Awesome trail centres that contribute massively to the riding offer in Scotland, providing amazing riding opportunities in beautiful locations. From Newcastleton in the South, our urban trail centres near Falkirk and Denny, the natural beauty of Argyll and the unique trails and forests of Morayshire.
Located on the English border, Newcastleton one of the 7stanes trail centres, has an awesome set of trails all connected to the village.
The trails start in the heart of the town where riders will find a cafe, restaurant, pub and accommodation. Riding from the town the trail crosses the Liddel Water and thn winds it way up to the Rock UK skills area. The skills area is a brilliant location to practice your skills and have a blast before continuing to climb to the top of the trails.
The blue is smooth, fun, and an absolute blast of a trail - well worth the visit alone.
The red graded trail is really underestimated and provides an amazing XC ride which can be split into shorter loops if your legs aren't quite on it.
There is also a huge amount of gravel riding in the forests and can be linked to exploring Keilder Forest over the border into Northumberland.
Arguably, the most accessible trail centre in Scotland.
The trailhead begins at Greenrig Car Park and has an excellent bike shop, Greenrig Cycles, and cafe, Canada Wood Cafe. There is also a fantastic small skills area to have a ride around before hitting the trails.
The green is a brilliant introduction to mountain biking with fun, flowy sections built across a distance that most riders will enjoy. The trails extend with a blue which brings the fun and can be lapped several times.
For those looking for more challenging trails these can be found in the upper woods where there are two seperate, but linked, pieces of red trail with an orange line off of one of them.
Full details including map available from Callendar Estate who manage, maintain, and develop the trail network.
Young ripper, Jacob McLean, at the skills park at Callendar Estate Trails, Credit: James McLean
Carron Valley has two main options for riding - both have fantastic views in a beautiful area of Scotland teeming with wildlife.
For those looking for a flat, easy, and pretty short (4.5km) 'family' ride - the Carron Valley reservoir is ideal - definitely take a picnic and on a nice summers day there are few places better.
The red graded trails have some amazing sections - the singletrack from the highest point, Eas Dubh, is worth repeating a few times and will burst you onto Cannonball section which has brilliant big flowing berms where you can really get a G force going. The Runway section is full of drops, berms, and some small tabletops to get your air/fun on.
Big Argyll views from the top of the Firetower Trail. Credit: Claire McCallum
The most underrated trail in Scotland? We think that the Firetower Trail can make a case for that (unwanted?) title.
The trails wind their way up to the Firetower viewpoint at the highest point in Achnabreac Forest just on the outskirts of Lochgilphead. Riders are then treated to fantastic views across the large Argyll forests, sea lochs and rugged coastline - a really beautiful spot.
The black graded 'Twisted Fire Starter' section is a mixture of bedrock and berms that gives a unique and trail experience. The rest of the trails are graded red and flow nicely around the forest.
Argyll forests area is also fantastic for gravel riding with miles and miles of quiet forest roads to discover. Argyll also has a great range of outdoor activities - see Wild About Argyll for more information.
The trails are currently closed due to quarry works - check in with Forestry and Land Scotland website to keep up to date.
The Moray Monster Trails located next to the town of Fochabers has a great set of tracks including blue and red xc loops, an orange descent, and a fantastic skills park offering an array of features to build technique and confidence. There are two separate Moray Monster Trail car parks both providing access to the trails. The blue loop accessed from the Ordiequish car park has a good punchy climb and flowing smooth tracks that the whole family can enjoy. The red loop is accessed from the Winding Walks car park, it provides a great xc loop with fun, flowing, fast descents. The orange freeride descent can also be enjoyed from the top of the red loop. There is an iconic pyramid-shaped monument at the top of the red climb providing stunning views over the Moray Firth.
The skills park is located at the Winding Walks car park and is fantastic. Offering short red, blue and orange loops with berms, drops, rock gardens, and a mini pump track to play on, it’s well worth a visit.
We have been working with FLS and trails associations to plan how best to get forests open safely. We need to work with and support landowners with an agreed work plan in place and this was discussed during this webinar.
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