Mabie
Glentrool
Other trail centres
Drumlanrig Castle
Carron Valley
Cathkin Braes
Whitelee Wind Farm
Route 1 Durisdeer, Daer Reservoir and Wedder Law
Route 2 Lowther Hills loop
Route 3 Shinnel Water and Scaur Water loop
Route 4 Carrick Forest Four Lochs loop
Route 5 Glentrool and the Galloway Hills
Route 6 Windy Standard loop
Route 7 Belford to Cocklawfoot: Windy Gyle loop
Route 8 Kirk Yetholm and the Pennine Way
Route 9 Minch Moor and the Three Brethren
Route 10 Stake Law and the Gypsy Glen
Route 11 The Tweedsmuir Hills: Natural Tweed
Route 12 The Lammermuir Hills: Longformacus and Wedder Lairs loop
Route 13 Gifford and the Hope Hills
Route 14 The Pentland Hills: a rollercoaster route around the reservoirs
Route 15 Misty Law
Route 16 Greenock Cut
Route 17 Kilpatrick Hills loop
Route 18 The Campsie Fells: Dumgoyne and Earl’s Seat
Route 19 Mugdock Country Park loop
Route 20 Carbeth – Cameron Muir loop
Route 21 Glasgow waterways loop
Appendices
Appendix A Bike shops and mechanics
Appendix B Other useful contacts
ROUTE SUMMARY TABLE
Climbing Minch Moor with the hills of the Ettrick Forest in the background (Route 9)
INTRODUCTION
Mountain biking in southern and central Scotland
Year-round mud on Broomy Law, Ettrick Forest (Route 9)
The hills, glens and forests of southern and central Scotland are home to some of the world’s best mountain biking trail centres, including the famous 7stanes in Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders. The region’s rolling hill country is also criss-crossed by an extensive network of minor roads, estate tracks and other trails, providing huge scope for ‘free-range’ cross-country mountain biking.
The Central Belt is the most densely populated area of Scotland and the hills rising above the Forth and Clyde valleys are popular with mountain bikers, horse riders and walkers. Although much less densely populated, the country to the south of the Central Belt is a magnet for mountain bikers from all over southern Scotland and beyond. This is partly because of the proximity of Glasgow and Edinburgh, and the good road and rail links to the area, but it is also largely due to the quality and variety of trails here, including the 7stanes trail centres, which make the area a real mountain biker’s adventure playground.
Winter wonderland in the Campsie Fells (Route 18)
The region’s trail centres are immensely popular with good reason, providing excellent facilities and miles of quality trails with innovative features and graded, waymarked routes that provide entertaining and challenging rides for various abilities. While providing a brief overview of what the region’s trail centres have to offer, this guidebook focuses on ‘cross-country’ trails that stitch together a combination of long-distance paths, country lanes, forestry and farm tracks and old drovers’ roads to make the best of the off-road potential in the region.
Unlike in England, Wales and Northern Ireland where there’s a system of designated footpaths, bridleways, byways and other rights of way, Scotland has a statutory right of access for walkers, cyclists and horse riders. This is a good thing – except for when it comes to looking at maps to see where you can go with your mountain bike. Some paths, tracks and trails are marked on OS maps, but by no means all of them; furthermore, where a bridleway marked by long green dashes will indicate a rideable route on a map of, say, the South Downs, you have no way of knowing whether that tempting-looking track marked on an OS map of Ayrshire is rideable or not. That’s where this guidebook comes in.
About the routes in this guide
Along the West Highland Way near Dumgoyne and the Campsie Fells (Route 19)
The routes in this guidebook are day, half-day and shorter routes distributed the length and breadth of central and southern Scotland, and which are divided into area sections in the guide. The route descriptions pay special attention to the nature of the terrain encountered as well as the major climbs and descents involved and any particular hazards to be aware of. Facilities and services en route are also included.
The routes are designed for maximum enjoyment of the mountain biking potential available in the area, hence there is some overlap and repetition in the use of particular stretches of path and track between several of the routes. Roads are avoided wherever practical, although in many cases stretches of road (mostly quiet country lanes) here and there can link up some great off-road trails.
There are also several environmental factors at play in the choice of the routes included in this guidebook. Firstly, where possible, routes that are viable year-round have been prioritised. For example, trails traversing a significant amount of terrain that becomes excessively muddy or boggy after sustained wet weather have been avoided. Of course, mud and wet are all part of the experience, but arguably not to the point where you can’t actually ride. As you may be aware, wet weather comes with the territory in central and southern Scotland, which is why many cross-country tracks and paths encountered out on the hills are metalled or surfaced. That said, the concept of ‘hike-a-bike’