Mrs sstu may have secured a job that can be located almost anywhere in the main citys of Scotland.
Its a step up from her current job with a pay increase to reflect.
I on the other hand have no qualifications but have always been able to find and keep employment in a mechanical maintenance role.
However my current employer would not be able to offer me a job if I moved to Scotland as we already have someone covering that area.
We could live on Mrsstus wage without any problems and we could just sell our house as it’s paid for and move relativley hastle free.
However I really need to get a job as great as it sounds not working I would need to work.
So where to live that I can get a job that has good riding near? We both ride BTW and this is the main reason we want to move.
Been looking at Sterling but any suggestions welcome.

Not Edinburgh, it’s full of folk from Edinburgh, AirBnBs and they put sauce on their chips.

Aberdeen is an option for your skillset.

I’d spell it right first – Stirling 😂 Nice spot. When you say anywhere, and if riding is a priority then obvs Tweed Valley and associated opportunity for mechanical work related to farming could work. Or further north-Crieff ?
This was all done recently so search for the thread but good luck, despite the weather and the administration it’s still alright here.

Just to be sure, you said city?.

Loads of good biking around Stirling and the Trossachs. Good connections to both the main cities and close enough to the tweed valley and Perthshire as well.

Some of the towns in between Glasgow and Edinburgh are bandit country. Am sure there’s streets in Larkhall where the pavements are painted red white and blue. It’s a Rangers Celtic thing.

Oh, we might be brothers!

My wife secured a job in Inverness yesterday. We are in the process of buying a house within commuting distance of there anyway and thought we would have another 18 months waiting to move into it (my job comes with accommodation so we had this luxury) so this is a bit of a bolt from the blue. Good news is I have an interview on Wednesday and we are travelling together up for her to iron out terms and conditions (and actually meet them, all been via video conference so far!) and me to do the interview. The big issue is the interview on Wednesday is for literally the only job within 150 miles I am qualified to do. If I bollox it up I might be riding my bike a lot but which sounds great but is not sustainable.The pressure is massively on – which is why I am on here procrastinating rather than sorting out my presentation.

When you say anywhere did you actually mean it or did you really mean central belt and surroundings? We thought about Stirling for a while but on actually visiting it were very underwhelmed. Commuting distance of Inverness however we are massively excited about – it’s nice but not epic along the Moray Firth; but epic is a sensible journey away in pretty much every direction whilst having a lovely little airport to get south when we have to in a hurry (Mrs C’s folks are down her on the south coast of England and it’s a big worry for her as they are reaching the danger zone years) and a really good hospital for when we need it. Weather is a lot less rainy than Glasgow for example and the midge are not as bad as the west coast. And jobs are a possibility. If I had my way we would be living on Barra but fully appreciate we would be living on beans and very skint in no time.

I got bottled from the primary school in Holytown when I rode through one day – seriously !

Ah City. Perth. Stirling. Ummm Inverness.

Edinburgh is actually amazing. They’re going to build a world championship trail centre in the Pentlands hills soon too. Just don’t move to the city centre. Try Balerno. Aberdeen is dull as ****, Dundee is awesome but tiny, Glasgow has a motorway cutting it in half, Inverness is weird and parochial.

Perth would be a bloody good move actually. For one it is the home of St Johnstone FC. The best tiny football team in the world.

PS: in Glasgow they eat chips with cheese and curry sauce.

Forget Aberdeen unless you have qualifications. Most engineering related stuff in Aberdeen is oil and gas related and they want certificate after certificate after certificate. Been in that Industry for the last 15 years myself, that’s how I know. Once residing in Scotland the OU has relevant qualifications which are far far cheaper than what you would pay for them in England. Worth a thought but I’m not going to lie to you, it ain’t easy to get a start offshore. Grangemouth has the refinery which could be an option once qualified.

Just to be sure, you said city?.

Not city but access to a city or larger place would be a plus
Offices for Mrsstu are in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Inverness and Aderdeen.
Obvs i’d like to live on Leithen Road but really not sure that would work. 😂

There’s a massive raft of engineering support places in aberdeen that aren’t like that haggis.

And weegies eat McDonald’s, not chips cheese n curry sauce, that’s the tourist menu.

Dundee or Aberdeen from that list for me. Angus glens side of Dundee, Deeside in Aberdeen.

South side of Edinburgh is where it’s at. Pentlands on your doorstep, half an hour to the tweed valley, relatively easy access to bridge to get further North for snow/more biking/proper mountains etc. Avoid Edinburgh in August but it’s fine otherwise. If I could I would move back there in a flash.

Aberdeen is cold, grey, depressing and a long way from anywhere. Inverness is grim and chock full of tourists all summer. Dundee is small and grim – what is the point of it? Nobody knows. Stirling is a junky town and Glasgow is like a shittier version of Liverpool.

See? That’s the kind of bawbags that reside in Edinburgh! 🤣

Aberdeen is cold, grey, depressing and a long way from anywhere. Inverness is grim and chock full of tourists all summer. Dundee is small and grim – what is the point of it? Nobody knows. Stirling is a junky town and Glasgow is like a shittier version of Liverpool.

I could substitute some local place names round where we live now and say the same things. 😄
Thanks for the replies so far all welcome and stuff to look at.

An hour from the cairngorms isn’t really ‘a long way from anywhere’

I’d also have a look around Linlithgow Stu, nice wee town, grear transport links and decent access to local biking, tweed valley not far either.

Inverness is grim and chock full of tourists all summer

Says the man from Edinburgh…not exactly a lack of tourists there!

If biking is what you’re after then Glasgow is not very good, very limited stuff around and you’ll have to go a distance to get some decent stuff. Edinburgh is slightly better, but as others have said, the downside is it’s Edinburgh, Stirling is central and good for getting to stuff nearby, Perth is the gateway to the highlands, so good for getting to good stuff up north, but you’re getting further away from the big cities and it’s a bit run down these days, Dundee seems to be the better choice in that area.

Further north is just too cold and miserable, Aberdeen and Inverness will be nice for a holiday, but living there will take a lot of getting used too!

My default answer is Eastern (Kinnoull Hill) side of Perth. 25 mins along the A90 to Dundee, Glasgow & Edinburgh sub 2 hrs door to door.
I’m not a fan of Stirling but many are. Dunblane and Bridge of Allan would be my choice there if I had to. I wouldn’t discount the West end of Glasgow either, but it’s not cheap. Inverness? No ta!

Even though Inverness and Aderdeen are options for Mrsstu to work from I think we have already ruled them out as neither of us are that keen on actually living there.

RE tourists – I did say avoid in August! All the rest of the year it’s a big enough city to avoid tourist hot spots. Inverness only has one real street so you can’t avoid them.

The North edge of the Glasgow / Stirling / Edinburgh triangle is the answer, possibly Tweed valley.

To ride from the door the Perth / Crieff / Dunblane / BofA / Stirling area is hard to beat.

To be a biased resident, BofA and Dunblane area is just brilliant, for riding, housing, transport, proximity to Rest of Scotland, green space, lack of crime, nice beer and ask the services you need within a few miles. Stirling also has reasonable employment opportunities too, a short train or cycle trip away.

I’d also have a look around Linlithgow Stu, nice wee town, grear transport links and decent access to local biking, tweed valley not far either.

OP – if you are old/almost dead, like grey trousers and red knit jumpers etc then this is a good suggestion. Otherwise – avoid.

I did say avoid in August! All the rest of the year it’s a big enough city to avoid tourist hot spots. Inverness only has one real street so you can’t avoid them.

I guess for me it depends what you think a city is for. For me it is somewhere it is useful to have within a reasonable distance (40mins drive maybe) that has useful facilities to go to every now and again like a hospital; a cinema, a big DIY store, a few industrial estates with firms who can make/fix things, work and possibly a clothes shop in case of extreme emergency when the internet won’t cut it. I’d never dream of living in one (any of them, anywhere) and only visit kicking and screaming but acknowledge their usefulness to have a reasonable drive away. To me I judge a city on what is around it; where you can get to whilst living a usable distance from it. For me this will be awesome scenery and places to play with very few people getting in the way. As this is a mtb forum I would imagine I’m not alone in viewing cities like this.I will avoid the tourists on Inverness’ single high street by simply never going there by choice like I don’t go to any city centre high street!

Dunfermline, easy access to Edinburgh for work, easy access to the M90 for heading North. Not full of Weegies, or posh tossers…

I’ve lived in a few places in Scotland. My thoughts:

Edinburgh – Proper city, and good for food/culture and all that. Road biking is ok but a bit busy. Good access to Tweed Valley, and the pentlands are great.

Inverness – One of my fave places I’ve lived and we’re going to do our best to move back there. Superb biking and a stones throw from all the best mountains. Took about a month to get over the small town feel.

Perth/Dundee: Really, really good for road biking but the MTB is less good (but still great). For some reason Perth feels more ‘small town’ to me than Inverness did but I suspect that’s the contrast with Dundee.

Pebbles and commute would be my answer in a flash!

All joking aside, there’s loads of good places, you have lots of options. I’d look to rent to try a place out, if you can.

Edinburgh is a great city, not sure I’d want to live there, but thats really just cos it’s a city tbh, Glasgow ditto.

I wouldn’t move to the likes of Bridge of Allan for the riding, it’s awrite, but a bit samey/limited, more for the access to great biking – Dunkeld, pitlochry, aviemore, tweed valley etc etc.

I dunno why living near old folk is an issue for the salt n saucer though, I live slap bang in the middle of a thriving, busy town, the oldies are pretty cool.

Aberdeen is awesome. Don’t listen to the doubters. Depends what you want. You’ll not find the plays and culture of Edinburgh. It’s smaller than Glasgow. It does have cycling to match (exceed) anywhere in the UK.

We’ve had glorious sunshine last few weeks. Rains a LOT less than most of the uk.

Today 15 mins from home:
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2iwnJdD]Untitled[/url] by Euain Drysdale, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2iwqj4Z]Untitled[/url] by Euain Drysdale, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2iwnJcM]Untitled[/url] by Euain Drysdale, on Flickr

St Andrews. We moved here (Strathkinness actually, house prices much more sensible here) from Edinburgh, Sheffield before that.
It’s a really, really nice place. Lots to do, nice pubs, nice restaurants, ace fish n chips, nice beaches, 20 minutes to Dundee, 45 to Perth, 1 hour to Edinburgh. Decent biking locally (Blebo/Kemback, Tentsmuir, Balmullo) but plenty of very very good biking within an hour’s drive: Pitmedden, Sidlaws, Ochils, Comrie, etc. Very large farm/food grower locally that has a large maintenance workforce, or there’s the Dundee docks.

Peebles is full of **** and the commute to Edinburgh is hellish. You could look for somewhere along the Borders railway and get that into Edinburgh. I live in Midlothian, 30 mins to the Valley, 10 mins from A&E. I wouldn’t want to live in the valley as it’s a bit cliquey and too far away from a bit of culture but the riding is ace.

I’d agree with pretty much everything Steven says!

Looks great locally to euain. 👌🏻

I guess for me it depends what you think a city is for. For me it is somewhere it is useful to have within a reasonable distance (40mins drive maybe)

Yep we’re kind of on the edge of the green belt about 40mins drive from Brum where we live now so looking for the same kind of distance to a city but much more countryside the other way.

OP – if you are old/almost dead

Over 50 but far from dead.
Having said that off to bed now.

😂
Please keep the suggestions rolling though so we can check them out a bit more.

I love being in Edinburgh. It really is the business as far as cities g, especially if you’re into bikes. I moved up from Derbyshire, having lived in Sheffield before that and went to uni in Fife. It has good trails on the doorstep in the Pentlands, but good access to Highland Perthshire and the Tweed Valley (which really keeps you going in the winter). I didn’t think I would, but I like having l the capital city things on my doorstep- the bands, the festival, the theatres.

When I first came up to uni Dundee was a dive but loads of money has been thrown at it and I reckon it’s a lovely place to live now.

Inverness is good, I’d live there happily. I don’t see the draw of Aberdeen and I really don’t like Glasgow.

I’d also struggle to live in somewhere like Dunfermline and commute- I’d rather live in.the city and get the benefits of it, or live properly in the countryside, not a halfway house somewhere just because the houses are a bit cheaper.

My daughter loves Edinburgh but that might only be because it’s a bit more exciting for a 19yr old than Glencoe – I know which one I prefer. I am in Inverness regularly due to work, and would have no hesitation living in that neck of the woods, I think it’s pretty decent as cities go.

Edinburgh

We know what soap Is!

If you like rain then the west coast, if not then the east coast, the middle if you can’t make your mind up.

Peebles is full of ****

Well thats insulting…

Peebles is actually growing on me the more I live in it.

The bike path is due to extend aswell so it’s going to be a better cycle commute.

Peebles is full of **** and the commute to Edinburgh is hellish. You could look for somewhere along the Borders railway and get that into Edinburgh. I live in Midlothian, 30 mins to the Valley, 10 mins from A&E. I wouldn’t want to live in the valley as it’s a bit cliquey and too far away from a bit of culture but the riding is ace.

Peebles is a bit weird in the sense that it’s still a Borders town (same for Hawick, Biggar etc) and 100% agree that commuting from there is a terrible idea. Some parts of Midlothian are a good shout to be fair.

Peebles is a great place to live. One of the many great places to live in Scotland. All in all Scotland is an amazing place to live.

The issue with Dundee is the Dundonians – most argumentative bastards I’ve ever come across. There’s not enough sauce in the country to go with the chips on their shoulders.

Perth (the city) is not very pleasant, however Perthshire is. Maybe look at somewhere up the A9 a bit like Dunkeld or Birnam. Nice place to live, easy commute to Perth for work (train or car). Lots of riding around there.

Edinburgh is nice enough, but the local riding isn’t great and you need to drive to get anywhere decent, though Tweed Valley isn’t too far.

Fife is a weird one – the nice bits are all far away from the bits that are useful for getting anywhere else. It is also known as Scotland’s Texas….