[Closed] A week Mountain biking in May; but where?

I'd vote for Scotland, May should be before the midges arrive. It's not as if it's only got a few places to ride either, hell you could ride somewhere different every day for a week just from Dunkeld.

Also where are you? As a week away could mean losing 2 days to travel if you're the other end of the country.

Ireland is surprisingly limited, quite hard work to get a selection of sites to ride without lots of driving around. Access restrictions are worse than England.
Agree about avoiding the midgies in (most of) May..
What sort of riding are you after? Forests, mountains, xc or all of them?

Kinlochleven, Kintail & Torridon..?
Deeside is gradually opening up after the winter storms, and by May, the big mountain routes like Lochnagar, Bhuird, Ben Avon & MacDhui should be more accessible.

IMHO May is the best month for Scotland. Better weather and less midgies in general.

The following is a mishmash of stuff I've done and stuff I want to do ( marked with an asterisk*)

I've included a few things that I know will be less popular with other posters ( the Gap and Sneachda) and excluded stuff like Glen Tilt which some people love, but I didn't, and Burma Road, which I have taken off my list after my Tilt experience)

This is all just my personal opinion, there are loads of people who know loads more, and some great info on my thread from last week:
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/must-do-and-snow-free-mtb-routes-in-scotland/

Clearly you won't be able to do all the following in a week, so either trim out destinations or rides at a destination:

Dunkeld
Either Dunkeld or Pitlochry Enduro trails.
Ben Vrackie

Braemar
Ben a Bhuird.
https://flic.kr/p/2mguiam
Lochnagar*
Loch Callater
Beinn Macdui and Coire Etchechan*

Ballater
Heartbreak Ridge and a few trails nearby
https://flic.kr/p/2mhGnJY
drive past the Lecht

Aviemore
Lairig Ghru ( top bit) with Coire an t sneachda & Chalamain Gap tagged on if you have tyre inserts and like rocky tech.
https://flic.kr/p/2mfy3mm
(Rothie Lodge start to the Ghru)
Cairngorm and Ben Macdui ( if you haven't done the Coire Etchachan route from Braemar)
https://flic.kr/p/2mfcQk7
https://flic.kr/p/2mfbqYU

Torridon
Applecross route
Main Torridon Loop ( but make sure you do the lower Coire lair to achnaschellach descent and not the LRT shown in the VB book)
Lollipop Route.*
Bein Damh ( if you like dogs)
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/anyone-else-fallen-foul-of-the-loch-damn-dogs/

down to Spean Bridge area
Beinn Fhadda Loop or summit *

Fort William Uplift*

Ciaran Path

Ben Lomond

Golfie

IMHO May is the best month for Scotland. Better weather and less midgies in general

+1

I hear Yorkshire's nice...

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/is-there-anything-else-im-missing-in-yorkshire/

🙂

Thanks for your replies especially @thegeneralist despite having been to Scotland riding at least five times in the last 20 years it reminds me how much more there is!

I'm hoping my brother can join me from Leeds so will look further afield than Yorkshire but the journey time is a factor given I will be in a Suzuki Carry so 50mph all the way and that is if it makes it!

Interesting thoughts from @highlandman about Ireland, sort of confirming what I thought though I guess it has broader appeal as I have never been there before.

Whilst no riding legends We are both experienced in big mountains and technical wise but basically trail riding is what we are looking for.

Any good options for short haul Europe? I would be interested to go to Ainsa I think. I've been to Finale and Molina before but may not have warmed up sufficiently for that by May (!) so need to be realistic about how much I would get out of a trip like that.

We're off to Slovenia for a week with Ride Slovenia in May. Might be worth giving them a shout to see what availability they have.
BasqueMTB run their Backcountry Pyrenees tours up to mid May, definitely worth a look

North Portugal, I live near the Spanish border and 40min from the coast, there are two bike parks nearby (Bike Park Ponte de Lima and Pe do Negro), there are absolutely hundreds of miles of tracks and quite a few marked trails. The scenery is stunning and there's always something of interest around the next corner! I'm loving it here so far and I've hardly scratched the surface. May would probably be a good time to visit too.

@keppoch - if you take the overnight Hull-Rotterdam/Zeebrugge ferry, then drive for 6hrs (it'd take that long to get to good bits of Scotland from Leeds) you'd have all Belgium, Luxembourg, the Vosges in France and the Black Forest accessible to you

I'm interested in the comments about access rights in Ireland vs England. I live in Dublin and I don't know the legalities, but the majority of official and unofficial trails are on Coillte (state forestry) land so access never seems a big issue (or else MTBers ignore the rules, I'm not sure).

Anyway I don't know if you'd find a weeks riding without a local to show you round. Are the above routes in Scotland marked on a map or signposted so you could follow yourself?

If I did try to do say 6 days riding in Dublin/Wicklow area I would suggest each of these has 3-4 hours of trail riding. A look on Trailforks might give an idea of the scale relative to your expectations.
1. The GAP (trail centre with uplift)
2. Ticknock + Tibradden + Cruagh wood (trail centre + natural trails)
3. Djouce + Ballinastoe (trail centre + natural trails)
4. Knockree/Curtlestown/Crone/Knocksink - maybe for locals only, but some amazing technical riding.
5. Carrick (enduro, hosted a round of EWS in the past)
6. Day trip to Slieve Blooms (trail centre with 55 km of new flowy trails) or Rostrevor (trail centre in NI with off piste/DH - not speaking from experience here.)Both 1.5 hr from Dublin.

Fly to Malaga from LBA and do a week with https://ridesierranevada.com/singletrack-holidays/

Have you considered Wales? So much riding there. South is my favourite bit so far - the north has loads of big rugged rocky riding around snowdonia national park which in gradually ticking off. I haven’t done mid Wales yet - the likes of Dyfi / Evan Valley.

If flying is an option how about Madeira? That place looks epic and isn’t too long a flight.

Depending on your definition of short haul, La Gomera in the Canaries. Not too much of a faff to get there (20 mins cab from Tenerife Sur airport to the ferry at Los Cristianos then an hour or so over to Santa Cruz) and it's stunning once you do. We traveled with two bike boxes and hired a VW Polo to get around. There's a guy who does some seriously good tours based in Valle Gran Rey.

Fly to Barcelona, hire car to Ainsa. Do some Pyrenees trails ?

Fly to Malaga and ride with Ciclo Montana 😉

We're off the Basque end of April, can't do the high pyrenees but back country is on. Not sure there would be much availability.

A week NW/SW maybe add FoD in would be excellent. But maybe quite a lot of driving / time spent in Suzuki Carry!

I'd go to Scotland, or maybe a Welsh road trip if you wanted to cut down on the mileage a little bit.

Whatever you decide, I salute you for doing it in a Suzuki Carry (used to drive one myself).

If I was gonna fly, I'd aim for the Italian Riviera, an outfit like RivieraBike will do airport collections & drop-offs and it's a stunning part of the world with great trails.

I'm doing 10 days in Finale in May and very much looking forward to it!