Riding the 7Stanes in April. Advice?

stumpy_dan

I'm looking to ride all the 7stanes in April with some friends and looking for some advice. I been talking about this for years and finally gonna get it planned. Has anyone done it? I'll be travelling up from the South and have the first two weeks of April set aside and wondering:

What order to do it in?

How long to spend at each?

Good places to stay?

Any other tips?

Also happy to meet up with other riders whilst up there also. More the merrier.

pilch

We've always done it west to east, stay in Dumfries & do mabie, Ae, Kirrochtree & Dalbeattie you can also do Drumlanrig (not a stane but worth a visit) then travel east stay in Glentress to do Glentress & Inners, then Newcastleton on your way back, if you're still keen there's always Kielder forest too...

There are wooden wigwam type things at Kirrochtree & Glentress or you can stay in a yurt at the Galloway adventure centre also check out Kalzie bunkhouse at Glentress.

There is some truely epic riding up there - enjoy!

stumpy_dan

Thanks for that. Reckon I'm gonna plan something like this. Sort of in 3 phases
First Phase
(Probably stay in Dumfries)
Mabie - Tuesday 2nd April
AE- Wednesday 3rd April
Drumlanrig - Thursday 4th -5th April (one day rest)
Dalbeattie - Friday 6th April
(might move a bit closer or keep myself based in Dumfries (NB 1hr 20min drive to trail from here)
Kirrochtree - Saturday 7th April
Glentrool - Sunday 8th April (might not do)
Second Phase
(Prob stay in Glentress)
Glentress - Monday & Tuesday 9th / 10th April
Inners - Wednesday 11th April
Third Phase
(Move to stay somewhere local to Kielder)
Kielder - Thursday 12 / 13th April
Newcastleton - Friday 13th April

pilch

Looks pretty good we stayed at the Galloway activity centre which is pretty central to the trails on the east side, i'm sure there are other options though: http://www.lochken.co.uk/directions

Dont think i've done Glentrool either... from memory I don't think it was that err... challenging

trailpuppet

You plan looks good
http://eat-sleep-ride.com/mountain-biki ... s-galloway

http://www.gorsebank.com/gorsebank_eque ... gwams.html
http://www.marthrownofmabie.com/marthro ... se-c2.html
http://www.mabiehousehotel.co.uk/pod-co ... s-c23.html
http://alanrogers.com/campsites/sandyhi ... ark-UK6880

Dumfries Stanes are my local trails
I am off from 3rd - 8th April

Kirry is a 1hr drive.
Ae and Dalbeattie are about 1/2hr
Mabie 15-20mins depending on where you are staying and time of day
Drumlanrig is about 45mins up the A76 or you can go via some country lanes from/after doing Ae for a double header.
Glentrool is a fair hike and you might be better staying near/in Newton Stewart/Creetown and doing both Kirry and Glentrool. Glentrool is a long forest road ride but with awesome scenery if you get good weather
GT and Inners are aprrox 1.1/2hr drive from Dumfries.

When you say good places to stay, what are you looking for?

dusk

I did Mabie, Dalbeattie, Kirroughtree & Ae last year.

In rank order I would put them
1 - Ae - Great fun and dh tracks are good fun for a play on but no amenities on site
2 - Mabie - Good fun and flowing singletrack with good onsite facilities
3 - Kirroughtree - A bit more xc than the previous two but still a good ride with good facilities
4 - Dalbeattie - Pretty boring and hard work with no amenities

ginjadave

Hey Dan,

Ive ridden in scotland A LOT as my wife is from edinburgh and her sister is up in inverness, im up there 10 times a year with her and go for a week every year with mates for the last 7 Years. I think in that time we've found the perfect combo of trails to ride.

It depends what kind of rider you are really! Are you an out and out XC man or more of a trail/Am Rider?

Firstly Glentress and Innerleithen are superb and not to be missed! Stay at Craiguart B and B, they are simply the best in the area and set up for bikers, look them up on Trip advisor. The black route at Glentress is crap unless your an XC man who just enjoys hacking for miles, its very long and lots of climbing with not much reward, honestly unless your a mile muncher dont waste your time, Ride the red route which is fantastic, do spooky wood at least twice, if you buy a trail map from the shop you will see its easy to climb back up the fire road to. When you get to the end of the red route climb back up to the buzzards nest, then climb up to the start of the bike park and take the blue trail called berm baby berm, this is a great descent back to the shop/cafe with some little rock drops and jumps as options. All the names will make sense when you get there.

Innerleithen is possibly the best trail centre trail in the UK, simple awesome, its basically a 600M Vert cllimb followed by an amazing descent. Go to alpine bikes in innerleithen and buy a trail map before you go. When you get to the final descent called caddon bank you will see the end of A DH run called make or brake, its well worth pushing up this all the way to the top and ridingmake or brake straight into caddon bank, around 10-12 minute descent which is amazing, dont worrk make or brake is a DH run but very mild, no massive drops or anything but caddon bank does have 3 sizeable drops on it right at the start, have a look at them first.

For GOD's sake dont bother with AE, its ok for out and out Downhill with an uplift and the final section of the cross country route is good but its the worst trail in Scotland, i will NEVER ride there again, total waste of a day.

Kirroughtree is Excellent as is Mabie. Dalbeattie is pretty dull and Glentrool is very Family/XC mile munch based and if your a trail rider avoid it, it will bore you to death. I havent ridden at Drumlanrig but hear its pretty good.

Now the Honest truth! If your going that far from london for 2 weeks then you really must head further north! Its a long way but seriously Golspie Highland wildcat trail is THE best man made trail in the UK, it is simply amazing and always soo quiet due to where it is, seriously make the effort, have a look at you tube videos. Like wise Laggan Wolftraxx is a totally excellent centre, the red is awesome, the black is probably the most technical trail in the UK and the Bike park/4 cross track is long and great fun, they also do an uplift on a saturday which we usually do and just use it to avoid doing the main climb over and over. Fort william, home of downhill lunacy, get a gondala ticket and just session the red DH track all day its ace, quite technical in places fast and flowy in others, its about a 15 Minute descent and serves as a great dat in the middle (resting?) as you just use the gondala to get to the top each day.

If your a trail rider like me who only climbs to enjoy the descents and enjoys fast flowy trails with Drops, small jumps and some nice technical stuff then this is what id reccommend from years of riding the staines.

Glentress - Full Red Route, climb back up to bike park then Berm baby Berm final blue decent, if youve got the legs pedal back up and play on the stuff in the bike park.

Innerleithen - Traquair Trail and when you get to the start of Caddon Bank, look right and push all the way to the top of make or brake then ride make or brake and caddon bank as a massive final descent.

Drive over to Mabie/Kirroughtree/Drumlanrig, id definitely avoid Glentrool and AE.

Drive north, stay in and Ride fort william red DH run all day have a got at the world cup course, its mental but survivable if you take it slow, youll probably never want to do that again tho!

Ride laggan Wolftrax, both the black and red are superb as is the 4x/bike park trail, try arrange this on a saturdayand get the uplift!

Drive up to Golspie, enjoy the best man made trail in the uk, do the extended black loop, have some lunch at the little cafe in the car park, ride it again!

Work your way back down and ride your favorites again maybe? Depending on which way up you drive Kielder is great, Newcastleton is Pants, hamsterley is ok but dont do the red route its 80% fire road. On teh other side of the country Whinlatter is superb and in the middle is cannock chase which is great if you havent ridden it!

When are you going up? Im up there doing the UK gravity enduro with mates at the end of April but may be in Edinburgh with the Mrs in the first 2 weeks of April? I dont claim to be a local but i know the best ways to link various bits together at Glentress and Innerleithen which is where i mostly ride when we are at her Mums place.

Dave

stumpy_dan

Dave and all . absolutely ace advice and I really like the idea of getting Golspie and Laggan in. Due to weather and work (i freelance and you make hay whilst the sun shines) this trip is looking more likely end of may / early June now so will keep you posted on dates)

dusk

@ginjadave - when did you last ride Ae? I don't know how you can say it's awful unless it's been massively improved since you've been there, I was riding in the rain & cold and still thought it was the best trail centre I've ever been to (& I've been to plenty). It has a mix of rocky, fast & flowing, natural and surfaced trail as well as some challenging climbs.

It might have the worst facilities but IMO it has the best trails.

@stumpy_dan - I would recommend going to Ae and making your own mind up as I can't believe someone can slate it so badly.

trailpuppet

I would recommend going to Ae and making your own mind up as I can't believe someone can slate it so badly.

Well said

Cafe is due to reopen with a new owner.
there are some new bits of trail being built and some bits planned for upgrading ie the decent to the Face.

Unfortunately there will always be a diversion in place somewhere along the trail due to harvesting, it is why the trees are planted

There will also be a lot of work over the next couple of years at the top end where a wind farm is being constructed :?
http://www.harestaneswindfarmextension.com/

ginjadave

I only rode AE once about 5 Years ago so maybe lots of work has been done since then. When i was there the surface was just bumpy rocks that were a major effort to pedal along, it seemed just a 14 Miles cross country slog followed by about 1 mile of descent descent! Maybe i missed a marker or something, maybe its been made better But me and the 3 lads i was with vowed never to go back, ill give it another try and see what i think but im sceptical!

ginjadave

Im freelance/Self employed Dan i know all about the Hay/Sun scenario!

Chexk this out for inspiration!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoEBrCgxwWs

dusk

ginjadave wrote:

I only rode AE once about 5 Years ago so maybe lots of work has been done since then. When i was there the surface was just bumpy rocks that were a major effort to pedal along, it seemed just a 14 Miles cross country slog followed by about 1 mile of descent descent! Maybe i missed a marker or something, maybe its been made better But me and the 3 lads i was with vowed never to go back, ill give it another try and see what i think but im sceptical!

It's a lot better, some of the descents are rocky but some are smoothly surfaced like Mabie and there's plenty of them too! I'd recommend you give it another try, I haven't been to another trail centre with such variety.

b_real

Good thread! I'm commenting so I can come back to it in the future. Golspie is now well on my list!

UH DH

Gonna throw my opinion in here, as I'm currently filming trails in the 7 Stanes area.

I rode Mabie yesterday. The only other stanes I've done are the Tweed Valley ones, and I enjoy most of them. The black route is a horrifying slog to get up, but I think the descents after are worth it. The boundary trails are great fun, and Deliverance is brilliant, though Redemption is a complete arsehole to get out of.

As for Mabie, I did not like it.

Theres a few sections that I absolutely loved, but for me, climbs have to be rewarded with descents, and for the amount of effort into climbing, most of the descents just don't reward you. I like my saddle down for descents so I can just blast it, which becomes irritating when you go around another corner and into an uphill. Often without sufficient warning to shift into an appropriate gear. And then the final descent seems to have more uphill in it than down.

It's worth doing for some of the views, and to say that you've done it, but honestly I'd just head out to the Darkside and enjoy that.

ginjadave

What you filming for mate? Let me know if you need any help! I'm a professional camera grip, specialize in camera rigging and movement. Look me up on IMDB Dave Wells, be great to get involved in some bike filming!

UH DH

Ah, it's all helmetcam stuff. Working on a long-term project and just in the early stages. It's not a pro setup or anything, just testing a concept.

Thanks though.