Which Scottish trails centres must I do?

OK I’ve been given the go ahead to plan a UK based riding holiday (god bless the falling £) in a motorhome this summer and I’ve done Wales, so looking to go to Scotland for 2-4 weeks.

Planning on visiting mostly trail centres as I’ll have the wife and kids, so want something for all of us to do.

Which trail centres are ‘must do’s’ (including any in England along the way from the South)?

Thanks.

Depends what you want.

I only know Glentress, Laggan and Innerleithan.

Glentress – lots of different trails, lots of people (but rarely traffic jams on the trails)IMO a superb facility with fun for all. Freeride park is great for learning / practicing jumps. A bit like a huge BMX park

Innerleithan – more rocky, some DH trails, I personally prefer GT but many prefer Innerleithan

Laggan. Much shorter trails but the Black really merits being ablack run and it has far more of the out in the mountains feel.

Do yourself a favourt tho – do so non trail centre riding = there is lots.

IMO Glentress is a must.

Kirroughtree

GT for all the family fun, avoid weekends though if poss, inners is a must do too, nit family friendly though, mabie is good too, dalbeatie i’d not worry too much about, i like Ae but many don’t

Are your wife and kids going to ride, or will they need other things to see and do? If the kids are riding, how old are they?

Second Rocketdog. I too like Ae but maybe not one for kids and it’s a bit of a Marmite trail.

Kirroughtree is a fabulous ride with a bit of everything XC.

They’re all good. Gospie and Balblair are among the best if you can be arsed heading this far north. Most days you’ll struggle to see another rider.

Want a whole mix really – hence trail centres mostly.

Techy stuff for meself (maybe not too much – I need to be able to drive back), easier (blue/easy red) stuff for the wife (getting back into riding after a few years popping out sprogs), and family trails to pull the kids (ages 1 & 4) along behind us.

Will hopefully so some natural stuff, but cos of kids it won’t be anything too remote. I will be doing lots of natural riding on another (kid free) trip.

Cool, Glentress and Kirro defo in there.

Laggan is good because the laps are short – so you keep meeting your family back at the cafe after each lap – they can do blues and red while you do reds and blacks.

Glentress blue trails are great – easy to ride for all the family but fun if you get a bit of speed up.

mabie is a good bet for riding with wife and kids as its not to technical and theres a mini play area to practice berms and step offs on enjoy

Ae has blue/green options too.

Drumlanrig is worth a visit for both easier trails and a nice woodland park. Nice tea shop / bike museum etc.

Golspie is a definite must, it’s amazing. It’s a simple up and down, but the climb is really good fun and not in the least bit steep until you hit the top section. The down is amazing, 7k from top to bottom.

Laggan too, pushes the boundaries of trail centre grading.

How about the Fort William DH and World Cup Trails? DH is really good fun and long, and the World Cup and 10 under the Ben loops are good fun and worth it especially if you’re in the area.

excellent thanks – keep ’em coming.

So excited. We used to do this a bit but kids and work put a stop to it for a few years, but my wife is willing to see how it goes this year, so hopefully they’ll be more road/cycle trips to come.

newbies and kids will love the blue trails at GT, infact some parts are more fun than the red

Get yourself into the Highlands. No need to go near a trail centre – you’re allowed to ride anywhere.

Just visit the nearest mountainbike shop to get all the local secrets.

Aviemore and Strathpeffer are good places to stop off for a few days.

there’s really nothing worth riding up here. stay down south, please 😀

Bugger, really, nothing? Oh well.

Call in at Dalby on your way up, some good family stuff to do there

Drumlanrig for the nice rooty natural feeling trails with a nice technical challenge or two.

Aviemore is dreadful: loads of trails for all, 3 good bike shops, great family stuff, good camping and accom’, nice coffee n cakes, but really not worth the long haul up the mad A9! 😉

3 vote for Drumlanrig. was more surprised by this than all the other stanes we visited last summer. Well worth it

How far south are you travelling from?

You could start(finish)by poping into the Lakes.
Grizdale Forest has something for all the family.
Whinlatter is just up the road a bit.

Then slide of the M75 at Gretna and head way over to Kirroughtree(THE best Stane). Again trails and play areas for all. Nice cafe and play area for kids. Big car park for overnighting.

On the return Dalbeattie, Mabie and Ae. Trailer friendly trails at all, Mabie & Ae probably best, cafes at both trailheads, good play area at Mabie.Showers at Ae.

After a morning at Ae head over to Drumlanrig(or maybe best a whole day).

From Drumlanrigg head over the Dalvene Pass to the M75 and then across to Peebles, GT and Inners. A good few days could be spent here taking in the “centres” and some hill routes.

Then you can head up North.

Or head along to Jedburgh and the Justice trail

Going back down south you could take in Newcastleton and Kielder before heading over to Dalby.

Some fun for the family in Dumfries
http://www.dgcommunity.net/DGCommunity/miniweb.aspx?id=310

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m in D&G, happy to show you round Mabie/Dalbeattie if you can get a pass for an extra hr or so.

I’d do all of the 7 Stanes, then Laggan, then Aviemore/Cairngorns/Rothymurches area. Then pop over to Skye and so Glen Sliglacan (this has deffinatly been spelt wrong lol i’ll have a look on a map later and let you know correct spelling and area)

That will take you, if you ride each trail centre over 2 days, about 2/3 weeks. Brilliant fun there.

I did it the summer just gone, but only did the 7 Stanes, and Laggan, Best 2 weeks of my life

Idea: Try and get it to coincide with the World Cup (mountain biking of course)

Forgot to mention….you must take the kids to the Cream`o Galloway nr Kirry.
start googling

Trekster is of course talking about the M74, not the M75.

If you haven’t done Golspie and Laggan blacks then you have no cred as a trail centre biker. 🙂 Balblair is very good too. And seeing as you are in the area you might as well check out Learnie and the Moray Monster Trails too.

Absolutely love K’tree!
No-likey Dalbeattie.
Will be trying GT and Inners in Feb.

Loved Kirroughtree, and the Slab at Dalbeattie,

Glentrool would be a good one for a family ride, Depends how capable your kids and wife are mind, Most of the blue trail is easy going then as you come nearer to the end its lovely and flowy with some nice berms, Great fun for young ones. It also has some cracking views

Whats the beef with Dalbeatie thought it most excellent, Mabie has a great adventure park for the little darlings.

Kirroughtree is the best IMO, and has lots if different grades of routes so a great family option.

Maybe you should do at least a couple of the others first though, just so you don’t feel a sense of anti-climax when you ride them after K’tree.

dalbaettie has been redone (in the last year or two)

most thought it a dull pootle round, but i think its now much better than ae and mabie. the black sections are good fun, and the red flows well (its a red trail, with black options off it).

other than that, kirroughtree, glentress/inners is good. and laggan/golspie up north.
fort william is just along from laggan, and the world cup trails are ace, dh may be open, depending when your heading up…

Kiroughtree is best – even though it broke my rib. Quite tough and comitting if you do the full loop.

I love Glentress, the combo of mixed trails, freeride (aka BMX track) area to play on and a great cafe always makes a great day out – never get bored here and ride at least once a month.

Laggan is great but short, good to do on a road trip and take in some natural trails in aviemore.

Yeah agree about Dalbeatie rode their for the first time last summer, better than Ae or Mabie imho.

Kielder Deadwater trail is worth a look, red/black options, some blue green trails suitable for kids, the 8 year old loves the skills loop.

thanks people. going to plot those ideas out and see what kinda route I get.

Add Golspie to that lot. The ride down from the monument more than makes up for the pain of the climb

For the kids the blue at Dalbeattie is hard to beat IMO, the blue at KT is also very nice. Spoilt for choice with all the trail centres that are available. For the family good Cafes at Mabie, Ae, KT, GT and drumlanrig. Plus most of them you can go for nice walks as well.

Bit late but…

Kirroughtree is an absolute MUST. The Black is probably the best trailcentre I’ve done, although I’ve not made it much further North. The blue is really, really good fun – it’s easy enough for beginners but it shares a lot of sections with the red, so there’s plenty of fun to be had for more experienced riders.

In the same area, Glentrool blue is good fun, but not as much so as KT, and Mabie red is definitely worth a shot, I’ve not done any of the more extreme stuff there. Apparently the blue is all fire road. You’ve also got Dalbeattie, Ae and I think Drumlanrig pretty close, so you could easily spend a week there and not get bored. You should also visit the Mull of Galloway, and there are lots of (not too big) hills to explore.

Others have pretty much covered Glentress and Innerleithen, but I’d reiterate not to discount the GT blue – it’s like the KT one in that there’s lots of fun to be had.

Personally I wouldn’t bother with Dalby, I’m not a fan of the place. Might be worth stopping in the Peaks on the way up though, if you do a loop from Ladybower there’s a visitors centre and stuff to entertain the family while you go for a ride.

Other places to consider would be Wharncliffe, Grizedale and Whinlatter off the top of my head, but I’ve yet to ride any of those.

never too late. thanks.

Hi Max, we rode most of the Stanes last autumn and they’re all pretty good (although a lot of Ae was closed). But Dalbeattie really stood out for me as the trails used the natural terrain really well – there are loads of features off to the side of the main trail where you ride on and off big slabs of granite. You can just go round them if you’re of a more nervous disposition and the whole trail is fun – a bit slower and more technical than the other Stanes, but still very do-able.

Mabie was good too, flowy trails and a nicer setting than the usual forest plantation. We didn’t go to Drumlanrig as apparently it doesn’t hold up too well in the wet, but I’ve heard good things about it. Apparently the trails there are almost Bristol-like – very rooty and natural.

thanks. natural surroundings and family friendly sounds perfect, so Mabie and Dalbeattie will probably get a visit too then. Planning on going to Drumlanrig too.

thanks

some nice natural trails out of Drum OS 78 Nithsdale, follow the black dotted lines to Sanquhar, Wanlockhead, Durisdeer back to Drum. Big day out!!