MTB at Drumlanrig Castle

August 1, 2007 on 10:37 am | In Mountain Biking, Uncategorized | No Comments

I made my second visit to the mountain bike trails at Drumlanrig Castle near Dumfries last Sunday. For those of you with families / partners who are not into biking, this is a great place to come as there is a castle, craft shops and an adventure playground to keep non-bikers happy while you have fun on the trails. Even if you are riding with novices, it is a good destination as there are some nice blue trails which run alongside or close to red trails.

As I was there with a novice rider and we didn’t have a lot of time on our hands, we followed trails 5 & 6. Trail 6 is a blue trail with some easy riding but also some fun singletrack sections. Trail 5 is red but follows Trail 6 for much of the way. However, it has lots of little detours of red standard which provide an excellent challenge and a break from the more sedate blue trail riding, and these can be followed without leaving your partner for more than 5 minutes at a time.

With lots of natural trails such as the twisty Whirley Birley and more challenging descents such as Dr Evil, this route provides a refreshing change from constructed trails. I’m already planning my next visit to check out the rest of the routes.

And given that Drumlanrig is less than 90 minutes from Glasgow or Edinburgh, shouldn’t you be planning a visit too?

Stevie Christie
http://www.wildernessscotland.com
Director of Wilderness Scotland & also of the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival. Into most mountain sports, esp mountain biking, walking, climbing and sea-kayaking.