Weekend in Dumfries, what to ride?

As above, going to Dumfries this coming weekend with a couple of mates who do a little bit of riding.  I haven’t been for a couple of years and was on a rigid SS so need some upto date intel on conditions etc. Last year we did whinlatter blue and reds, which of the trail centres will show us a good day or two. Bonus points for interesting climbs.

Thanks.

Mabie probably best, and closest, for less experienced riders – green with nice views, 2 blues and a red. All open now I think.

Dalbeattie not far away, but sections closed. Forest of Ae nearby, but more descent focussed (berms, drops etc)

Mabie and Ae are closest to Dumfries; Ae’s got the most to play on (by quite a distance these days) if you’re looking for anything over and above standard Red route trails.

The Red at Mabie’s running nicely (I’m just home from that myself now) but almost all of the off-piste got destroyed by Arwin and you’ll be around it all in well under a couple of hours. Nearby Shambellie unfortunately also got hit by Arwin, briefly repaired and then absolutely smashed by harvesting in the last few months.

Ae’s got a seriously active (and official) trail-building group on the go that are doing Gods work maintaining trails so you could easily spend a day there covering various stuff.

Used to love the trails at Drumlanrig. Not sure what state they’re currently in now Rik’s no longer there but I think they’re still open. Worth the drive to Kirroughtree too, probably my favourite of the 7 stanes.

Drumlanrig Red is running really well but it’s a lot shorter than it used to be. Another casualty of Arwin and harvesting but the estate have cleared a good chunk and it’s great. Can’t remember how far but 8 miles ish maybe?

IMO, Ae is the best. Mabie is good, never done Dalbeattie, though my friends say its good. Whinlatter is a bit short, and not one I’d be rushing to go back to, dotn know why, the parking charges didnt help, but it seems a lot of really steep uphill for little benefit. Newcastleton is good for people who arent too confident, it’s all pretty simple, but can be a bit boring, I only do it as a training ride, theres little technical downhill there.
Ae, like most Scottish trail centres, starts at the bottom, so there are climbs whichever way you want to go, the red is good, around 2 hours, but may be a little hard for those who dont ride much, there are a few small drop offs, only 30cm or so, but I’ve seen people get off to walk them. The off-piste is a huge step up from the red. Fast steep descents with drop offs and roots all over, if you are not confident, stay on the marked trails, else you’ll be walking down a lot.

I really enjoy Mabie, not been for a few year now though so not sure what state it’s in. First climb is long but not much climbing after that, other than the stinger.

Some good climbs on the red at Ae one absolute killer that I’ve never made up, the one after the bridge if you’ve been. But bike dependant it’s a bit of a slog.

Kirroughtree is a good way from Dumfries but does have it all, especially if you venture across to the other side of the road after mcmoab. Been even longer since I’ve ridden there though so could be awful now.

Kirroughtree is worth the drive from Dumfries and seems like the best match for what you describe. It’s quite a big ride and arguably is a little bit low return for hte effort- there’s a fair amount of flat pedalling to make the loop work- but I still love it. Unique features, lovely forest to ride in, the endless (if high effort) talnotry hill descent… Lovely.

Dalbeattie I think has some closures, it also has some really good standout signature features though.

Ae trail centre, imo, just kinda sucks. It lacks the really standout character of those other two, and it’s a lot of effort for what you get (the actual decent bits are kind of on 4 corners of a box, and you have to commute between them). But its offpiste is absolutely superb- not the easiest to navigate but absolutely worth the effort if you’re into that kind of riding. I’ll never go to Ae for the trail centre again to be brutally honest but I’ll definitely return there for the other stuff that’s grown around it. Much like innerleithen only more so, the official trails were basically a seed for something better.

Mabie I really like, it’s another lovely forest to ride in, it has a lot of character, very definitely oldschool but as long as you’re expecting that it’s a lovely ride. And again some really good offpiste options though they’re a little fiddly to build into a ride.

Newcastleton is a shadow of its former self. The new stuff is quite fun and last time we were there we looped it top to bottom several times but most of the rest of it was closed.

Thanks all, plenty to think about. Probably leaning towards Kirroughtree and Mabie at the moment as I’ve ridden both in the past, though before I thought of myself as a mountain biker (riding a Charge Cooker 0 single speed). It’s only a bit of a jolly so it’s mainly just getting out and about,and having fun.

Mabie & Kirry will be your best options, yep. Great fun trails.

Gutted to hear about Shambellie, that was a lovely spot with some nice short runs.

I seem to spend more and more of my time at Ae whenever I’m up that way these days. Kudos to the trail crew for their efforts.

Dalbeattie has a lot of felling started last week to take out diseased trees on East Side of forest from tinkers loaning down towards cloak loch Diversions in place on the 7 stanes routes to take you round the work but means you end up with a climb back up the Moyle and a bit more forest road.

Just returned from a ‘road-trip’ last week up to D&G and of the 4 trails we rode up there our favourite was Mabie. It was drier than the others and way more grip so much more fun! Finished the trip off with Whinlatter. It didn’t rain on us while we were there, in fact the weather was lovely, however, the Whinlatter trails were very wet, seemed very eroded from last year’s visit, and had zero grip on the rocky bits. Managed to damage myself and the bike 🙁

Dalbeatie could be a bit tough going for riders with limited experience, although my 11 year old managed most the red route with only a few sections walked. I enjoyed it a lot more than I ever did in the past.