Hi
Currently in Galloway area and rode Dalbeattie yesterday and am doing Kirroughtree today.
Heading home tomorrow and going to do either Mabie or Ae on the way.
Not been to either before.
Which would you do and why?
Cheers
Steve

From memory.. (haven’t lived close enough to make the trip for a while now) Mabie was always the preference. The last section of Ae was always a laugh but Mabie had more consistent smiles around the loop..

Much higher chance of massive accident at Ae.. The “last run before home” issue.. Had to walk a friend off the hill with two broken arms many moons ago!

Jeff

(edit)

The correct answer is “another loop of Kirroughtree” as it was always my favourite.

The correct answer is “another loop of Kirroughtree”

Would agree with this.

But back to the original question, if you are going to follow a way marked route I’d probably say Mabie, its just a nice mellow trail in a pretty forest.

The way marked route at Ae is a bit meh, but if you have a look around on Trailforks then its got plenty of interesting stuff to ride.

They’re both running really well at the minute.

There’s a chunk of the Red at Ae closed for felling works (it’s not the best bit but still) so if you’re looking to tick off a full route Mabie might be the one this time around.

Ae’s still very much worth a go though, it’s had a bit of tidying up over the last couple of years, Granny Green Love for instance is magnificent now.

Enjoy!

Oh, and if its not too far a drive from where you’re staying, Glentrool blue is – as blues go – pretty damn good too. It’s short, so not really worth a long drive to just go there but if you had a spare hour or so before heading towards Mabie then it’s certainly doable.

If you like a trail centre, Drumlanrig. If you want to try something a bit different to what you’ve rode, Ae off piste.

Mabie is brilliant, lovely flowy singletrack with a few nice techy bits and all in a beautiful setting.

There’s also excellent off-piste if you’re au fait with Trailforks.

was up there all week last week for a family trip and did all of them: Ae, Mabie, Glentrool, Kirrougtree, Drumlanrig…..I was limited to blues as a result of my broken back but rest of family did the reds

Ae forest was always my previous favourite but with the closures on the red, not so much at the moment.

Mabie is great but as above, Drumpanrig gives you something a bit different, so I’d go there if it was me and I needed to be heading east……

(btw, we did exactly as recommended above and went back to Kirroughree on our last day – it was the opposite direction to home so tells you how much we enjoyed it there!)

Out of those two if also say Drumlanrig

Drumlanrig for me too. In theory, Mabie and Drum are both short enough to ride both in a day but in practice i’ve never actually finished one and wanted to do the other one.

Ae is fantastic for the offpistes, and some of the red trails are good but imo the full red is just not worth the effort. It’s not that it’s awful, there’s some really good stuff on it, but it’s very spread out and you find yourself riding long sections just thinking, why?

But the dh is good, the offpistes are as good as anything in scotland imo and the best of the red like granny green luv is nice. And it’s also just a nice place to ride, which gets overlooked a lot- especially down in the river valley with the big trees, always makes me expect elves.

Cheers for all of your suggestions.
Kirroughtree was good today but very technically challenging (for me anyway). Definitely haven’t got the legs for another loop of it.
Not thought of Drumlanrig but decided to do Mabie tomorrow just to tick it off my list.
I’ve got the chance to return to the area next week for a few days so will do Ae and Drumlanrig then.
Cheers
Steve

@fatgit – that sounds like a good plan – they’re all good, just different (from each other!) – you’ll need a different day for each of those (not sure I’d do both in one day) and if you do the red at Ae, make sure you also do the blue – the downhill singletrack section on there (it’s called Colins Folly) is absolutely lovely, as is the trip back to the car park alongside the river – not to be missed!

Interesting there is so much love for Kirroughtree, 4 of us rode it yesterday and really didn’t enjoy it. Shame because the cafe and shop were great!

There were some interesting technical challenges and McMoab was fun, but we all thought the trail didn’t flow. We’ve ridden a lot over the last couple of weeks, Glentress, Inners, Golfie, Dunkeld, Pitlochry, Laggan etc so used to challenging trails.

Our plan is Dalbeittie today and Mabie tomorrow on the way home. Ridden Ae before and thought it was good, not explored the off piste and with an extra day would go back, but fancy somewhere new

There were some interesting technical challenges and McMoab was fun, but we all thought the trail didn’t flow. We’ve ridden a lot over the last couple of weeks, Glentress, Inners, Golfie, Dunkeld, Pitlochry, Laggan etc so used to challenging trails.

Different sort of trail innit, those are all winch and plummet whereas a lot of the speed a Kirroughtree needs to come from your legs. Last time I rode it I had a Giant Anthem, doubt I’ll ever bother on the big enduro weapon. At speed, it flows well

If you didn’t like Kirroughtree, I reckon you’ll like Dalbeattie even less

Fair enough, I did find myself wondering if I was on the wrong bike (RocketMax) and if I should have ridden my hardtail instead. Even pushing hard round the trail (set most of the fastest times of the day on Strava) without stopping it just felt like I’d ridden uphill for 30 odd km! I’m used to XC type riding at home and do enjoy it, this was different

I think it felt like there was a lot of unnecessary wiggles which just sapped speed, a bit like Swinley but without the support in the corners to allow you to push through them!

You were definitely on the wrong bike, it was perfect on my solarismax last year.

There’s awesome flow from the top of black crag (?) most of the way back to base, but as above you need to put some pedalling in and it’s rather more techy than swinley.

That’s annoying, I had the Solaris Max in the van!

Defo lots of flow, I always think it’s one of those trails you need to attack the wee ups, carry your speed through them, it definitely rewards a good level of fitness and some commitment.

Mabie – defo take the HT, can’t really think of any tech at all, though it’s been a while since I drove there.

Thanks, think I’ll ride the hardtail tomorrow. What about Dalbeittie?

Fitness isn’t the issue but commitment might have been, it was pretty unpredictable yesterday with some areas bone dry and others really greasy, maybe a second lap would be better knowing which areas are rollable and can carry speed – I found a lot of the blind drops frustrating as you had to scrub speed into them to check the line riding it blind

Personally, I’d take the FS, but you’ll be fine on either, really. There’s some rocky descents at Dalbeattie that are a fair bit tastier than most of the other stanes.

Yep I did back to back laps of kirry and the second was way faster on the descents as you know you can just ride it all on sight.

Hoping to get back there this autumn.

There’s some rocky descents at Dalbeattie that are a fair bit tastier than most of the other stanes.

OTOH you’ll only be doing 1,000ft of descending on the lap, so i still wouldnt be bothering with a big bike

Fair play to anyone throwing a 2nd lap of Kirro in. We usually take a trip in November and after a Red/Black at Kirro (usually in rain or snow)….we are usually all spent!

Mabie and Ae are so different IMHO.

Mabie is great little start or finish to a long weekend as only fairly short but nice and flowy (when its all open). Great little skills area too.

Ae is has a great ending (Omega Man) and a couple of other quality long descents. And a nice black rated north shore section too.

If I had a full day, and weather was fair, I would do both. Mabie first, Ae second – and any excess energy spent on a repeat of the Omega Man.

OTOH you’ll only be doing 1,000ft of descending on the lap, so i still wouldnt be bothering with a big bike

Which is why I said be fine on either….

and any excess energy spent on a repeat of the Omega Man.

There’s so much better at Ae to waste excess energy on than Omega man.

Ae has some blindingly good off piste

Mabie has a couple too.

I’m up this avy just hope that incoming weather front buggers off

My main memory of the waymarked route at Ae is that every singletrack descent has a climb in it somewhere.

The last time I was there my Reverb broke, circlip fell out and it was stuck down. That was a long day!

You any further forward with the move @duncancallum?

@Nobeerinthefridge

No. Seen the house I want mines on had a raft of veiwings but no offers…

Once here’s sold I’m off!

Superb, best of luck sir!.

Fair play to anyone throwing a 2nd lap of Kirro in.

It’s only around 1,600m climbing for two laps IIRC, and the 60km distance is fine with a hearty lunch at the visitor centre in the middle.

Or a lovely hike a bike up Cairnsmore of Fleet after lunch, a few miles pedal from the cafe at Kirro to the hill path, it’s a cracker.

“It’s only around 1,600m climbing for two laps IIRC, and the 60km distance is fine with a hearty lunch at the visitor centre in the middle.”

After 3 hrs of red/black in the rain I have never felt motivated enough…..like the idea of climbing the hill in the backdrop though 🙂

“There’s so much better at Ae to waste excess energy on than Omega man.”

Unless you don’t know where it is……will try harder next time 😉

Kirroughtree was always my fav as it was only 25mins from my house so I got it to ride it 1000’s of times, brilliant trail to go flat out on my ss soulcraft and a 1.56 lap was my best, tried time and time again to get under 6hrs for 3laps but could never get under 6hrs 20ish, second the recommendation for Drumlanrig – it’s just ace old school rootsy singletrack