# Scotland in April...



## thefriar (Jan 23, 2008)

Anything worth riding in April? I'd fly in from US to Glasgow Mid/Late April and stay for a week. Want to see if riding conditions are absolute crud or par for the course. Happy to ride in cold and rain if the trails are still good to go.

Where to ride and stay?

Thanks for the thoughts/ideas/suggestions.


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## rideczech (Feb 16, 2011)

Check out the 7stanes trail centres....loads to go at!


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## turbo1397 (Feb 2, 2013)

you could try dumfries area.. all of the 7stanes within reach.. 7stanes - 7stanes Mountain Biking Scotland l Mountain bike trails l Borders l Dumfries and Galloway

Or you could head up towards fort william, they've hosted the downhill world cup but also have red and black runs etc..There might still be snow up there at that time though so you would probably have to check. Mountain Biking Scotland | Lift Served Downhill Mountain Bike Track | XC Mountain Bike Trails | Nevis Range, Fort William, Scotland 
This is a great book which has loads of 'big mountain' riding in it.. not trail centre's.. Scotland Mountain Biking: The Wild Trails: Amazon.co.uk: Phil McKane: Books


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## thefriar (Jan 23, 2008)

Hmmmm... 7stanes seems awesome. I want to make this happen. Fly into Edinburgh or Glasgow or Manchester?


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## turbo1397 (Feb 2, 2013)

You could fly to edinburgh.. probably need to hire a car. glentress and innerleithan are only about 1/2hr drive from there.. you would probably need 2 days (maybe 3) depending on what routes you plan to do. After that your best bet would be to drive to dumfries and grab some accoodation there.. all the remaining 7 stanes are 'fairly' local to there.. hope this helps


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## thefriar (Jan 23, 2008)

Nice. Could you do more than one of the Stanes in a day?


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## turbo1397 (Feb 2, 2013)

Yeh, all depending on fitness.. you could probably do red at innerleithan and red or black at glentress in a day. You could do mabie and Ae in a day.. I'd set aside a day for kirroughtree..glentrool is a full day as well..


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## mtbmike93 (Aug 22, 2011)

I went a few years ago in June. Rode the black at glentress and the climb up Minch moor at innerleithen. Both great places to ride. Not technical but great climbing and decsents. I stayed in the tweed valley and hooked up with local riders for a big natural ride during tweed love a mtb festival hedl annually in peebles. If you can wait until last week of may you woul be there for the festival. The trail centers are great but the real riding is the naturals. Check out the web site for tweed love. You could rent all mountain rides from alpine bikes.


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## thefriar (Jan 23, 2008)

On second review with other half, this year is back to Whistler, but next year it's 10 days with whisky in the afternoon and evening! Any thing rideable in the Highlands or Islay or anyone done 7 stanes/Scotland tour plus whisky diversions?


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## turbo1397 (Feb 2, 2013)

Loads up in the highlands.. especially skye and torridon.. torridon is epic. possibly some of the best mountain biking i have done including europe etc...

Skye and Torridon mountain biking, with Danny MacAskill, Steve Peat and Hans Rey - YouTube


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## andy4d (Feb 27, 2013)

If you want you could come over to ireland and check out the ballyhoura mountains. Ballyhoura MTB Trail Highlights, Ireland - YouTube


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## thefriar (Jan 23, 2008)

7 Day tour our on our own will be the question. Tour makes it easy, and price with accommodation seems a plus, not much to sort out.

Wonder about how to tie in Distilleries...


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## andy4d (Feb 27, 2013)

If you are down by Glasgow or Central Scotland it might be worth checking out the Queen Elizabeth Forest park. Its between Loch Lomond and Aberfoyle, Used to ride it a few years a go before moving away. Not too testing and technical though but great views etc PS as its Scotland chances are you WILL be riding in the cold and rain, hell maybe even the snow.


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## Andrewfuzzy (Jan 25, 2012)

turbo1397 said:


> Yeh, all depending on fitness.. you could probably do red at innerleithan and red or black at glentress in a day. You could do mabie and Ae in a day.. I'd set aside a day for kirroughtree..glentrool is a full day as well..


Im off up to Dumfries in April , any knowledge of the trails?

Mabie
Ae
Innerleithan
etc

We talking good singletrack? much stone....?

Ridden A LOT of Wales (not much help if youve not been there!) not sure what to expect upt North

Cheers

in advance


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## turbo1397 (Feb 2, 2013)

yeh.. done them all. not a fan of mabie.. but that just my personal opinion. favourite trail is kirroughtree. Do the red and carry on and do the black.. 32k in total, but awesome.. flowy singletrack and rocky. Innerleithan is fab as well.. long climb up to the top(think its about 10k) but once you get there its fantastic flowy singletrack all the way down! Dalbeattie is another favourite.. you wont be dissapointed..Glentress red and black are also good. black is about 35k and a good mix of climbing and descending with a good bit of techy stuff thrown in near the end. The red is only about 19k but its another great decent. we did the black and then the red in one day but were pretty ruined at the end!


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## Fadgadget (Mar 21, 2013)

turbo1397 said:


> yeh.. done them all. not a fan of mabie.. but that just my personal opinion. favourite trail is kirroughtree. Do the red and carry on and do the black.. 32k in total, but awesome.. flowy singletrack and rocky. Innerleithan is fab as well.. long climb up to the top(think its about 10k) but once you get there its fantastic flowy singletrack all the way down! Dalbeattie is another favourite.. you wont be dissapointed..Glentress red and black are also good. black is about 35k and a good mix of climbing and descending with a good bit of techy stuff thrown in near the end. The red is only about 19k but its another great decent. we did the black and then the red in one day but were pretty ruined at the end!


Dont forget laggan wolftrax, it encompasses all the best of scottish riding and dilutes them into a great little venue as seen below.


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## turbo1397 (Feb 2, 2013)

@fadgadget.. yip, almost forgot laggan.. great trails! could take in that as well as the fort william red etc..and golspie.


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## Andrewfuzzy (Jan 25, 2012)

Well ... went to Scotland last week and really enjoyed it.....

Did Ae (Red), Kirroughtree (Red/Black), Mabie (Red)

We stayed in Dumfries at a travelodge, aprox 5 miles to Mabie, 5 miles to Ae and 80 miles to Kirroughtree (took an hour to get there).

Ae (Red)

It was REALLY dry on the first side of the mountain, some good riding then on the other side of the mountain still a little snow which interrupted the flow a little......final decent was a blast, so much so we rode back up and did it again.

Kirroughtree (Red/Black)

I loved the Red trail flowed wonderfully fast, you could really attack the trail....then we musty have missed a turn and ended up on the black which was a bit hike a bike due to 6inches of snow in places, some large rocky technical sections which i bottled it on...due to lack of a downtube protection and lack of skill, but overall id go and do it again.

Mabie (Red)

Its a funny start and i wasnt really feeling it at first then once we had done about a quarter of it i began to really enjoy it some great sections....im glad it was dry though as if the ground had been soaked theres a lot of dirt trail and roots which would have interrupted the flow _for me_ anyway

Ae





Kirroughtree


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## Fadgadget (Mar 21, 2013)

Mabie is a bit of a mixed bag i think, as although there is not a lot of climbing, the rewards are fairly poor being quite dull and uninteresting in parts, but descender bender and the final two mile descent to the cafe make up for it a little. ( highlight ) the new berms.

Kirroughtree is a different kettle of fish, being more technical and interesting with some lovely sections of singletrack. 

Ae however, is viewed by most of us, as the least favourite of all our trail centers, and the only section of note is "omega man"

I'm sure you would have loved Dalbeattie. My personal favourite..

Ps! Nice Niner.


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## Fadgadget (Mar 21, 2013)

Some of my Mabie pics.


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