14 of us are off to the Tweed Valley for 4 days in July, staying in the pods at Glentress. None of us have been to the area before. Having looked at the trail centres we will probably ride the red & black at Glentress, with a trip up to Innerleithen too. Is it possible to ride some of the stages from last years EWS, or were those routes only open for the race? Any other hints/tips greatly appreciated.

Yeah you can ride them if you can find them. Plenty of stuff to ride down there, the 7 Stanes, Gypsy Glen, Cademuir forrest, the ‘golf’ side of Innerleithen. Some brilliant riding round that area, hence why I’m never really away from it.

It’s probably the best biking destination in the uk..

Glentress, Innerleithen, Caberston, Thornielee, Cademuir, Yair…. All very different and brilliant in their own way.

The EWS stages at Glentress and Caberston are good fun. Definitely worth finding

You’ll find all the stages on Strava.

Plus there is loads more around.

tbh As long as reasonably fit, GT red and black can be done in a day. Then Inners for a couple of laps plus a load of off-piste stuff is another day. A day at the ‘Golfie’, and then a another day on whichever you liked best 🙂

How big is the step up from Red-black at Glentress? Everyone is reasonably fit, and capable on the reds at BPW. Also, Is the Blue a fun ride?

Blue is great fun, very fast and flowy. The black is just a bit longer, but more remote and a bit rougher – not a huge step up from the red and actually just 16miles anyway. Should also mention that it’s not as much fun as the red or blue imo

Well, we had a ball!! In the end we stuck mainly to the way marked routes at GT and inners, with a little bit of exploring too.

Favourite section was the 1st descent from the top on Innerleithen Red.

You Tweed Valley locals are very lucky – apart from the squadrons of houseflies!