7 days in scotland; where would you go?

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This topic has 31 replies, 22 voices, and was last updated 12 years ago by supafly1982.

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7 days in scotland; where would you go?
continuity
Free Member

A few close friends and I would like to go on a biking holiday. We’ll have two cars with roof racks. We’re from wales, and between us (some more than others) have probably ridden most of what it has to offer (on a reasonable budget – if it were expensive we’d fly to vaude and have at it).

If you had seven days, three friends, four xc/am bikes and wanted to experience as much of the best technical trail riding scotland has to offer (think welsh black routes like the raven trail, or the beast at coed), where would you go?

Bonus point if it’s a realistic plan that includes like, where you’d crash.

Posted 12 years ago

Nobeerinthefridge
Free Member

Harris, then torridon, then Cairngorms. You could ride that lot for a fortnight.

Posted 12 years ago

mafiafish
Free Member

Torridon, Skye, Fort Bill, Kinlochleven Ben Lomond/Trossachs, Cairngorms then maybe borders on way back (Inners, GT, Kirro etc)
Torridon miles = 3 normal miles though so don’t get too ambitious.

Posted 12 years ago

geoffj
Full Member

technical trail or technical trail centre? Your examples are trail centre routes.

For the former, Nobeerinthefrideg has it, although I’d add Skye to the list.
For the latter, Golspie, Nevis and Laggan should be on it.

Posted 12 years ago

KingofBiscuits
Free Member

Buy Kenny Wilsons book (or V Graphics Scotland MTB’ing) and take your pic 😉

Last year I rode Torridon (best ever ride me thinks), N W Highlands and Quiraing and Sligachan loops, Skye.

This year was a shorter trip so we stayed just outide Blair Athol and rode Glen Tilt. There were plenty of other routes I wanted to ride but we only had 4 days and (so I’m informed by the SO) it’s not a biking holiday 🙁

Hopefully heading back up there to tackle more natural stuff later this year. Probably Devils Staircase/Kinlochleven.

Loads of excellent riding, so much to chose from, you can’t go wrong really.

Posted 12 years ago

stevewhyte
Free Member

Sky etc is a long way in trems of travelling time, all depends on what you want from the holiday.

Stick to trail centres and you will get more riding in, go more natural and you will spend more time driving and finding places but will get some great views and rides.

trail centres will be less afftected by weather.

Maybe pick 1 really good natural ride and the a few trail centers.

Dont forget likes of Arran.

You could spend a nice day riding Inners then Glentress, or just Glentrees red then glentress blue.

Mabie is worth a go on the way home.

Some great rides around the Caingorms, be prepared to climb deer fences if you do.

Good luck, make sure you leave time to go to some great local cafes/restaurants.

Posted 12 years ago

continuity
Free Member

For the former, Nobeerinthefrideg has it, although I’d add Skye to the list.
For the latter, Golspie, Nevis and Laggan should be on it.

Put it this way; if you were going to wales for seven days and you had never been before, one wouldn’t want to miss spending a day in Brechfa and a day at Coed Y Brenin, even if you did enjoy natural technical trails.

So either is good, but as we only have 7 days we’d prefer not to spend most of it driving; and we are well aware that scotland is a lot bigger than Wales. A combination of the two would be great; one or two ‘back-country’ days, and a few days of trail centre fun.

Posted 12 years ago

KingofBiscuits
Free Member

Not a bad approach continuity. If I’m going away for the weekkend I generally ride 1 natural, 1 trail centre. Last one was Wales, so Pont Scethin and Climachx.

NW Highlands and Skye rides were covered over a 7 day period with travelling and relaxing in between. So you may want to focus on one area, for example Cairngorms as a base, so you have access to good examples of both.

For me Torridon (natural) is a must. As is Kirroughtree (TC). Everything else try and squeeze in and around.

Posted 12 years ago

chriswilk
Free Member

I’d head to Aviemore area for 3 days. 2 big days in the hills and a more gentle day at Laggan. A day at Fort Bill.
Stop off in the tweed valley on the way up or down for a couple of days, one at glentress and one at innerleithen.

Posted 12 years ago

TheWrongTrousers
Full Member

Somewhere warm and sunny. Barbados ?

Posted 12 years ago

druidh
Free Member

continuity – Member
Put it this way; if you were going to wales for seven days and you had never been before, one wouldn’t want to miss spending a day in Brechfa and a day at Coed Y Brenin, even if you did enjoy natural technical trails.

Really? Aren’t the natural trails in Wales any good then?

Posted 12 years ago

slowoldgit
Free Member

I’d suggest you wait to decide depending on the weather as you set out. If it’s perfect go to NW Scotland as mentioned. If it isn’t, then Cairngorms and thereabouts will have less rain.

Posted 12 years ago

mafiafish
Free Member

If you’re looking for black trails I wouldn’t bother with Glentress. Lagan is a must do though if you’re travelling between the West Coast and the Cairngorms. I would definitely sacrifice a few trail centres for the riding on Skye and around Torridon though, properly epic.

Posted 12 years ago

RRD
Free Member

I have to say that the distances involved in terms of driving rule out Skye and Torridon for me… I agree they are great routes but from Wales that is 2 days lost completely getting there and back.

I think the suggestion of heading to Aviemore (still a serious drive) with some stop offs for the Seven Staines/trail centres on route is worth it. You said that if you hadn’t biked in Wales some of the trail centres would be on your list. Therefore (applying the same logic) the following would be on my list:

Fort William
Laggan
Glentress and Innerleithen – As a group of friends I’d stay in Edinburgh and then have a night on the lash.
Kirroughtree – perhaps prohibitively out of the way (1 1/2hrs from the M74)

Posted 12 years ago

hugor
Free Member

Aren’t the natural trails in Wales any good then?

Loads of amazing natural rides in Wales. They just take a bit more effort and planning than following red or black signs around a forest.

Posted 12 years ago

nickjb
Free Member

Anybody got a link/map/gpx for Torridon routes?

Posted 12 years ago

Spin
Free Member

I’d head to Aviemore area for 3 days. 2 big days in the hills and a more gentle day at Laggan. A day at Fort Bill.
Stop off in the tweed valley on the way up or down for a couple of days, one at glentress and one at innerleithen.

That’s not a bad itinerary although I’d drop GT for Dalbeattie.

Posted 12 years ago

WillC9999
Free Member

Did something similar with a mate a few years back. Starting from Leeds we drove up to Glentress and did The Magic Carpet (red to Buzzard’s Nest, shortcut to top of black, black descent to bottom of Spooky Wood, back up to top of red, red to finish); then drove up to Carron Valley (OK, but probably wouldn’t go again); then ‘Gorms for epic XC (Loch Enich there and back speedfest), Ryvoan – Nethy circuit; Burma Rd; fair drive up to Golspie – because it is brilliant and beautiful setting – back to Laggan (other centres on the route that we didn’t do) then Fort Bill (new red might be up your street); Kinlochleven for the (impossible!) Ciaran descent; then back south via Mabie. Job done. Just don’t go anywhere near the abomination that is the Moray Monster.

Posted 12 years ago

hairyscary
Full Member

nickjb – Member
Anybody got a link/map/gpx for Torridon routes?

POSTED 2 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

Search this forum for Torridon and posts from StuartieC. He has the routes on his flickr page.

Posted 12 years ago

hairyscary
Full Member

Here you go.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/torridon-single-and-multi-day-routes

Posted 12 years ago

IainAhh
Free Member

I would also suggest heading to the Aviemore/Cairngorm area. There is lots of other stuff to do and campsites, beach, places to stay etc. Lagan is nearby, Inverness 30mins. It has lots of wild trails that are easy to get to. You could spend several days there doing different routes.

You would be going through/past the boarders so it would be good to go to a couple of trail centers on route.

Torridon is a wonderfully wild part of the world but remote. Likewise with Skye. It will take you realistically 1/2 day from the Inverness/Aviemore area just to get there. Having spent most of my childhood holidaying in the NW Highlands it is very weather dependent. Nice/ok weather great, lashing rain and wind not great at all, it could be anything from hot and sunny (suncream a must) to practically winter so take all your clothing etc. Biking in that area is more like hill walking but on a bike rather than on a bike trail. Fantastic views, beaches and scenery.

Posted 12 years ago

poly
Free Member

Biking in that area is more like hill walking but on a bike rather than on a bike trail. Fantastic views, beaches and scenery.

Or indeed like mountaineering on a bike. We should really come up with a name for that variant of cycling. I’d suggest Mountain Biking but unfortunately it seems to have been confused with riding your bike around a forest nowhere near a mountain!

Posted 12 years ago

Spin
Free Member

Torridon is a wonderfully wild part of the world but remote. Likewise with Skye. It will take you realistically 1/2 day from the Inverness/Aviemore area just to get there

Cobblers. 1.5 hours from Inverness to Torridon.

Biking in that area is more like hill walking but on a bike rather than on a bike trail.

This is true though.

Posted 12 years ago

druidh
Free Member

poly – Member
Or indeed like mountaineering on a bike. We should really come up with a name for that variant of cycling. I’d suggest Mountain Biking but unfortunately it seems to have been confused with riding your bike around a forest nowhere near a mountain!

Posted 12 years ago

Spin
Free Member

I had a giggle at that too.

The hillwalking comment is fair enough especially if you get off the beaten track but mountaineering is taking it a bit far.

Posted 12 years ago

theblackmount
Free Member

>Some great rides around the Caingorms, be prepared to climb deer fences if you do<

Nonsense – can’t immediately think of any of the main routes where that is necessary and I’ve done a few.

Pays to have plans A,B and C as weather is often a major factor.

Posted 12 years ago

CaptainMainwaring
Free Member

Try to include the islands in a 7 day trip will waste way too much time travelling for not enough return. If you want a combination of natural and trail centres, and you want to see what Scotland is really all about I would suggest 4 nights in Aviemore then a couple down south to do a couple of the big trail centres.

Aviemore has more natural riding than you could do in 2 weeks – everything from XC to very technical monsters. Laggan is about 30 mins away, Fort William is a bit over an hour, and if you get stonking weather its only about 2 hours to Torridon, so doable for a day ride. So lots of choices for all weathers. Head south for the last couple of days. I know nothing about the trail centres but plenty of people can help you with those

Edit – I’ll second the comment about deer fences. Whoever made that comment clearly has never ridden there. I’ve done loads of Aviemore area rides and never had to climb one fence

Posted 12 years ago

martinxyz
Free Member

Torridon,or more a case of Coulags/achnashellach,is only about 1 hour 10 mins from Inverness. It’s not 1/2 a day to get there. Basically an extra 15 mins or so more than driving from Inverness to Golspie..

Take yer pic.;O)

Posted 12 years ago

stevewhyte
Free Member

I guess I just ride in different places, first time I went riding up there was nearly 20 years ago and have been there at least once every couple of years. There are many places where you need to climb fences or get hold of the gate keys.

Posted 12 years ago

druidh
Free Member

It’s a long, long time since I came across a barred track or path in the Cairngorms.

Posted 12 years ago

theblackmount
Free Member

Steve – sorry I’ve done a sh1tload of riding in the ‘Gorms and your post is really misleading.

For sure if you want to pedal around in circles in Abernethy,Rothiemurchus, Feshie/Inshriach and over in Invercauld / Ballochbuie then you will encounter locked gates / no styles etc but the vast majority of these are on unmarked logging tracks. The fact is if you are following the trails marked on the OS map then I really cannot think of anywhere you will encounter a problem.

Last problem I encountered was over in Rannoch about 2 years ago. Bloody great big locked gate, a deer fence style that was all but designed to make it impossible to lift bikes over and a very large ‘no bikes’ sign. This was on a forest road. I reported the landowner to the access officer @ P&KC and got the matter dealt with.

Bottom line the OP is not going to have any problems with gates and fences.

Posted 12 years ago

supafly1982
Free Member

Plenty here fella http://www.mtbtrails.info/Trail_main_page.aspx

Posted 12 years ago