If you read our feature in issue 140 of Singletrack World Magazine, you’ll know that the Capital Trail can be ridden over a leisurely-ish couple of da …

By stwhannah

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Video: The Capital Trail in 24 Hours

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I was daft enough to do this on my own a few years ago. I started in West Linton and forgot to top up with water in Lauder and by the time I got near the Three Brethren I was parched but managed to find a trickle of water above the tree line that I was able to grab a few gritty mouthfuls. I was famished by the time I got to Peebles and ‘impressed’ the locals whilst sat on the pavement outside the chippy inhaling a sausage supper…

That is a great story dovebiker.

Every capital should have its Capital Trail, a challenge for Singletrackers to come up with similar circular routes for our other capitals of the UK, one each for Belfast, Cardiff and London to match Edinburgh’s? I’ll start plotting…

Eco Birmingham have a cycle route through all 69 wards of the area, my friend was involved in planning it. It’s not exactly east Lothian & borders though!

69 Wards Walking & Cycling Map

London
Never quite got round to trying it.

I bet Belfast and Cardiff could have a cracking circular trail each.

How long does it need to be? I’ll get started. I’ve already got a long circular route, I think it has over 8,000m of climbing in it.

I bet Belfast and Cardiff could have a cracking circular trail each.

giggles

You could easily do a megaloop from Cardiff, the problem is where do you stop? You could technically ride all the way to Brecon pretty much offroad and have a BIG loop there too…

From Belfast something like 240km circular route would get you down to the Mourne Mountains and back, say going out from Belfast along the North Down Coastal Path, then through some backroads down the Ards Peninsular, over the Strangford Ferry then though Castle Ward estate, Tollymore Forest Park, to Rostrevor Forest, then back up along the Newry Canal to either the Lagan route back to Belfast or somehow over the Divis/Cave Hill area into the city–problem is in NI having few off-road options except for certain locations like the forest parks.

Once upon a time I think we had a ‘city circulars’ story idea on the board. If you come up with something good (and legal) and mountain bikey, get in touch! Especially if you live in Birmingham or Kings Lynn 🙂

This has been on my mind for a while, as the trail passes my front door in Edinburgh. After watching this video I’ve decided to give it a go in May. I’ll report back if I die!

I’ll report back if I die!

It’s actually a very nice route, as long as you don’t try and smash it out in one. https://getthybearings.com/adventures/capital-stuff/

The trail passes our door in the West Linton area so if anyone ever needs help with re-fuelling / water / mechanicals, let me know!

There’s a (road) Sportive in Manchester, the Tour de Manc that passes through all the borough councils – it’s utterly terrible, basically like a really long commute with all the traffic and urban roads that roadies would normally do anything to avoid. Except this time they pay £38 for it.

There are MTB options, a lot of canal towpaths and gritstone trails that could be used.