I'm off to Dumfries at the end of June, so which of the stanes should I be doing? We will be riding for three to four days. Also any good campsites around?

cheers.

That reads to me as Which are the best stones in Dumfries. I suppose there are lots of stones in Dumfies

kiroughtree is the best imho
i also like Ae(lots of people dont)
drumlanrig is also well worth a visit if you like natural trails( not really a stane tho)

I went up there a month or so ago with some mates and we stayed here: http://www.gorsebank.com – was a pretty nice place to stay – about 3-400m from the trails at Dalbeattie.

We did Kirroughtree on the first day & were really looking forward to it, and while it was OK we didn't find it as great as we'd heard. It won the MBR UK trail centre award, but we thought it was a bit dis-jointed.
We then did Dalbeattie the day after & it was fantastic. Much better than Kirroughtree; more flowing and natural feeling.

Only other trail centres I've been to in Scotland are Glentress & Innerleithen, which are both good but if I had to choose one I would go for Innerleithen over Glentress.

Would tend to agree with stumpy01, when I've been up, me and Mrs friendlynorthernbloke tried Kirroughtree, Mabie and Dalbeattie, the wife likes Kirroughtree (flowing in parts and not too demanding), work was going on at Mabie so couldn't ride all of it, but Dalbeattie to me had the most natural feel and with us stopping in Kippford just opposite, I was up before the wife and out on the trail most mornings.

if you are there for 3 or 4 days you could ride the lot. Newcastleton I wouldn't travel to specifically but would be worth a detour on the way up (assuming you are travelling from England).

If you can face the extra hour north Innerleithen is my favourite. Dont be tempted by the fireroads of Glentrool, utterly pointless. Dalbeattie and Mabie definites for the list and nice and close together

and + 1 for Kipford holiday park, definitely one of the best campsites in the area and not too bad for midges

+1 Drumlanrig

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/drumlanrig-is-it-just-me

30 : 1 ratio of like to dislike 🙂

We ended up at Kipford Holiday Pk too and great – recommend it. Trails wise Kirroughtree was my favourite, nice variety of flowing singletrack, epic scenery, McMoab etc. Worth riding 'The Slab' at Dalbeattie just to say you've done it!

Forgot to say Drumlanrig is well worth a visit, nice gardens, heather house and apparently the oldest Douglas Fir.

Oh almost forgot I think there might be some trails there too!

i left a lovely stane on a tree in galloway forest park one day when i wasnt quick enough to the toilet. i recommend you find that

We then did Dalbeattie the day after & it was fantastic. Much better than Kirroughtree; more flowing and natural feeling.

Funny, I'd say the exact opposite, but that's the good thing about the Stanes – each one is a bit different and there's something for everyone!

Thanks for 'most' of your replies. The plan is to drive up very early from the shire and get an afternoon/early evening of riding, then two full days and do Cannock chase on the way home. Inners is tempting as I have done the DH there many times, but I want to keep driving to a minimum.

Kirroughtree is a definite, as is Dalbeattie. After reading recent posts about Drumlanrig I am tempted to try it out. Ae forest XC loop didn't overly impress me, but I was completely overbiked, so it was an awful lot of effort.

Drumlanrig is very much worth the trip, it's also doable as a shorter ride. I love Kirroughtree, won't pass up a chance to ride there, some of it's a bit ordinary but other bits are fantastic, love McMoab and Talnotry Hill and the last bit of red.

Jason. I hope you single spad Kirroughtree? and Drumlanrigg is SS heaven with Rick being one of the good guys. Hows tricks ? Are you doing SSUK muca. You would be most welcome to party with Yoda's crew.

My twopenneth – we have just got back from a week away up there where me and the lad managed to ride Ae (3rd time for me, first for him) and enjoyed it. Bit long for him, the poor love, and a bit big jumpy at the end for me. I did manage to concuss myself, break my helmet and damage my back there once. Still, fun.
We also did Mabie, never been before. Liked it a lot. I think the good weather helped but even so.
Did Kirroughtree once but it was hard work on a SS and I broke my rib and cut my knee open there so I have a bit of a downer on the place!
Did some of the Newcastleton trails as part of thr Kielder 100 last year and they were great!

Bit of a biased opinion here since I live within biking distance of Ae and Mabie. I like em all for different reasons 😆

If you are driving a long distance may I suggest, since you are not keen and likely to miss out Ae, you do the extra 1/2hr drive up to Drum, stopping in Thornhill for some grub @ Thomas Tosh cafe or 1 of the other 2.

Now if you had/have OS 78 I am sure Rik could point you in the direction of some proper biking 😆
proper bikning

That should satisfy day 1.

Take the drive over to Kirry for day 2(1hr from Dumfries), maybe do black, lunch followed by red.

Day 3 = Dalbeattie and Mabie(shedburger a must eat)

Oh aye, and be aware that the Shed @ mabie shuts on a Thursday. Grr..

Nowthen Nick, everythings good ta! not gonna be able to do SSUK due to a wedding in Burythorpe and night do in Suds of all places on that weekend.
Will have to sort an outing with you guys one weekend soon, I've gone and turned my On-One into a 69er and it could do with a good run out, very niche!

agreee 100% with stumpy almost like for like what happened to me

What are folks opinions on the best base for a week of riding in D&G? It sounds like Dalbeattie is within striking distance of several Stanes but what is it like for non-bike related facilities like food and drink?

Cheers

Dogsby

When we went last year there was parking and a hose, but no toilets or cafe or owt. Town's very close by though, so we did the blue in the morning (lots of fireroad -_-), went into down for lunch, and went back and did the red in the afternoon.

What is the town of Dalbeattie like for off the bike activities?

D

What is the town of Dalbeattie like for off the bike activities?

a bit rubbish

Kirroughtree and Dalbeattie are my favourite stanes in D&G.

When people say that they don't think that Kirroughtree flows, it makes me think that they must have a completely different understanding of what flow means than I do.

I can sort of understand where they're coming from, there's a couple of places on the black especially where it's singletrack-singletrack-flight of stairs-singletrack and it's easy to get knocked out of your groove on stuff like that. I think probably riding style and skill plays a big part, first time I went I loved it but didn't find it that flowy, second time I'd grown a lot as a rider and obviously knew the trail a bit too and it made such a difference.