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That car club thing is a brilliant idea, never heard of it before...
Trossachs has loads of natural steep off piste.
Ignore the pedant in the house, the rest of us knew what you meant.
I'll also add that I live just outside Edinburgh, to the south, which I love. But having spent the day at Birnam and Dunkeld I reckon I could be just as happy somewhere near Perth.
As per the mrs, we'd never really associated Yorkshire with sushi. Did Huddersfield or Northallerton change that much - I've not been back for a while..
I picked that because I happened to have sushi the night before from one of the three sushi places (that I know of) in the city centre, which is about the same distance from my house as the edge of a national park. Don't think I've ever been to Northallerton. Huddersfield is much the same as I've always known it, although I don't know it well.
They aren't natural because a bunch of guys, including me, have made them.
Are they easy to find?
I have the solution to your not wanting to own a car - the Scottish Government is a supporter of car clubs and electric vehicles.
Do you think Nicola Sturgeon would mind if I put a bike rack on the back of one of the cars and then (later) put my muddy self inside the car?
Are they easy to find?
*cough*Strava*cough*
The Edinburgh one has vans in the price list.
Opusone,
Nicola won't care as they are run by a private venture (the Edinburgh one was recently bought by enterprise). If you leave the car in a state you'll get a bill, but a bit of common sense (or an old sheet) and you'll be fine. It's expensive for more than a day,though.
The Co-wheels vans in Aberdeen are all boarded out with ply so bikes are welcome. [url= http://www.co-wheels.org.uk/locations ]Locations[/url]
The other good thing is you can be a member in one place and pick up a car in others (eg be a London member of [url= https://www.citycarclub.co.uk/ ]City Car Club[/url], get a train to Edinburgh and book and pick up a car there).
There is discussion of putting bike racks on cars too - but none that I know of yet. Tarps and ikea bags for muddy gear... it can be done. Or there's the van option.
i think its fair to say that the mot scottish cities have major stuff to offer a mountain biker looking at a city base. my vote is for edinburgh because, as others have mentioned you got the pentlands on your doorstep. and the lammermuirs and moorfoors for exploring. glen tress and inners a quick drive south and an hour north/west you are in the highlands. its very easy to cycle out the city and be somewhere remote within an hour. cycling infrastructure is getting there as well.
the other thing to factor is all the other city stuff going on in edinburgh itself. having lived in aberdeen and glasgow as well as edinburgh it wins on all fronts. glasgow was horrible in terms of cycling out the city and aberdeen had some beautiful trails if a little limited.
edinburgh
i think its fair to say that the mot scottish cities have major stuff to offer a mountain biker looking at a city base. my vote is for edinburgh because, as others have mentioned you got the pentlands on your doorstep. and the lammermuirs and moorfoors for exploring. glen tress and inners a quick drive south and an hour north/west you are in the highlands. its very easy to cycle out the city and be somewhere remote within an hour. cycling infrastructure is getting there as well.the other thing to factor is all the other city stuff going on in edinburgh itself. having lived in aberdeen and glasgow as well as edinburgh it wins on all fronts. glasgow was horrible in terms of cycling out the city and aberdeen had some beautiful trails if a little limited.
edinburgh
+1 for this summary. Stirling, IMO, probably has the best riding on its doorstep of all the Scottish urban centres. Dundee has it's charms and is potentially on the up. Inverness would be cool as a base but it is a long way from anywhere and probably lags on the cosmopolitan stakes.
there are a load of sneaky downhill and enduro trails at loch lomond side
is intruiged. Will need to do some looking into that for when I'm over in Helensburgh
[i]Dundee has it's charms and is potentially on the up.[/i]
Lots of places across the UK are [b]potentially on the up[/b]...
Based on often visiting an office of ours just north of Dundee it doesn't come across as somewhere with good biking 'straight out of the door'.
Doesn't look like you can go wrong does it?
Glasgow is by far the biggest city, but if you get sent there, don't worry, there's plenty of good trails within riding distance, and some decent expeditions using a train as well. You'll be fine.
I live in Edinburgh and can be riding in the hills in 20 mins ride from the flat door, I think there's some great riding there, it just isn't enduro or good for bragging about how gnar you are. Tweed valley 45 mins or so, which is nice. Glasgow puts you closer to 'proper' mountains perhaps, Ben Lomond is an awesome after-work ride. Stirling has great riding on the door step too. Inverness is close to where I grew up and can't be beaten for the range of mountains and biking available nearby, the town centre is slowly dying though, in terms of your sushi lifestyle.
Without a car there'll always be some kind of compromise though.
I live in Edinburgh and can be riding in the hills in 20 mins ride from the flat door,
This is also true for where I live in Yorkshire and I've always thought that I was a bit spoiled to have great riding on the doorstep and an art house cinema within walking distance. I guess there are other good places.
There's *some* MTB in Dundee but not as good as Edinburgh, Perth or Inverness for that by a long stretch. I wouldn't ecommend it to the OP.
As I've said, it's surprisingly good for city stuff though (it has been on the up ever since Wellcome built a huge centre there).
Stirling's not a bad shout if you're happy to get the train South for more cultured stuff. The riding there is probably the best 'city' riding I've done in Scotland.
I think most Scottish 'cities' have good riding on their doorstep. One comment 'glasgow was horrible in terms of cycling out the city' tbh I don't think it is too bad. eg You can ride from the City Centre to the West Highland Way without having to ride on a road.
If you're the wanting the best riding you'll probably need to drive.
Glasgow and Edinburgh for city experience. The rest are just big towns.
Glasgow is a better shout if you were looking for a location that is well placed for getting to good biking - tweed valley, Stirling, aviemore only a couple of hours, north lakes even less than that etc...
But.... I wouldn't move there if I planned to ride from the city, yes you can get to the WHW from the city centre, but it's not exactly the fun part of the way, and Mugdock is not bad, pretty much like any big towns local woodland.
Move to Bridge of Allan and make yer own sushi.
You can't argue with the riding from Bridge of Allan. Stirling town centre looked a bit run down last time I visited. Shame really.
Yeah cycling out of Glasgow is OK. And cycling in Glasgow is better than Edinburgh, wider streets and less hills and cobbles.
Also from Glasgow, you can easily get to the west coast and islands. One short train, a short ferry, a hilly cycle and another short ferry and you're on Islay 😀
Edit: one more short ferry may be required but tarbet is nice.