can offer a pretty nice lifestyle too.

I grew up there and live exactly between Dundee and Aberdeen. For meals out etc,Dundee all the way. It was on it’s knees as traditional manufacturing died,but it on its way back,I am starting to think we need a Dundee STW pootle.

I’ve lived here since 2009, I would say the city has changed a lot since then. What are you into other than cycling? The city still doesn’t feel cosmopolitan but I suppose that comes with time. I live on the east side and volunteer in some of the schemes and I’ve never felt anything but safe. Also house prices /rent is very low.

Some rigorous turd-polishing going on in Dundee at the moment, as mentioned, so you could prob enjoy living in the city. The surrounding area, though, could be an exceptional spot – you’ve got some of the best mountain country in the UK an hour away, less to stuff in the Angus glens which has some exceptional riding. A life time of amazing mountain walking and biking, really.

Stuff right on the doorstep seems decent, although prob not in Sheffield’s league, IMHO. I’ve only ridden the Sidlaw hills once and they seemed like a great place to have local, but not really a place you’d travel for notable mountain bike riding.

I spent 6 months working in Dundee this time last year. Marred by the fact I didn’t like the work, but made the most of it. Went riding weekly, mainly in Tenstmuir Forest which is fantastically dry all winter, and got up to the Sidlaws a bit too. Made the effort to go running in the Cairngorms of an evening once or twice which was well worth it.

Edge of Tentsmuir:

Evening run:

City itself was ok to live in (I stayed right on the waterfront on Victoria Dock). To be honest I’m beyond the appeal of wanting to go to a pub every night, but there was a good choice of ones to go to.

as above – born in dundee , lived close by for the first 20 years of my life , studied there

in that time i watched it decline from crap hole to shit hole and bounce back

the turning point seemed to be when they put in the overgate and all the investment in the centre – its just spiraled and for the better.

i like visiting now its an entirely different place to the dundee i grew up with.

The Mrs brother has lived there for years now and really rates it in terms of decent pubs and restaurants. Any time we’ve been down recently it feels and looks a lot nicer than Aberdeen and the city council actually had the balls to do something about redeveloping the city a number of years ago which is really starting to pay off for them.

the city council actually had the balls to do something about redeveloping the city a number of years ago which is really starting to pay off for them.

This. I might have a number of beefs with the cooncil but they are doing some good stuff. The waterfront might be a massive pain just now and will be for a few more years but it’s a big, brave step that deserves recognition.

It’s just got some on the Beeb

Beeb – Dundee V&A

Looking down toward where ir_bandito is standing

Good to hear all the positive comments. I’ve been here about 6 years and a lot of people still seem to think Dundee is a dump, but it’s a pretty nice city, and still very much on the up. One of my criticisms is that there is pretty much nothing of a live music scene, which doesn’t make much sense to me. Not exactly disastrous though.
In terms of riding, I never ride from my doorstep, which is something I miss from home in Calderdale, but there’s plenty of good stuff within easy striking distance as others have said. I favour Kinnoul hill near Perth for a quick blast. It’s about 25 minutes drive.

Idiots falling over at Kinnoul; [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxN-ecgzGfc[/video]

and Sidlaws; [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti_1U_iZfeI[/video]

I moved up to Dundee nearly 2 years ago having lived in Nottingham, Oxford, Bristol and Newcastle/Durham. I think it is great. If you like mountains, beaches and hills nearby it is brilliant. I can ride from my door and be on singletrack in under 5 minutes. There are local hills to ride that are fun (Sidlaws), twisty flatish riding with seals on the beach (Tentsmuir) and as others have said the Cairngorms less than an hour away. Torridon is under 4 hours door to door. Aviemore is 2 hours tops.

It has everything I need in town in terms of shops but nightlife does leave a bit to be desired if you like that kind of thing. If you like big bustling cities give it a miss.

As the city is so small the pace of life is much better than down south, I ride to work through fields but can be in the city centre in 20 minutes.

All round win in my book. I’m not going back south.

Sidlaws in winter:
[url=https://flic.kr/p/qzTpvk]View WSW from Sidlaws[/url] by 10000 rivets, on Flickr

Looking the other way in spring on the edge of the hills. Tentsmuir visible on the otherside of the river mouth:
[url=https://flic.kr/p/eBtM9S]Sidlaw bike[/url] by 10000 rivets, on Flickr

Probably takes an hour to ride to here from the edge of town, mostly off road.

What are your priorities, do you have any specific questions? Dundee is my home too- for the last 25 years. Thoroughly recommend it; I live in a satellite village that allows me to commute to work over the Sidlaws, into town via Templeton etc., getting the best of all worlds. There’s loads of climbing, sailing, kayaking of all sorts nearby. Good ski touring nearby too, with lift served snow at Glenshee as well as fantastic mountain biking at every level. Everything from a gentle wander around Tentsmuir’s dozens of miles of singletrack, through to epic mountain days within easy reach in Clova, Prosen, Tarfside, Isla Glen etc; further afield- Braemar: there’s a week of good riding there alone. Further still: Kinlochleven, Aviemore, Torridon. If you might like road cycling, there can’t be many better places in the UK; quiet roads, Perthshire glens, the 3Pistes sportive, for example. A lifetime of great riding and as you’ll have guessed from the comments above, folk like living here and there’s an active riding scene.
The city is good, busy, if not quite vibrant and with reasonable cafes, bars and restaurants. Good arts scene- Rep theatre is busy enough to have a respectable permanent acting staff and across the road is the Dundee Contemporary Arts centre, with non-mainstream cinema. Travel is reasonably easy too, with good rail links. Nearby, Stonehaven’s hogmanay festival is a bit special too. I could go on for ages. Try it.

Good stuff, we all love Dundee 🙂

As a non-native Dundonian resident, I find it’s only folk that are Dundee born & bred that will tell you the city is a dump — but they have this impression from a Dundee that no longer exists. Folk that move to Dundee generally have plenty of praise for the city.

“that there is pretty much nothing of a live music scene”

really ? could get live music in quite a number of pubs when i lived there and i dont mean wedding style kareoke bands….how ever not mainstream bands , more home grown , small and uk touring bands.

Lots of live music,Dukes Corner every Friday, 30 draught ales and young local bands every Friday,whats not to like?

A slightly less rosy perspective from me. But only slightly.

Dundee as a city is fine. Maybe less choice of places to go to than Sheffield but you’ll probably find what you’re looking for in terms of culture and food and whatnot once you get to know the place.

In terms of biking it will be a very different kettle of fish to Sheffield. Don’t get me wrong, the biking that you can access is amazing but none of it is as accessible as the good stuff next to sheffield. Chances are you’ll still be able to get out and have a blast, but you’ll have to re-adjust your expectations of what can be done in an evening after work a wee bit.

The road biking is astounding though. Much quieter than you’ll ever experience in the peak. i’v ealmost entirely moved to the darkside as a result of this.

Oh, as said above the options for weekend trips are great too. We deliberately moved into the Carse of Gowrie (the bit between Dundee & Perth) to give us quicker access to the A9 for trips up North.

We moved to Dundee from London ,it was the perfect escape and I wholeheartedly agree with all the great comments above. I had only visited Dundee about twice before (I grew up in Edinburgh) ,so it was a new city to me.It’s been a fantastic place to bring up a family,the access to the outdoors and the rest of Scotland is brilliant. 🙂

My wife lives in Dundee half the time – she’s studying for a PhD @ Dundee Uni.

Most likely I’ll move up there soon too – can’t wait as I love Scotland 🙂

I am starting to think we need a Dundee STW pootle.

Duckman

Tour of Lundie craggs and the Sidlaws 😉

You’ll need a Fatty to access those at the moment. Preferably one with ice spikers!! Trail conditions are ‘variable’..

I live about 8 miles outside Dundee but also work in it and echo the positive ‘on the up’ comments that have been made.

Live in Dundee city area for 10 years, grew up in Carnoustie which is not far away. Much prefer Dundee as a place to live, everything is on the doorstep and some great riding nearby. Even the green circular is a good cycle for a local Sunday jaunt.

It was a dump a few years ago, but as others have mentioned there has been a lot of money spent on developing the city and surrounding area. I doubt you would regret the move mate.

Holy moly that is a positive response. Really great to hear. For some reason I hadn’t even realized the beaches would be close by as well as the mountains. I guess having limited options for riding from the doorstep would be a little disappointing, but realistically I doubt I’ll be able to stay in Sheffield so will have to move further afield anyway.

A lifetime of riding and walking

pretty much sells it in my book, but it is great to here there are a few decent pubs around. Having lived in London for 3 years and missed the outdoors immensly I think I would be pretty happy trading decent nightlife and cosmopolitan-ness for beaches, walking, mountain biking and lift accessed snow. Sounds great, cheers all

Only an hour away; http://www.ski-glenshee.co.uk/Webcam

As above, the best thing about Dundee is its location with easy access to lots of great countryside.

Plenty cosmopolitan-ness here as there are over 20,000 students and university staff from all round the globe!

I grew up in Dundee and moved to Glasgow last year for uni.

Glasgow’s great, but when I go home for the weekend I feel like I’m drunk on fresh sea air (I’m from [posh_accent] Broughty Ferry [/posh_accent], which is a pretty nice bit to the east) and I’ve got plenty of choice as to what type of cycling I want to do and where.

MTB: Sidlaws, Templeton Woods, Tentsmuir, Glen Clova/Doll/Prosen, Kinnoul hill/ Deuchney woods, Comrie Croft, Carron Valley and Laggan Wolftrax not too far away, the Cairngorms proper not far off either
Road: Take your pick! Head out Glamis way, or into Fife (roads are a bit busier in Fife), or up the coast past Arbroath..

Plus, plenty of top quality beaches for when the sun’s out (remember, sunniest place in SCOTLAND doesn’t actually count for too much) and the prospect of house values rising when the waterfront is done if you get a place in the centre.

I miss Dundee a wee bit.

Re the Kinnoul vid. I allready have an Orange and will ride pretty much anywhere if it is soundtracked by Duran Duran

Sounds great, cheers all

The locals love it, has them jumping for joy

Ah yes ‘Scumdee’ as it used to be referred to in the Granite City.

I had a major contract in Dundee (Ninewells Main Extension) that basically paid my wages for three years (and I was up and down at least every other week). Yeah it’s on the up and I remember laughing when people from the GC starting going to Dundee on shopping trips… Probably to the overgate.

The benefits that I see are as follows:

The lowest housing cost of the 4 main Scottish cities
An Arts Centre (ours was pissed away due to some monomaniacal O&G tosser with delusions of self aggrandisement ( me, bitter?….). They have culture and shit.
Proximity to just about everywhere (bar Inverness & NW). Glasgow & Embra 1-1.5 hour away, mountains, highlands etc.

A word of warning, they do talk funny down there (with their circles do on by the multi’s).

Freedom to ride where you like, none of yon bridleway shite up here

Outlaws live in nearby Broughty Ferry. By the beach. And the castle. And free slipways for boats n stuff. And a couple of really good real ale pubs. And proper open access countryside.

Weather’s not always fantastic though.

It’s a hive of Yes voters…… 😉

It’s quite a nice city, particularly around Perth Road where the nicest houses are

All of the coolest forumites live around the Perth Road 😀

All of the coolest forumites live around the Perth Road

Mennies it is then.