Kid-friendly routes in Peebles

Hi all,

After a fat tyre hiatus of several years i’m finally making an effor to drag my 7 year old daughter into mtbs in the vain hope she’ll f*cking love it & give me carte blanche to drag everyone to trail centres every weekend, help me out here…

We’re heading to Peebles for a few days next week & I haven’t been near the place since well before GT was revamped so i’ve no idea what’s suitable for her there or if there’s better options on the natural trails – my wife & dog (not the same person) will be there too, though neither is any good on a bike so they’ll be on foot patrol, any suggestions would be welcome – spotted the pump track in Cardrona so that’ll get her motivated as she loves those.

We’re staying at the hydro so i’m hoping I can sneak off & get a couple of hours in here & there myself, especially if the weather looks honking & they want to go & buy squishmallows instead – again, anything new that I should visit?  I was always a bit fan of the flowy blue stuff due to my knees being a bit creaky, steep techy stuff ain’t my bag anymore & I have made my peace with that.

Cheers!

John

The green at the bottom of Glentress (The Captain) is super fun but short. Perfect for a beginner as there’s nothing sketchy and will leave them wanting more – as opposed to a green graded slog round miles of bland forest road, which they’ll hate.

Not sure if there’s any access to Betty Blue or Berm Baby Berm from Buzzards Nest any more.

There’s another pump track in Victoria Park, on the other side of the river. It’s right next to a playpark too.

New stuff at GT is ok, but maybe a bit much for a 7yo- the lower green is ok but short. There’s due to be a new skills area, but no sign of anything happening there yet. The railway path will take you straight from the Hydro to GT and save you a drive and parking fees.

Betty blue and berm baby berm are a trek up the hill nowadays since the carparks were closed. New stuff is flowy but jumpy.

Wife and dog might like the loop up Soonhope as a walk..

Sounds good, to be honest it looks like the new lower green route will be enough for her, just been having a quick look & 2.5 ish miles of that will probably keep her amused – I vaguely remember the old one was just like a random forest path.

Was wondering if there was any easy access to BB / BBB as those were always favourites of mine – have a tow-rope thing so i’ll see how she gets on with the green & can always drag her up if required.

Cheers!

J

There’s another pump track in Victoria Park, on the other side of the river. It’s right next to a playpark too.

Is that the new skatepark or something else? Might squeeze my board in the car too – the playpark there looks huge & exactly the sort of thing she’ll tear round for hours

Dog walks you say?

What kind of dog walks.

Is that the new skatepark or something else?

Separate from the playpark- its not great to be honest, more kid friendly than your average pumptrack. Skatepark is good though!

We ride the lower green and it’s great for doing laps – as above, short and fun so they finish a lap pumped to go again (up the hill). It works really well because you just just keep going until they say no more and it’s a roll down to the cafe.

Thansk for the suggestions folks – fingers crossed now for a couple of dry days!

Hawick playpark and pumptrack knock those into a cocked hat. Just saying. And they are in a nice park for mutt walking.

onehundredthidiotFull Member
Hawick playpark and pumptrack knock those into a cocked hat. Just saying. And they are in a nice park for mutt walking.

but they are also nearly an hour from Peebles

Dog and Peebles/innersleithern wise.

Every cafe worth going in is super doggo friendly, as are most of the pubs. Even the hardware store gives Lola a treat.

Dog walks are basically everywhere. Highlights… Up the tweed past neidpath castle there is a long tunnel you can walk through, it’s quite muddy at the entrance and very very dark, being a torch, it’s well worth doing.

Venlaw, cademuir, cardrona forest. Loads of choice. If dog offlead is an issue I can recommend some super safe  locations where there are no livestock issues.

The x62 bus is dog and bike friendly. So it’s very feasible to abandon the car and or do outward rides and bus back etc.

Current diversions at GT for the Buzzards Nest posh portacabins and forestry work are quite extensive. And a bit confusing when I was there last weekend TBH.

Perhaps a local can advise on which suitable trails are unaffected?

Tag on the blue taster trail, a gentle climb up and fun way down, not long but a nice little extension to a wider route 👌

There was a diversion at falla brae but there wasn’t much missing, just a boggy way round. Good game is a fairly easy blue trail, bit I don’t know what the climb straight up to it is like as I tagged it ontoa longer ride

Hi all – cheers for the advice, she had a great time & looks like we’ll be back sooner rather than later!

We did a couple of laps of the lower green (pretty fun tbf) then back up to the lower blue as she was feeling bold by this point, had a great time on Harry’s Blue but came unstuck on Turn & Burn as she was trying to go round the inside of the berms and washed out on the loose gravel a couple of times, overall she did great though & absolutely loved it.

Felt her little Islabike was a little underequipped for much more than the green routes tbh so i’ve ordered her some Schwalbe Blackjacks, I can remember when 1.9″ tyres were DH spec so should keep a 7 year old rubber side down for a while.

J

Great to hear you had a good time-

As for the Islabike- if its a 24″ you might find clearance in the frame a problem, but not a problem that can’t be fixed with a stanley knife!

It’s a 20″ Beinn – had a look around & they seem to be a popular replacement, next on the list is a dh jumpsuit

And did wife and dog have a nice time?

Cool- I bought my daughter a Beinn 24 which came with a Blackjack on the front but the standard tyre on the rear- I had to chop down the side knobs when I fitted a rear Blackjack..

And did wife and dog have a nice time?

All good yeah – they were happy wandering around on the walking trails for a couple of hours, then a rendezvous at the cafe, then away for another wander while I was dragging the wee one around.  Now we know there’s enough to keep everyone amused at GT there’s more scope to try out other areas, safe in the knowledge that we can always head back there for a couple of hours.

Cool- I bought my daughter a Beinn 24 which came with a Blackjack on the front but the standard tyre on the rear- I had to chop down the side knobs when I fitted a rear Blackjack..

Cheers, i’ll keep that in mind – no qualms about trimming them to fit!  This is hopefully just a stop-gap to squeeze more life out of the 20″ bike then we’ll see which way she goes with the next size up – seems to be plenty of options with the 24″ stuff.

Cheers!