[Closed] Birthday Plans In Scotland?

All the 7 stanes would be a good trip away

What about a Coast to Coast for a week - a proper sample, of some amazing adventurous riding, and a great achievement?
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Ah, gwahn

How much of coast to coast offride?

Depends on route....

And Time vs distance - far more time off road, but distance on ours was maybe 30%ish IIRC

All the 7 stanes would be a good trip away

Nah. Do a couple and some natural stuff. Lots more to Scotland that just the 7 Stanes.

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One of the chaps is always on about going to Fort William - excuse naivity but is this going to be just downhill territory? ❓

That's a given BB 😉

You can do a coast to coast all offroad in a day. Ullapool to Bonar bridge. In a long weekend you could easily do both a trail centre - say laggan and a long day in the mountains - say Beinn a ghlo.

What sort of riding? Carn ban mor is a big climb for a fantastic downhill. You have fort william with the red and black DH runs. there is a network of estate roads right into the remote and scenic areas for non gnarly riding?

I suppose I would want a mix of scenic XC and good singletrack - thinking along the singletrack lines of Whytes Level, The Wall etc.... as only point of reference.

Oh yes and perfect weather to top it off......not asking too much am I 😀

Innerleithen, Kirroughtree, Drumlainrig, Gypsy Glen, Dumyat, North 3rd, Carn Ban Mor, Rothiemurchus Estate, Ben Cleugh is all good stuff. 😀

Right - here is your itinerary. Thurs drive to Peebles. Friday ride GT / Innerleithan. Sat drive to fortwilliam stopping off for a lap or two at laggan. Sun red and black downhills. Monday one of the xc rides - Beinn a Ghlo perhaps. tuesday drive south

Looks like may have to be a month long trip!
Will def look into your itinerary TJ, description sounds ideal.
(don't let this comment put you other STW'ers coming up with alternative suggestions)

mrben - there are many folk better qualified than me to give you route advice. You need to decide what and where and how much driving you want to do.

Right - here is your itinerary. Thurs drive to Peebles. Friday ride GT / Innerleithan. Sat drive to fortwilliam stopping off for a lap or two at laggan. Sun red and black downhills. Monday one of the xc rides - Beinn a Ghlo perhaps. tuesday drive south

Or. Thursday drive to kirroughtree ( has to be done, by far the best man made trail in UK), .Friday same as TJ suggests. What you could do though is post a STW ride for Saturday, see who wants to join and ask for details. Stuartie C and Mcmoonter know alot and they could prob advise on a route. I'd defo do Torridon again for sure, 20 mins of downhilling is great in one go. Sunday do fort bill red DH and witches trails, Monday hit Laggan, tues head home ( via Ae maybe or Mabie)??

Mrben, Fort William is an amazing place to ride now with the red lift assisted route, but the season ends in mid september and I think there's a race on one of the september weekends too so it might not suit your timing.

I'd say 2 or 3 days in the east- Innerleithen and Glentress, GT can be 2 days- and then 2 days in the west for Kirroughtree and Drumlanrig. And at least one proper non-purpose-built ride if you can. If you're only doing a weekend then Kirroughtree and Drumlanrig would be perfect for you I think.

If you're only doing a weekend then Kirroughtree and Drumlanrig would be perfect for you I think.

I'd second that vote. The two best trail centres in Scotland, in my opinion only.

How about appeal for people with local knowledge of certain areas then do a couple of day sin them. I reckon that you caould have a week just around GT area only do GT and inners once each ride completely different routes each day with the right local knowledge. I'm sure the sam ecan be said for other areas.

Kirroughtree - Dalbeattie - Ae (three in two days) up to Fort William, then GT/inners (2-3 days with local knowledge and natural trails) that's probably a week of grins right there.

I'd second that vote. The two best trail centres in Scotland, in my opinion only.

[url= http://www.whsmith.co.uk/CatalogAndSearch/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=9780948153815 ]This - from here (not many available elsewhere)[/url]

Get a copy of Kenny Wilson Mountain Bike Scoland - and make your plans. You will never want to go to a tail centre again 😀

Do the odd day-trip/weekend in Wales but due to distance and how good it's meant to be, feel Scotland deserves a bit longer.

So how far south are you?

eg Dumfries 7Stanes are 3hrs from Manchester. Add another 1hr to get to Kirry & GT.
Suggest you get a road map out, use a net route planner to find out distance/time etc and decide how much time driving you want to do.

There is more to Southern Scotland than the 7Stanes. You do need to know where to go and be able to read a map. There are no bridleways btw, or at least no green dotted lines, only black.

As kevinkona says. Mabie & dalbeattie are my speciality 😉

Whilst on the way up you will be passing a lot of good riding such as the Peaks, Lakes and Howgills. Shame to miss out on some of that.

Andy at
http://go-where.co.uk/
might be able to help you out, or
the other Andy at
http://www.mb7.com/MTB_selfguided.htm
would be worth a try too.
If you want to let somebody else do some of the planning for you that is.

Second Kirroughtree as a trail centre to visit, and also borrowing someone from here (stuartie_c...?) for a natural ride guide, and post it on here as an STW ride so we can help you celebrate 🙂

No, no no. Do not aim for trail centres. Although good, they are man made, and just bigger versions of what you get anywhere. To really experience why Scotland is always voted one of the world's top mountain bike destinations you have to go north and go natural.

If you don't want to spend lots of time moving accomodation, you should stay in Aviemore. Stunning scenery and more singletrack and big descents than you could do in a month. From there you could easily do a day in Ft William, and half a day at Laggan would be worthwhile if the weather was not being kind.

CaptainMainwaring - Member
No, no no. Do not aim for trail centres. Although good, they are man made, and just bigger versions of what you get anywhere. To really experience why Scotland is always voted one of the world's top mountain bike destinations you have to go north and go natural.

If you don't want to spend lots of time moving accomodation, you should stay in Aviemore. Stunning scenery and more singletrack and big descents than you could do in a month. From there you could easily do a day in Ft William, and half a day at Laggan would be worthwhile if the weather was not being kind.

Might be better re-reading the OP post. He/they appear to be Welsh trail centre day trippers and may not have the required fitness, wilderness and map reading skills to do what you suggest all by themselves.
My own experience of people who ride the Welsh centres is that they really struggle with ours(Stanes anyway)

It's been mentioned a couple of times - Stirling area (Dumyat, Ben Cleuch etc.) is phenomenal, drop into Laggan on the way up to Aviemore if you need to do the trail centre thing (black's a bit harder than most and reds are fun) and then spend some time in Aviemore - Sluggan singletrack, Ryvoan Pass and Lairig Ghru or all great and easy to navigate.

Trekster, that was not what the OP said.

Do the odd day-trip/weekend in Wales but due to distance and how good it's meant to be, feel Scotland deserves a bit longer.

The point about Aviemore is that you have a million choices to fit your skill/fitness levels, and the scenery there and on the journey is pure Scotland. Basic mapreading skills are fine for most outings. Easy to get to Ft William but nothing like the amount of rain. Also Bothy Bikes brilliant for advice and kit/bits.

I also love Braemar/Ballater area but less accessible, fewer easy trails and IIRC no really good bike shops if you break stuff.

Going up the west coast above Fort William is stunning but hell of a haul and even more remote

I think if you have more than a couple of days riding in Scotland it is well worth doing some / one of the trail centres. However I would make the focus the natural riding.

Avimore area is perhaps the best considering all factors for "natural" riding but some basic navigation skills are useful ( or post up for stwers to show you around)

Stirling area stuff is good - but its not as good as the highlands. If you are travelling a distance then you can do much better that stirling

Alot to catch up on - been off-line all day.

I know that we aren't going to be able to cover the whole of Scotland in on visit. Just looking for a mix of everything. Obviously what to get a good feel first time round to want to go back - seem to recall its about 9 hour drive.

As much as I love the trails (for info, based in deepest darkest east anglia - a day trip to Afan for instance around 10 hours driving with pick-ups etc) my favourite ride of all time was actually doing the london-brighton off-road, first year the bhf ran the event I think - so do appreciate the natural stuff.

Having said that will be completely lost unless specifically marked routes - but that's part of the fun.

Trekster - fitness levels fairly good all round the london to brighton was 70 miles IIRC, do you mean endurance or sheer physicality of the terrain.

May well see if 'locals' are about nearer the time as impromptu guides, with of course the payment of a cake and a pint (or 2 - birthday celebrations and all that)

Cheers for the feedback so far - some real food for thought. Read reviews in magazines but never as good as throwing it open to a forum IMO.

also borrowing someone from here (stuartie_c...?) for a natural ride guide, and post it on here as an STW ride so we can help you celebrate

Cheers Jimmy.

Good idea - if you can firm up some dates it would make sense to incorporate it into an STW Scotland ride. We had some beauties last year to places like Torridon, Glen Clova etc. and I've got some plans for this year too.

I tend to be limited to weekends being a teacher but would be happy to come up with a plan given plenty of notice, even if it's just a day.

Cheers,

SC

Which brings us back to local knowledge. Who can say that every ride they have done on natural stuff straight off the map has been great. So its either trail centres for guaranteed fun or grab a local or i suppose get mapped routes from someone.

Kev - I know where you are coming from. the marvellous looking 5 mile dh on the map that turned into a five mile hike across the heather comes to mind

Been there and still do that occasionaly 😆

But if I was to do a holiday I think I would like to maximise my time on the bike

that picture at the start of this post doesnt really tell the whole story the other side of that picture is theeeeeeeeee worst hike a bike ever, its even tough walking up there without a bike shaped object.I would stick to 7 stanes unless you can meet up with some other STW locals.Just heading in the the hills you will get fed up with ghost trails on maps which are not there.There also has been alot of trails washed out with the rain and snow melt that is still going on.Oh and then there is the weather

Whatever natural route the OP ends up doing, or wants to do, there will no doubt be somewhere on here who has done it and so'll be able to advise what it's like. That's the beauty of the forum!

A mix of manmade and natural would be my recommendation, doing the manmade stuff en route or back from up north where the best riding is.

SF - sent you a DCC PM re. next Thu.

Or one of the well known routes such as beinn a ghlo circuit - but local knowledge is best for sure

Received stu - cheers. Should make it.

MrBen,

Think it was MBR that had an article recently on taking the sleeper train up to Aviemore for a MTB weekend.

As said before it is a brilliant area for the bike and the trails are an easy ride from the town ( Or closer still if you shell out for the Coylumnbridge hotel).

Laggan is close, cant remember if the folk from there will pick you up from Aviemore, think they can ?

The weather is much more stable than Ft Bill. Stunning scenery at both though.