Fort William alternative for blue trail riders

Hi,

I had a great weekend all planned with my 8 year son, a big drive up to Scotland to ride Fort William, only to actually check and the chair accessed route, Blue Doon, is out of action.

Can any one recommend any thing else up that way, that has blues, ideally uplifted to some degree?

Cheers

The closest thing I can think of in Scotland the bus uplift at Glentress, the blues are really good but the actual uplift is pretty limited compared to nevis.

There’s the Cairngorm uplift but I’ve never been there, the tracks are really short I think.

TBH it’s something we don’t do very well up here! BPW is so much better as a blues/easier reds proposition for uplift.

The actual blues at Fort William are great – Witches Trails, down behind the main building.  Self powered though, not accessed via the gondola.

(*assuming they’re still there, I’ve not been for a couple of years)

It’s possible to do a short loop on the WHW from Blarmafoldach to the Braveheart car parkI do it regularly and I am neither fit nor skilled . You do need to allow for it being a bit more remote and there are walkers  so, know your first aid, charge your phone take a map . The road out to the start is hilly though .

This is the obvious alternative with an 8 year old i think…

https://www.cairngormmountain.co.uk/mountain-biking/

Maybe an option for one day for you to hire a eBike somewhere, and buy/borrow one of those stretchy tow ropes?

Never noticed the bit about your eight year old, that kind of rules out my suggestion earlier on

Leisure ride option. IIRC this is an easy bit of the Great Glen way. Start somewhere inbetween if it’s too long, like Invergarry. Book bikes onto one of the buses to return.

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/fortwilliam/laggan-fort-augustus.shtml

Mind pads for the wee yin, a few loose sections, and we dont want a skinned knee to spoil the day.

Mmm, I think Fort William’s a good riding location without the uplift, but I wouldn’t do the OP’s big drive just for normal riding there. If the question was “oh no we’re going to fort william and the blue uplift’s ****ed” I’d say ride there anyway, but when the options are wide open I wouldn’t.

While we’re on the topic and not wanting to steer too far off… are there any recommended flow trails in Scotland within shout of a hire place?

Aiming to spend a week or two there next early summer and my lads’ preference will be flow but happy to pedal up if necessary.

Tarland? There’s a shop in the village, but not sure if they hire.

Hmmm, bugger, I was thinking of heading up there later this year with my brood.

Does anyone have any idea how long the Blue Doon will be out of action for and when it will reopen?

OP. where are you driving from?

While we’re on the topic and not wanting to steer too far off… are there any recommended flow trails in Scotland within shout of a hire place?

Like Northwind says. Tarland. Cycle Highlands in Ballater are good for hire. It’s about 8-10 miles from the trails though. Less than an hour from there you have Glenlivet with hire on site. The new lower flow trails are great and there’s hire on site plus a new high ropes course opening. Old blue is also fun with not too much climbing plus the full on jump trail if you’ve good riders. Neither place has an uplift though.

Not wanting to throw a spanner in the works, but the Blue Doon isn’t a ‘blue’ trail like a blue flow or blue xc trail…it is definitely more technical and rough – enjoyable, but if the 8 year old is riding blue flowy xc trails, this will be a change for them.

Saying that, I know several 8 year old who are outriding me down it so I’m probably way off with my flagging.

I am coming up from near Aylesbury. Going to be walking Ben Nevis whilst up there, and visit family, so all is not lost!

The 8 year old is used to rough technical tracks, but he will have to do Blue Doon next time.

Might have a look at the other blue trails around Fort William.

Cheers all

While we’re on the topic and not wanting to steer too far off… are there any recommended flow trails in Scotland within shout of a hire place?

Aiming to spend a week or two there next early summer and my lads’ preference will be flow but happy to pedal up if necessary.

You won’t go wrong with Glentress. Loads of new blue-graded flow trails. Bike hire on-site and an uplift (albeit limited).

If it was this weekend you were planning on that trip, it’s the BDS, so gondola will be closed to all riders other than those racing.

He’s going to have to be pretty strong to manage the climbs, but there are great flow trails (way better than Blue Doon, which is pretty pish tbh) in Aberdeenshire.  Check out Tarland Trails (both the original and much bigger new trails), Birse Forest and then there is a new set of fun trails immediately north of Banchory (only about a 3-5 minute lap, but great fun for a few hours).

Q: Would I drive all that way myself, if I lived down south?  Possibly not – it’s quite a drive, but much nicer riding than Nevis (especially for an 8 year old).

If your ‘must have’ is uplift, then it would probably be best to head to Wales.

@hatter
Hmmm, bugger, I was thinking of heading up there later this year with my brood.

Does anyone have any idea how long the Blue Doon will be out of action for and when it will reopen?

I was told pretty much the entire season a couple of weeks back.

We were chatting to the lad in the bike shop when we went to the WCDH and he was saying the damage over the winter has been really bad and it won’t be open for most of the year.

Other ‘family friendly’ stuff nearby would be Laggan – their new trails are more flowy, and keep close to the cafe, so easy to manage in chunks.

Like Northwind says. Tarland. Cycle Highlands in Ballater are good for hire. It’s about 8-10 miles from the trails though. Less than an hour from there you have Glenlivet with hire on site.

Cycle Highlands don’t do hire bikes.  Bike Bothy in Tarland do (I think), or else Bike Station in Ballater.

the damage over the winter has been really bad and it won’t be open for most of the year.

Huh, that is an embuggerance

Thanks for the intel.

hatter
Full Member

Does anyone have any idea how long the Blue Doon will be out of action for and when it will reopen?

They just don’t really know at this point, was what I was told. Partly because up til the world cup and just after pretty much all their attention is on gettign the dh track ready (and then fixing it after) and everything else just gets the minimum possible. So at the moment there’s a bunch of closures, not just the big blue but also part of the lower blue climb, blue steel which comes down from the end of the blue doon (and is absolutely brilliant), some of the “semi official unofficial” stuff near the lift, and there’s also a fair bit that’s just a bit shonky like hanging trees on the red climb that normally would have been handled already.

The blue doon has winter damage up top and tree damage down low, and the final descent where the windblow mostly is will be hard to divert too I reckon since it basically hands on the side of the hill. But also I think they really want to take the opportunity to improve the upper section rather than just building it back how it was. The guy I spoke to said they’d always had plans to evolve it and improve it over time like with the other uplift trails, he definitely wanted to rebuild better rather than just fix it.

If you’re travelling from Aylesbury and want some blue trails, call in to Cannock.

Northwind – thats surely what everyone was hoping for and probably/possibly the plan all along. Here’s hoping, that would make a grand day out, warming up on the Blue and working your way upwards 🙂