At the end of this month I’ll be on holiday just north of Dumfries. Might be taking my bike along… Can anyone recommend good mtb trails in the area? I’ll have a car and can travel shortish distances.

Dumfries is close to several trail centres. Mabie and Drumlanrig are probably the closest but Ae and Dalbeattie aren’t far and Kirroughtree is about an hour away.

There’s very likely to be lots of natural riding in the area but I don’t know about any of it I’m afraid.

Sounds good 🙂

Say I had 1 day, or more likely half a day to escape from the family and go riding, what’s your pick?

Ae its closest and is a very good centre

If you only have half a day then Drumlanrig or Mabie as close so minimal travelling time. Otherwise Kirroughtree. Sticking to one of the trail centres will give you easier navigation.

I haven’t been for a while but always found Mabie and Ae good fun, Kirroughtree is also good but more natural and wild feeling (good if you want to escape from reality for a bit).

Kirroughtree is also good

Agreed, but nearly 50 miles away.

Go to Mabie, if you wanna follow a decent flowy route, some nice unmarked stuff too.

I was south of Dumfries on holiday a couple of weeks ago. You are spoilt for choice really.

I did Mabie, Dalbeattie, dragged my bike up Criffel and did a nice coastal ride from Rockcliffe.

If you have kids then a day out at Mabie is highly recommended, take the kids to Mabie Farm Park and go ride the trail centre.

Mabie’s not the last word in Gnar but its a beautiful forest and some bits of the red route are just an absolute riot.

+1 Mabie if you’re only doing one ride.

It’s just a nice fun, flowy trail centre in a lovely forest.

There’s excellent off-piste as well, if you like that kind of thing, which holds up much better than Ae in the wet.

Considering the quality of the trails, I’m always surprised it doesn’t get ridden more. I’ve had four rides there this year while on my hols – and picked up a few “local legends” on Strava.

I do this most years (I think I’ll be there the same time as you this time too) staying in lochmaben.

I normally go out 3 mornings over the course of the week getting up early and getting home before 9am.

My order of preference is Drumlanrig, Mabie, Dalbeattie, Ae.

I’ve done Ae and Mabie on the same morning once, although earlier in the year so I was at the trailhead at 5am in daylight.

If you’ve got a whole morning to play with you could comfortably do Drum and Mabie. Ae and Dalbeattie are a harder ride physically but still fun in their own way.

Kirroughtree is the best, but it’s miles away from Dumfries and a long ride if you do the black too, which you probably should.

This year my fitness is crap and I’m already tired so I’ll probably only do 2, but I’m not sure which one will get the chop along with Ae

Ae is basically two different places, in terms of quality trails, it’s the best of them all by a mile, but if you really only like to follow posts, then it’s not the best of them.

Sounds like we picked a good spot for holiday! Will have to find time for more than one outing 🙂

Thanks all

Yes you certainly did!
And if your preference is flowy trails with big hills and big views rather than trail centre tech then we can do that as well….

Been a few years since I’ve done that ride V, need to get back over.

Where’s that from V? Is that up by Wanlockhead ?

To answer OP, Mabie would be my vote for a day. Ae’s great and best setup with the cafe & shop on-site but the best riding there takes a bit more finding and I find the posted Red trail more fun at Mabie (imho).

You are spoiled for choice round here though. Drumlanrig & Dalbeattie are both well worth a run, Kirroughtree is ace but as mentioned an hour’s drive away each way which eats into your riding time.

Start with Mabie and come back for more.

Kirroughtree’s also just quite a big slow ride. Love it but not for the OP here.

You’ll find it’s matter of taste between Ae, Dalbeattie and Mabie. I like Mabie well enough, and the offpiste is a good addition but it’s a “nice ride” rather than a big showstopper imo.

I love Dalbeattie but it’s hard work, compared to most trail centres- there’s big sections that if you can’t pedal them hard, are lovely but if you can’t they’re basically just… nothing. (another way to put it I heard was, they’d be good descents, but they don’t really descend) There’s great offpiste there too but it’s (ime) not as easy to navigate. Excellent skills area too.

Ae as a trail centre I cannot be bothered with, there’s a decent trail centre in there, broken up into bits and spread around a loop that’s about twice as big as it should be. But the DH and offpiste makes it superb, and super easy to make laps out of.

Drumlanrig seems like it’s open enough to be worth visiting again (it had a bunch of closures over the winter), haven’t been there lately so I don’t know how much has changed though. Loved it before, I’ll probably still love it.

@jamesmio – yes, we did a variation of the ‘Goldrush’ loop starting at Mennock Bridge a couple weekends ago.

@Nobeerinthefridge – all the ‘hilly’ trails are running bone dry just now, its great!

ossify
Full Member
Sounds good 🙂

Say I had 1 day, or more likely half a day to escape from the family and go riding, what’s your pick?

For me it’d be Drumlanrig. Lots of wiggly woodland riding, it’s lovely.

I rode dalbeattie a couple of times last week when on hols, as it was really close. I much preferred the middle bit of the red route but as others said you do have to pedal to get the most out of it, first time round at the start of the week i was tired and didn’t really enjoy it at all. Felt like you lost a lot of hard won elevation on fire roads in the first half. Second time was good though but on balance I think i prefer Mabie for a non thinking just ride ride. Kirroughtree is better IMO but further to get too.
Would recommend Studio Velo in Castle Douglas too if you need a bike shop, i did and they were great and had some nice gear in there too!

@vmgscot not half, Hoping to get the bike up shalloch on minnoch this week, it’s very rarely dry!!

Sod it – I’ll go check out Drumlanrig this afternoon, it’s been a few months and by the looks of it there’s a fair bit more re-opened again now.

I shall report back.

Confirmed there’s a load back open again at Drumlanrig, plus they’ve rejigged the end to hook in chunks of the Black and Red Bail Out.

It could use a strim in bits but overall its running sweet as up here.

You can also combine family stuff:
Dalbeattie trails with beach at Sandyhills or Rockcliffe.

Kirroughtree trails with Mossyard beach and / or Cream O Galloway icecream.

Drumlanrig used to have an awesome playground with huuuge slides up in the trees (with catch netting) but not sure what is there now.