Does anyone ride around or in Langholm, up in the Scottish borders?
I was asked to attend a community type meeting there recently to give a presentation on MTbing in the area. As it's pretty much bang in the middle of 7stanes country and surrounded by fantastic countryside there might be a chance of getting some of the natural trails and routes round there mapped and promoted.
If you travel from the south to any of the stanes tracks you are pretty much going to go through or right past Langholm.
So, I would be interested to hear from anyone who knows Langholm, anyone who passes through, going to or home from a weekend blast or anyone who has anything at all to say on the subject.
Especially usefull would be contact from anyone who has been through similar projects.

No takers?

Looked the OS maps years ago and could`nt really find much to offer.
Possibly some hill farm tracks but likely to be too boggy etc for much more.
Suspect a lot of the hills etc will be owned by estates such as Buccleugh and therefore unable/unwilling to attract funding of any kind, grouse/pheasant are king and queen.
Take note of the Kielder long distance project and the hassle there.

Pretty much all the land is indeed owned by Buccleuch estates, they have in the past made the right noises regarding the use of land but as you rightly point out, pheasant and grouse are the boss. There is a small group who work through Buccleuch estates trying to gain communities benefits from the land on which they live. It would be their job to try and ascertain any benefits which biking might offer the community and then also their job to get the funding etc. I think the estate actually have some obligations to communities where they own as much land as they do around places like Langholm. Many projects are currently underway which encourage and educate people of the wildlife and land they live on, I think they see biking as an extension of this but maybe don't understand the longterm commitment required.
I can however tell you that there are plenty of routes around the hills which surround Langholm, your OS maps don't tell you everything which I suppose gives us something to work toward.