To further add to my confusion, should i go ride Inners instead?

If so can we ride any of the downhill stuff (never been on a proper downhill track) as well as the xc stuff?

Which xc red or black or is it easy to do both??

Yes. There is only one XC track that falls somewhere in between red an black in terms of difficulty level.

There are some easier old school DH tracks that you will probably be fine on on an xc bike.

When are you going? I may come and show you around for a couple of hours.

inners is great, and the xc is much quieter than gt. which is a bonus.

Did Inners xc (for the first time) followed by GT red last wednesday, had the beginnings of a cold so pretty blown by the time reached top of spooky; would put Innerleithen on a par with GT, different styles, IL being more open + ‘steady’, GT more broken up with up + down sections throughout the main climb / descent. No facilities at IL car park, though plenty in the village. If you’re after a more fun / adrenaline buzz GT offers the instant hits, + freeride park is good. Definitely less busy at IL, no-one else there last week, while GT was moderately busy, even mid-week.

Cheers Smee, we are coming up next Sun. Should arrive between 12-12.30

You could easily do both the GT black and inners XC in the same day, seriously, they’re not that hard at all. I’ve taken a twelve year old round GT black and we still had plenty of time messing about in the play area afterwards.

If you’re only doing one though I’d say GT black.