Scotland Christmas where to stay to ride!

Kiwi Kranker

As my screen name suggests I am not from this neck of the woods heck where I am from is closer to the moon than just about anywhere else on earth....sorry I digress...anyway my g/f and I want to spend Christmas in Scotland, no further than say Fort William (9 or so hours drive from London).

We havent spent much time up there so want a base that, if possible we can see a few sites from, walk to a cool pub and also get out and ride from.

Any suggestions of areas to help a long term tourist? We dont need to be in a big town or the like but we are after some nice accomodation. We were all set for a place in Fort William but it fell through

Cheers for any advice

BoardinBob

Peebles for Glentress and Innerleithen

The Northern Monkey

+1 stayed in a campsite in peebles in summer, 3 min drive to glentress, inerliethen not much further. driving distance of edinburgh too, and the people were very friendly

shin0r

I stayed at The Bike Lodge in Peebles with some mates earlier this year, it was awesome. Great accommodation right on the doorstep of the Traquair at Innerleithen (literally a 3 minute ride) ; with Glentress 10 minutes up the road. Oh and the Traquair Arms is a nice pub which serves good food.

www.thebikelodge.co.uk

Can't recommend it enough; back off up there in Jan 09.

passout

I love the Caingorms (Aviemore) myself although it will be cold / snowy but you can see the Reindeer to engender that Christmas feeling. Brilliant riding around there. The Hilton in Columbridge is worth a look (has lodges etc) - it has it's own adventure centre with dry ski slope and MTB hire. Bothy bikes is an excellent shop and sells route maps - walking distance from the Hilton. PLUS you can go skiing on the mountain if it does snow.Lots to do around there.

Kiwi Kranker

Cheers guys, this is the sort of info I am looking for. The bike lodge looks great for trips but not quite what we are after for a 7 day Christmas break the g/f wants a bit more luxury, more of a self catering cottage is what we are searching for.

Spotted an awesome place at Innerleithen but alas it has gone...seems to be the story of my week...

The internet is getting a hammering here at work today...!

yug33

Have a look at the Traquiar Arms in Innerleithen!

Its my local so food is great, beer good and they have spent time and money in all the bedrooms - they also I do believe now have some self catering cottages.

Dave and Jane are the owners and are always very helpful.

lovewales

Can vouch for the Traquiar arms we ate there twice when we went for the week last year.

We stayed at the cottage in the link below which was beautiful, about 5 miles away from innerleithien down a quiet road past the traquiar arms.

http://www.aboutscotland.co.uk/ecosse/eaglesnest/index.html

counterculture

eagles nest looks pretty nice, i reckon i could fool the missus into us hiring that for a week in the spring

Foot_of_travel

Fort Bill.. Plenty of romantic scenery, water..

Bonnie Prince Charlie's statue is just up the road in Glenfinnan, 20 minute drive max.

Nice around there in them mountains north of Locheilside station, hidden forest road xc loop in FC woods.

Hunting lodge north of Glenfinnan up a rocky jeeptrack worth a ride to.

Best of all, Fort Bill DH.. Best in the World.. 10 minutes away by car.. Between Fort William and Spean Bridge..

Not an awful lot of people in the areas away from the villages and towns, so be careful if wandering off the beaten track, map and compass land..

There is also a very nice place called Dunkeld.. Very welcoming in the pub on New Years Eve.. Very busy considering..

BoardinBob

Foot_of_travel wrote:

Best of all, Fort Bill DH.. Best in the World.. 10 minutes away by car.. Between Fort William and Spean Bridge..

Which is closed during the winter

innerhaven

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/read. ... ly_3790659