For your Scotland part of your holiday and if your kids like flow trails then you could do a wee tour of the new trails at Tarland(stay around Ballater/Braemar area for walking/bike hire) and then move on tothe trails at Laggan Wolftrax. Plenty of options to stay round there and lots of walking options. There’s also some biking trails at Glenlivet which could be done alongside some walking. I live in Innerleithen(Tweed Valley) and the biking is amazing. The new flow trails at Glentress are fun but if I was the non biker I would probably preferto be up in the mountains further north while my family were off biking. You could always stop by the Peebles area on your way South for a quick stop.

Thought I’d mention this course to you as you mentioned your son might want a career in mountain biking even if it’s outside racing. There’s a course run in the Scottish borders called base.

https://www.borderscollege.ac.uk/base
https://www.dirtschool.co.uk/base/

The youngsters on that course are rapid. I see them out training and being coached round here in Innerleithen. It seems to prepare them for life outside of racing if they don’t quite make it.

It’s still early for you but maybe something for 2-3 years from now.

You probably want to edit this article that mentions “Kicking things off is the Enduro series down in New Zealand in March.”. The double header in March is in Tasmania. Not sure the locals of Maydena and Derby will be too chuffed.

I used to keep 2 sets of wheels and swap winter/summer but now just use all season tyres(Goodyear Vectors). I’ve driven from Scotland to Italy on them a few times and used them to commute to work. I’ve not noticed any extra wear and they feel fine in all conditions. My partner has a very heavy right foot as well :)

Nukeproof cub scouts are massively reduced just now on chain reaction. My kids love them.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nukeproof-cub-scout-24-race-mountain-bike/rp-prod202633

I live down in the Tweed Valley and I’m always surprised to hear that there’s millions
of pounds of funding going to Glentress and Innerleithen. If you ride here a lot you’ll see
that there’s no evidence of that money being spent. The trails at Glentress have barely changed in the last 10-15 years and have very little maintenance. FLS do what they can but they just keep the trails clear of danger and try and stop too much erosion. All the wooden features get taped off once they fall into disrepair. There’s no evidence of multi million pound spending going on. The Peel centre went in about 2011 and that’s the last major investment I can think of. I know there is work ongoing now due to the world championships so yes in future it will be better. Innerleithen has had no paid for development. The trails are pretty much maintained on a voluntary basis although I believe FLS go in and sweep the trails and remove fallen trees etc when required. The golfie is all done by volunteers.

The most flow trails in the Alps have to be in Livigno (Carosello side). Hans Rey seems to have gone out of his way to make them non techie. I was there this year with my kids and they loved it. I did enjoy it but did start to get a little bored of the blue trails. You can ride from 3000M up though and descend to 1800M again on a red flow trail which was a blast. The red grading just meant it was a little steeper with no tech. There are a few black and enduro trails as well and it’s all lift assisted. You can cross the valley to do more full on riding but I didn’t get a chance. It’s a long drive from PDS though(6-8 hrs) but you could stop off at Flims/Laax, Davos or St Moritz on the way. You have to endure the Swiss prices though till you reach Livigno and then its cheap as….

I had 2 high value bikes nicked out my garage back in 2019. They left my whyte behind which I now have a little chuckle about as it clearly wasn’t cool enough to steal. I never believed it would happen to me and always thought my garage was too difficult to break into. They somehow got in a tiny window and dismantled the bikes and passed them out bit by bit. My bedroom is just above the garage and I didn’t hear a thing.

I have since bought a ring alarm system and it works really well and didn’t break the bank. There’s a window sensor and a movement sensor. My partner tests it at least weekly as she always forgets to turn it off :)

The Swiss tried a variation of this(velo vignette) and abandoned it about 2012 due to the cost of maintaining the scheme. I was working out there for a number of years and was stopped by the police a couple of times to check if I had the sticker. They would set mini roadblocks up on cycle paths and check if you had registered your bike and also if you were maintaining your bike. I was given a talking to because my bike was too dirty :)

It’s a stupid idea and will cost a fortune to implement.

How much is he offering the frame for? I used to love cove bikes and still own a few but they are gathering dust in my garage as they are more like museum pieces now. The last time I took out the stiffee it felt awful compared to the more modern bikes I own now. I could be wrong and they changed the geometry at some point. I would be spending my money on something recent to be honest. In terms of sizing I’m about 5ft 8 with 30 inch inside leg and a medium was perfect for me back in the day. I have a nukeproof scout now and there’s just no comparison between it and the old cove. I’m amazed I survived riding the cove :)

We used to stop off in Chantilly on our way back north to catch the ferry home from trips to the Alps. It meant I could avoid the worst of the roads around Paris. There’s a fast train into Paris or you can visit the Chateau in Chantilly. We’re going home via Versailles this year for a change.

I got caught out at the top of the clattering path a few weeks ago. The trail was blocked just as you re-enter the woods for the Minch Moor climb. I’ve since read on trailforks that you can get through a bit further up near Narnia. The alternative is to turn left on the fire road at the end of the clatterring path until you reach the SUW. Turn right and climb part of the way up the SUW until you reach the bench. You’d then turn right and pedal about 200m to rejoin the Minch Moor climb.

I would go with a windows laptop and just use virtualbox to setup multiple rhel vm’s. My ancient old laptop was crawling along with windows 10 so I turned it into a dual boot linux laptop. The linux part works great but it’s a right pain when I need to use pdf’s or word. The formatting is always a mess on the linux equivalents. There’s probably a fix but I always find issues when someone sends me word/pdf’s.

As already mentioned make sure you park up at the Buzzard’s Nest on your first visit. I often see families struggling up the climb from the bottom having not realised quite how far it is. They probably go home with a bad impression of GT. You can access all the easiest stuff from the Buzzard’s. I do as thegeneralist said and ride back up to get the car for some peace and quiet at the end of the day while mum and the kids stuff their faces at the GT hotel.

I have owned various moon lights over the years. I think they are great for the money. I use a vortex pro on the helmet and it’s great. However, I recommended it to a mate recently and he bought the vortex to use as a helmet light and it didn’t come with the helmet mount. Best check!

Good point

A good selection here

If sleeping in a hammock in a forest then bring a huge mosquito net. You will cry uncontrollably if you forget.

I think riding the golfie and then moving on to Ballater the same day is a bit optimistic. It’s at least 3 hrs drive although I guess traffic is good these days due to wfh. Even though there’s logging going on there’s still plenty of riding.

For such a small place Innerleithen has got quite a lot going for it. I find I don’t really go to Peebles that much these days. There’s quite a few places to eat(No 1(coffee), Traquair Arms, Loulabelles, Cafe Sitooterie etc, plus the usual takeaways). Peebles is a nice town also but you can’t get a nice coffee :)

There loads of good walking options since the Southern Upland Way passes nearby. It just depends how far you want to walk with an 8 month year old. During lockdown we walked the kids all over the place. You can do small sections of the SUW and loop back into Innerleithen. There’s also Lee Pen which overlooks the town and is a nice climb. You can also walk up the golfie as there’s a few walkers paths. The walk up to the old Kirnie Law Reservoir at the top of the golfie is worth doing on a nice day. A longer walk would be to the 3 Brethren but the views are worth it.

There’s lots of non tech family cycling as there’s a cycle path that goes from Walkerburn/Inners/Cardrona/Peebles with various stops for coffee/beer.

The grounds of Traquair house are worth a visit and you can now walk there via the new path opposite the red bull car park. If you don’t mind driving you can visit the grounds of Bowhill or there’s the Grey Mare’s tail walk which is about 30 mins drive from Innerleithen. It’s been very busy lately though so go early.

When is it due to open? It looks amazing. I live in Innerleithen and my 2 daughters use the Cardrona one. Their eyes lit up though when I showed them pics of this.

I used to live in Leith and it was an hour by car or bus to get to work at the Gyle. That’s how I got into cycling as I couldn’t stand sitting in traffic 1 hr each way. Cycling was only 45 mins. I would have loved to stay in Edinburgh but it’s just not financially viable so the 1 hr commute is the sacrifice you have to make.

I think it all depends on what your day to day lifestyle is. I’ve lived in Glasgow, Bridge of Allan, Stirling, Edinburgh, abroad and even England :) and I now live in Innerleithen. Each place was so completely different that it would be impossible to compare them. I also lived in some of these places with no kids but now have kids. Each place would have been different with/without kids. My brother lives in Bridge of Allan with his family(2 kids) and loves it. I like visiting and it has a nice feel about it.

I love living in Innerleithen and I commute 3 times a week to Edinburgh by car. I used to use the bus(X62) but then my office was moved out the city centre. The commute isn’t that bad to be honest. I am willing to do it just so I can have the trails on my doorstep when I am home. It’s nice and quiet and there’s a good social life either in the local pub or at folks houses for beers/food. I can go for the occasional night out in Edinburgh when I miss the city.

Just remember most people will rave about where they live but each person is different. If you are a city person and like going out a lot then the borders probably isn’t for you. Somewhere like Stirling/Bridge of Allan might better for it’s easy access to Glasgow plus there’s some local bars/restaurants.

If I was you I’d rent somewhere first and explore for the first year to get a proper feel for Scotland.

We(2 adults, 2 kids age 4 and 6) stayed here last summer on the way back from Switzerland. I wanted to take the kids into Paris but not stay in Paris. I also wanted a quick exit to the motorway to catch our ferry home. The accommodation was basic but clean but had the added bonus of a pool we could use. It was roasting last summer so was very glad of the pool. The parking was on the drive of the main house and was secured by a big electronic gate. We drove into Chantilly(10mins) to catch the fast train to Paris. It takes about 20-30 mins on the fast train and was pretty cheap. There was a local train station within walking distance of the house as well where you could catch a slower less frequent train.

Saves driving north and fighting through the traffic in Edinburgh to catch the same train you would get in Berwick. The road to Berwick has hardly any traffic either so you can get a shift on. The fares were very cheap also as it’s not exactly a busy route. Parking was a doddle and cheap too. The only negative was the way home as the trains were overcrowded until past Leeds. Someone was always in my pre-booked seat and reluctant to move which was a pain when it was everytime.

I live in Innerleithen and used to commute to Sheffield for 2 nights every second week. I drove to Berwick and jumped on the train. Worked quite well. Was less stressful than driving all the way. I now commute to Edinburgh all the time and it’s bearable as long as I don’t sleep in and hit the bypass at the wrong time.

I use a TowWhee. It’s quite pricey for what it is but works great.

If you are after a bit of life similar to Morzine then the Aosta valley in early July is probably not the place to go. I was in Pila with my family last year. We had a great holiday and the area is stunning but we were looking for somewhere quiet as my kids are still young(3 and 5 at the time). Pila is dead at that time of year apart from a few groups biking. Most restaurants were either closed or had limited hours. We always ended up driving down the valley to Aosta town. We did a day trip to Courmayeur and it was busier but I didn’t see any bikers wandering about. It was mostly hill walkers and folk doing high alpine stuff. We spent our second week in Chamonix and that was great. You either love or hate Chamonix though. I’ve been lots when younger before I had kids so knew what to expect(apart from the even higher prices).

The thing missing for me in the Aosta valley is good swimming lakes. They are all too high up and therefore glacier fed and freezing. I tried to dip my toe in the one above Pila :)

The biking was great in Pila but you’d need your own bikes. The hire bikes were shocking and expensive from the Pila lift station. You could base yourself down in Aosta town and get the gondola up each day. There might be better hire places down there.

I would say head to the Dolomites if you want a lively mountain family holiday in Italy with some added biking. There’s amazing swimming lakes dotted around and the towns are lively.

Sent you a link via pm. Not sure it will work if you’ve used them before or if it is valid for the borderless accounts. Worth a try anyway.

You could setup a borderless account with transferwise.com. I think you could then get the swift payment sent in dollars and then you would transfer the money out in pounds close to forex rates.

Sounds like you will have bikes so maybe have a nosey at the skelf pump track. I’ve not been yet but it looks great from the pics.

Yeah that’s the one :) I haven’t watched the whole video as I got a bit bored of listening so probably missed the scary bits further down.

I just came back from a family holiday to the Dolomites. I didn’t bike(gutted) but saw plenty of groups of folk on various types of bikes(xc to full downhill rigs and full face helmets). The town I stayed in was Welschnofen where there was lift assisted trails. The main trail is:

http://www.carezza.it/en/summer/carezza-bike-trail.html

There was a bike shop in town with a bike school listed here(dolomiti bike school)

http://www.bikehotels.it/en/regions-infos/dolomites/bike-schools.html

The area is stunning and there seemed to be trails all over the place. You’d need to be fit though if you weren’t doing lift assisted. The town itself was fairly sleepy though which was fine for us but might not suit a group of lads wanting a drink at night. I went to the Ortisei area last year which was very lively and full of cafes/restaurants. You can access the Sella Ronda from there. You could also easily drive to the Welschnofen area from Ortisei.

You could even attempt a decent of the Marmolada:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQCJAdSVRqM

I’ll have to go back when my kids are bigger.

I’m wfh today in Innerleithen and sat looking out the window. It’s rained a bit today but not a huge amount. The pavements look dry now. It’s very windy.

Good to know I might be able to do some exercise. I don’t feel it at all when riding. It’s a couple of days later that the pain kicks in. I guess I better get it checked first.

Thanks iainc. Were you able to do any exercise before it was fixed or did that just trigger the pain again? I can’t believe I might not be able to bike over the summer. I live in Innerleithen now and can see Caddon Bank from my window. It will be like some cruel torture 8O

Not posted on here for a long time. I’ve just been struck down with what appears to be a hernia after I decided to get myself fit after a few years of doing very little biking. I should have taken it slowly but just jumped back on the bike and started riding the same stuff I used to. I figured a few months of pain would be worth it to get fit. On Monday night I got up to leave work and felt like someone had stuck a hot poker in my groin. It got worse when i got home and then the next day I felt sick just standing up due to the pain. I went to the docs and he thinks it’s a hernia and is going to send me to see a surgeon. He reckons the appointment will come through in a couple of months! I can’t wait a couple of months if it’s going to be this painful on and off. It’s eased off today thankfully. Has anyone had this fixed on the NHS? Should I look to get a private consultation(I don’t have private insurance) to confirm it’s a hernia? I would rather pay 200 quid to find out now than wait till summer.

I’m just back from a 2 week trip to Austria and Italy. I flew into Zurich and hired a car from Avis. I had called them in advance to check about the driving in EU issue. They said they would keep me a car aside with EU plates. When I arrived they had forgotten to note it and had to give me an octavia estate vrs with Austrian plates as it was all they had left. I only paid for a basic golf so got lucky. He said it had been a nightmare since they started enforcing the new law since early May. The chances are pretty small of being stopped at the border as generally most cars are waved through but it would be expensive if you were unlucky and got a jobsworth customs bloke.

Finding accommodation for 6 months could be tricky as you’ll probably be on an L permit which landlords see as short term. Most leases tie you in for at least a year as well and you can only give notice 3 times a year. Most apartments are unfurnished as well. If you do decide to go then subletting or sharing a flat will probably be the way to go. I’d ask the employer what they can help you with. It took me 2 months to find an apartment when I moved out there and I wasn’t being fussy. Luckily I was able to move between friends houses until I got the keys. Short term serviced apartments were 3000CHF a month upwards for a studio. I don’t want to sound negative but I wished I had known a lot of these things before I went.

I’ve just moved back to Edinburgh from Zurich. I lived there for 5 years and had a love/hate relationship with the place. The outdoor lifestyle is great(snowboarding/biking at weekends). You have to pick carefully where to bike though as a lot of the trails are basically fire roads but the scenery is stunning so that makes up for it. Lenzerheide as has been mentioned is great.

The normal day to day things are what I didn’t like. It’s really difficult to find an apartment and the prices are very high. I gave up trying to find an apartment in Zurich itself and moved further out. The prices outside of Zurich are still very high. Zug is especially expensive and difficult to rent in due to the lower tax meaning lots of rich people rent there and push the prices up. You’ll also need 2-3 months rent as a deposit which can mean paying out a very large sum of money right at the beginning.

If your current lifestyle involves going out for meals and to pubs regularly then you will have to be prepared to almost give that up. There’s not the same pub culture over there and it’s too expensive to do on a regular basis anyway. It was very much a case of visiting friends for bbq’s rather than nights out on the town.

I have no regrets from the 5 years but I am so happy to be back in the UK. There’s a lot of things people take for granted I find and sometimes you have to move away to find that out. Feel free to drop me a line if you want to ask any questions.

The only way I managed to stop it is by disabling java script in the content settings of chrome.

I don’t live in Chamonix but absolutely love the place in the summer. I live over the border in Switzerland and kept my UK car for 1 year before being forced to get rid of it by the Swiss authorities. I don’t think you have the same problem in France since it’s EU. You can keep your car for as long as you want I think. You can get insurance from http://www.stuartcollins.com/. It was pretty close to the quote I had when I lived in the UK.