Basically got 4 days in Scotland i am planning a trip for and some accommodation. What would your 4/5 choices of trail centre be from this list?
1. Kirroughtree
2. Dalbeattie
3. Mabie
4. AE
5. Glentress
6. Innerleithen
7. Drumlanrig
any help would be greatly appreciated as its a bit of a trek from the place i have to stay so it needs to be worth the travel. 
None of the above.
They are trail centres - just like you find elsewhere. Why come to Scotland and do what you can do at home?
Gypsy Glen. Natural Innerleithen stuff. Ben Cleugh. Dumyat. North Third. One them Cairngorms I did the other week. Aviemore. Some ace trails there.
Hmmmmmmmmm
do you have trail centres that good in your area? However I would agree with Druidh that its worth doing more than just trail centres if you come up
Glentress is a fantastic facility with more trails than the others I think and a lot of variety.
how easy is it to do the natural routes?
i live in the south east but have done north Wales trail centre's
Can you read an OS map? Sense of adventure? As druidh says, go au naturelle as well as 'man made'...
There are some mental trails up near Aviemore..
Think it would be a shame coming up and not going to GT and Inners.. Both are cracking fun, even if it's manmade.
Could prob do both reds in a day if you're reasonably fit with lunch in between..
As much as there's good natural stuff elsewhere the two centres wouldn't need any planning and are almost right beside each other..
No brainer I would have thought.
My choices would be
Innerleithen
Kirroughtree
Drumlanrig
And G/T on a weekday when it isn`t overcrowded which make it unbearable imo.
tony24 - Memberhow easy is it to do the natural routes?
Depends on the route but I am sure someone will give you an outline of some routes - I would for the ones I know. many of them are fairly straightforward if you can read a map
When are you coming up? Weather also makes a difference as the trail centres are easier to do than natural in bad weather
I'd knock Mabie, Ae and possibly Tress off that list. All pretty unremarkable. Tress is busy and overated but if you're from south of the border you'll be used to that :D.
As the above said I'd go natural but if it's winter time keep the trail centres as a poor weather option. If you're coming further north Lagan is good and Golspie is excellent and could be combined with the Bonar Bridge trails.
Go find the 'secret' stuff at Glentress, easily the best parts there if trail centres are your thing. Loads of new single track sections at Innerleithen lately too. One I did was frickin' ace!
Glentress and Kirroughtree, then Innerleithen and AE or Mabie.
You'll get the debate over trail centres or natural but you can't go wrong with the centres. A lot of natural stuff is pretty boggy just now.
Every trail centre is different, if your further North then Lagan is fantastic (but short).
I find the "glentress is overrated" a remarkable attitude altho its not that uncommon. I think people get blase and forget just how good it is which is easy to do if yo have been a good few times
Even on a summer saturday or sunday its not that busy out on the trails
Shedloads of waymarked trails red blue adn black, plus the freeride / jump park adn all the non waymarked stuff
to me its a must do
Kirroughtree, Glentress + Innerleithen
As above others further north good as well but adds a whole load more driving into a four day trip
Kirroughtree
Glentress
Innerleithen
Drumlanrig
Not in that order 
Laggan, Golspie, Balblair etc are all great but much further north.
Gypsy Glen FTW, fantastic descent at the end.
I find the "glentress is overrated" a remarkable attitude altho its not that uncommon. I think people get blase and forget just how good it is which is easy to do if yo have been a good few times
I remember thinking that at one point, then going down and realising just how lucky I am to have one of the world's best mountain bike centres near to home.
As for the OP, Kirroughtree, Glentress and Laggan are all worth a trip. But do do the natural stuff too. Plenty websites and books with route descriptions, though at this time of year it can be a bit boggy. And wet. And dark. Still brilliant fun though.
2
3
4
& 7
imo
>how easy is it to do the natural routes?<
Relatively speaking - not easy. What hill experience do you have?
For me the best mtb experiences in Scotland don't really start until you are in the big hills firth of Perthsire but all the trails you mention offer great trail riding /you just follow your nose.
Cheers for the suggestions. I am going to look into finding some of the natural stuff on the net etc. the trip will be in the new year but i need to start the planning as i may have to get 10 of us up there and around.
I have no problems with hills i enjoy the climbing as much as the descents 90% of the time had no issues with the welsh hills. If anyone has any of the natural roots jotted down any chance they could send us a copy to my email address tony18@hotmail.co.uk
Cheers again.
This comes up again and again, the old natural versus trail cantre argument. Some people, myself included just can't spare the time to take wrong turns and yomp through bogs. If I had the opportunity to ride natural trails with a guide, I would choose that, but spending precious riding time reading maps is of no interest to me.
My advice to the OP would be Kirroughtree on day one, Mabie and Dalbeattie or Inners and Glentress on day two. Blag yourself a friendly local from here and get a couple of days riding natural trails
on the most appropriate routes for the weather conditions and enjoy the best of both worlds.
Wish I was going to Scotland!
Tony if there's 10 of you why don't you book in a Innerhaven in Innerleithen. Then you could look at GT/Inners and Andy will be able to advise you on some of the many natural routes as well.
There's nothing that guy doesn't know round here. He also does natural tours further North - very knowledgable.
Glentress area and do the local natural trails at the weekend. Singletrack had a selection of natural stuff in it recently. Gypsy Glen is a great ride, not too technical in ascent and a great downhill into Peebles.
None of the above.They are trail centres - just like you find elsewhere. Why come to Scotland and do what you can do at home?
Helpful. 
I can understand what people say about trail centres but I wouldn't miss riding dalbeattie or innerleithen any time I was near them.
If you have 4 days one day could be dalbeattie and Mabie, another could be innerleithen and glentress red. leaves you 2 days for the whole getting lost with a map malarky
+1 for Innerhaven if there is 10 of you... Andy has a load of info and advice
Also if your planning for the trip in the new year have a look at
Mountain bike routes in Scotland, Kenny Wilson
Bike Fax Scotland and the 7 Stanes
The Wild Trails, Phil McKane
Innerleithen is great. Particularly on an uplift day. Kirroughtree and Glentress are both really good too. Just because there is some great natural stuff in Scotland doesn't make the trail centre any less fun. In fact there are some amazing restaurants in Edinburgh. Why don't you leave the bike and just eat your own body weight in deep fried produce creme eggs instead?
Fort William/Laggan are only an hour-or-so away from each other, throw into the equation the Cairn Gorms routes available from Bothy Bikes in Aviemore or an OS map for natural stuff in the area.
I haven't been to many Scottish trail centres but Golspie is well worth a visit. Nice and quiet with superb views & downhill runs. Great cafe too.
If you do the climb on the black route you should win a t-shirt. I thought someone had switched the direction signs around.
Book an uplift day at Innerleithen and ride glentress the next. Ace. Bit of a drive but then do glencoe and fort william. Both trail centres but theres plenty natural stuff as well. Fw to kinlochleven springs to mind as does the devils staircase and the ciaran path as stand alone options.
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