Am coming back to the sunny UK for a bit and want to do some riding - so am meeting up with my buddies and heading for the Stanes. Never having been there before I need some help planning how to structure it....
1) We're going to camp - is there somewhere central that would make a good base spot? We'd rather not move the tent if we can avoid it!
2) Where should we go - and how much time should we give ourselves at each site?
3) Some of us are going for the whole week, whilst some are coming for a long weekend - so what order of centres shoud we use so that the best stuff is in the last 3 days?
We're all black-grade riders, but nice swoopy stuff that you find on lower graded trails is nice too - so do't want to miss that kind of stuff too!
Any pointers and ideas will be very gratefuly received!!
Central campsite has to be in the Dalbeattie/Kippford area. Dumfries & Galloway has the majority of the Stanes trails.
Glentress, Innerliethen and Newcastleton/Kielder are just over an hours drive from Dumfries. Drumlanrig is about 3/4hr drive from Dfs.
Kirroughtree is a 1hr drive from Dfs
Ae is 1/2hr, as is Mabie
2)??????? This all depends on whether you can get your weekend warriors to start at Glentress/Inners. Camp/B&B there for the first night.Think that`s what I would do. Do GT black on day 1. Then do Inners, day 2. Go back to GT and do the red, play on the "skills" loop/park/area thingy.
Then travel down to Dumfries/Dalbeattie for the rest of the week.
It is possible to do a combination of 2 trails in a day. But. Do not underestimate the trails and over estimate your fitness and spoil your riding for the week.
eg Mabie & Dalbeattie can be put together to make a big day. Only 1/2hr drive between them.
Ae can be supplemented by going to Drumlanrig which although not a Stane is worth a visit for it`s "old school" charm. As Ae is a working forest expect diversions to the route.
Newcastleton on it`s own is`nt worth the drive over but add a touch of Kielder then it`s a good day out.
That leaves the best till last....Kirroughtree. Being a 1hr drive from Dumfries it is either a ride on it`s own with a rest period built in or add an evening ride onto the day. Thurs eve at Mabie tends to be locals night with the cafe open till 9/10pm.
If you pop into Hobo Style the guys there are Stanes regulars. Some being local(me)or from Northern England.
If I was on days off(shift worker)I could do you a proper hill route or show you the "local" trails in Mabir/Dalbeattie.
There are three of us going up for four days next weekend, we are staying at a campsite in Peebles. Is there plenty of trails to keep us busy for that long at Glentress? Also are there any good natural trails in the area?
No and Yes...but you will need an OS map and the deertrackdoctor/cheviotgoat to guide you. Or unless you can hook up with a local who knows all the cheeky trails. Did that once and rode from 10am till 6pm!!!!! Try a post on stw? Give Alpinebikes @ Innerliethen a phone and ask if any local riders going out, see if you can join them?
There is a cracking hill ride from Peebles out to Innerliethen. Then pick up and follow the Southern Upland Way. When you drop down through a small forest/wood to a cottage turn right off the SupW. Follow the farm/forest track to your right. Miss the first gated track and carry on. Then you need to hike up a hill. The obvious happens next, you descend, yahooo. Then it`s a bit more up followed by one of THE best descents back into Peebles.
Drop in to the Alpine Bikes shop in Innerliethen and the guys there may be able to help a bit better.Take your map. I`m at work at the mo, could use getamap but this pc is too slow.
Wow - that's tons of info! Thanks John, brilliant stuff. Will have a look at the links - I am based in a very rural bit of Spain where we are on a dial up connection over a radio telephone (price you pay for having dusty technical singltetrack to play on I guess!) so the links will be very helpful as web browsing is mind bogglingly painful at this speed!!
One of our guides here has raved about the "atmosphere" of Drumlanrig, so will be trying to build that one in too!
Will see how we are fixed to take you up on that guiding offer too - will hav e to see hiow much we can cram into a week....it is supposed to be a holiday after all!!
Will digest everything there and might come back to you for a few more bits later....
where`s that then Martin? I may be up for a few days at the end of the yr, Oct/Nov. Wife fancies a bit of France but if there was something near you to put a smile on her face!!! What we do is have a few days away, 5/6, between my shifts. I get a couple of days biking and we do some touristy stuff. eg we got the train along to Malaga when we stayed on the Costas & I got 2 days out with Sierra.
I`m not really into daft DH stuff. Long xc is me.
Off to Slovenia in Aug for summer hols. Bike hire available nearby!! Took me ages to re-acclimatise back to spuds/rapid rise/brakes and riding on the wrong side of the road last yr!! Hired a Cult FS, bit like old RM Slayer, for a few days exploring. Loadsa involuntary endos!!!
We're here www.joyriders.com - I am the manager at Cerro Macho - we are absolutely set up to do exactly what you've just described - we have the best biking accomodation in Europe (4 star level accomodation is always a big hit with non-riding other halves!) and are only a short distance from some very pretty and historic towns in the local area, plus the city of Cordoba is close by too, with Seville about an hour and a bit away. The missus tells me the shopping is mightily good too!
Oh, yeah, and no-one else rides the trails we use - we have hundereds of kilometers of hand cleared singletrack where the only other people you will ee are goat herders! Everything from easy, smooth and flowing to the insanely technical, however you prefer it...
We're in the heart of real Spain - no buckets/ spades/ union jack shorts/ fish and chips/ bars showing 24 hour Coronation Street/ lobster pink english yobs here!!!
We can do something totally flexible to cater for you - feel welcome to drop me an email and I can let you know more....take a look at the website for loads of pics etc...
We're shut for July ad August due to the heat (upper 40's!, hence my cool-down trip to the Stanes! We're coming back via the Pyrennees, Alpe D'Huez, Chamonix and Interlaken too.....will be sneaking some riding in on the journey!!
Anyway - back to the matter in hand before this becomes any more like a blatant bit of self-publicity...looks like the whole group is going to be together at the end of our week in Scotland, so will be starting on a Monday and the others will come on the Friday til the following Monday. Is Tweed Valley a nightmare at he weekend....especially as I have just realized it's August Bank Hols too...!
Also, any recommendations on which trails to do at which centres? Any we deffo need to do/ give a miss to?
We're shut for July ad August due to the heat (upper 40's!, hence my cool-down trip to the Stanes! We're coming back via the Pyrennees, Alpe D'Huez, Chamonix and Interlaken too.....will be sneaking some riding in on the journey!!
Wimps! gang of raoadies riding in that for a month, and theyre not complaining.
Just to reiterate a point made earlier... Ae is undergoing some forestry commission work, so the trail has been rerouted via the forest in a couple of places.
Nothing too harsh, but be prepared to shoulder the bike and climb.
We're in the heart of real Spain - no buckets/ spades/ union jack shorts/ fish and chips/ bars showing 24 hour Coronation Street/ lobster pink english yobs here!!!
yeah, know what`u`mean`arry. Does spoil it a bit
I have looked at & considered Cerro Macho, gets good reports from the stw massive. It`s just been an easy fix for the wife who is`nt too keen on long transfers via twisty Spanish roads. And she likes her comforts aka en-suite.
What trails to miss?.....if any-Glentrool is only a forest trail route, albeit a long, scenic one.
Newcastleton is short but good fun and can be tacked on to a Kielder visit.
GT will be heaving but once out on the trail(black)you don`t really notice or see many people.
At GT it is good fun to mix Blue/red/black routes. eg Betty Blue+Deliverance+Spooky Wood+Electric Blue makes a good route with loadsa climbing!!!!
For Mabie & Dalbeattie I can scribble you a map, or scan one, play around in paint and send it to you.
Ae is normally all rideable on evenings and weekends when there is(normally)no one working. Due to it`s lack of surfacing(ran out of £££ and time)it has suffered from the elements!!!!
There is nothing to miss if you have not been before. You are obviously fit enough to do a couple of routes/centres per day.
Well, I wouldn't personally fancy doing, say, our full "OTT" route with about 1600m of climbing in 48 degrees! It's a bit different whipping along a road in a cooling breeze to eeking your way up an exposed mountainside for a few hours!!
Your missus wouldn't have any probs here John - it's only about an hour and 10 mins from Malaga....motorway nearly all the way, and they're just about to open another new section of Motorway (within the next couple of weeks) that should bring it under an hour.
As for comforts...luxury twin rooms, silent running aircon, marble en-suites, DVD/TV/PS2 plus iPod and stereo in every room, home cinema system with digital surround, 300+ DVDs, Sky, roof terraces, games room with pool, table tennis, darts - plus large gardens, rooftop jacuzzi/ hydrotherapy spa, private pool....no expense spared! Oh, and a free bar too! Had that lot elsewhere? I was amazed when I first came to check the place out!
Think we'll have to try to meet up with all this help you are offering John - major star - thanks so much. Would love to see your Mabie/ Dalbeattie suggestions - but as I'm on a verrrrrrry sloooooow connection it would probably take me forever to open....we're on a dial up radio phone connection out in the middle of nowhere. UNless ou can post it online - that would work....no need for my outlook to get involved and slow things down then!
Thats why we stayed in a proper hotel in Fuegerola & Benalmadena for 2 of my visits. No way would she have travelled up into the mountains for 2.5hrs, never mind hang about the airport for 3 and eat cheese`n ham sarnies for a week!!!!!!
"As for comforts".....stop it
"Unless you can post it online"...will do, photobucket.
"try to meet up"..just bear in mind I`m a slow-old-bloke. smbla qualified tho.
Okay, spent quite a bit of time doing some more research yesterday - and thi is how we're shaping up at the mo....
Start off camping at ethe Sandy Hills or Kippford Holiday Park any reccomendation - which is closest/ best?)
Day 1 - Drumlanrig Red/ Black - know anywhere online with a trail map?
Day 2 - Ae Red, with a play on the DH/ Skills stuff
Day 3 - Mabie Red (maybe have a play on - maybe that should be off! -the Darkside) and Dalbeatie Red/ Black
Day 4 - Kirroughtree Red/ Black
Move to campsite in Tweed Valley - not pinned that one down yet though, anyone got a reccomendation? Would like to be able to get some sleep, as it's August BH weekend!
Day 5 - Glentress Red, looping in Betty Blue and Electric Blue on the outward leg, i.e. doing the climbs up to them twice (does that work, or would we miss something?), then a play on Freeride Essentials etc
Day 6 - Glentress - V-Trail
Day 7 - Innerleithen - Traquair, and a play on the DH runs
Day 8 - Newcastleton and Kielder as we head southward Are there any maps of Kielder online?
Have been on the Stanes sites and downloaded trail maps and postcodes for SatNav, but can't find much on the Drumlanrig and Kielder (Trailreavers) sites....
Drum map....it`s not a "proper" map, Rik has a printed/copied route map he flogs for 50p!! e-mail him & he may mail it back to you. He can/s do an uplift to Wanlockhead, descending back to Drum vis Enterkin Glen/Burn which is magic. Have`nt seen him post it on stw recently but would be a worthwhile trip. You can do if for free by pedalling up, makes for a 5-6+hr ride tho!!
Sandyhill is good, can ride out to the forest from there. Can also do the coastal path to Portling, Rockcliffe, Kippford and then into D`beattie.
From Kippford you can just bike out accross the main road joining the trail half way round.
Glentress loop...start @ Hub cafe.. nice strong coffee. Up the hill, some new switchback climbs. Instead of following red round past the skills/jump park follow the black. Then when you meet forest road turn right. This brings you back to skills park. Turn left onto red. Follow red till you get to the turning for Spooky wood. Miss Spooky(this time)and carry on up the forest road. Then before climbing to the mast @ Dunslair turn right to descend Boundary Fence trail. Then onto forest road and miss Deliverance(although it is good, Repentance is a killer)and retrace your route back to Spooky. From Spooky follow your idea via Betty Blue. Great ride imo!!
There is a Kielder download somewhere, follow the links to the bike shop I think.
Think may change that a bit, as I have just had it pointed out that it's a long drive across to GT on the changeover day from Kirroughtree - so may do Mabie/ Dalbeattie first, then Ae, then Kirroughtree, and Drumlanrig on the fourth day - then move to Glentress...
. Does spoil it a bit
