stories

Seven Stanes, Seven Days, Lots of bruises 

It didnt take us long to get up the motorway at all. Sooner than we realised we were turning off for Mabie. With a week off and nothing in particular planned we thought wed see what the 7 Stanes was all about, and see if we could do a whistle stop tour of all seven locations.  Mabie Forestbeing the nearest to us, just up the M6 to Carlisle and left a bit, we thought we'd head there first. The morning was a bit dreary, but we didnt take too much notice of it and just packed a waterproof jacket just in case.

The Phoenix Trail was an absolute delight, with loads of swooping fast singletrack in some fantastic bits of woodland. Finishing in a thunderstorm, I belatedly thought that we should have taken more notice of the weather forecast. Drying out over a cup of tea, I also thought I should have brought more clothes with me. Happily it cleared up in the afternoon and we went over to check out the Kona Dark Side. Got to admit that with its very narrow technical NorthShore style ramps, it wasnt my cup of tea, but I did manage about 50m continuous riding at one point!!

The next day, having heard that it was all a bit busy with it being bank holiday, we headed just down the road a bit to Dalbeattie. Luckily we must have got there either just before the rush or just after it, cos it all seemed pretty quite to us. The 27 kilometre Hardrock Trail was continuously interesting and very well built. At times it seemed like it had been built by a hundred different people with its character changing dramatically from one section to another. Cleverly the trail builders have managed to use the shape and nature of the terrain to give black and red options side by side. And with the famous slabby drop offs and big boulder pitched pavements there are challenges all round. Definitely a route Id like to go and ride again.

Next on our list was Kirroughtree. With it being rather more out of the way and seemingly less publicised than the other stanes we pretty much had the place to ourselves. But with work going on to develop the trails and the visitor centre both, Im sure this wont last long. The 31 kilometre Black Trails ride was excellent. It takes you way off the beaten track with loads of tricky man-made and natural obstacles along around the course and of the course the piece de resistance: McMoab, a whaleback collection of granite boulders crags and stone pitching that really tests the balance.

With a few grazes from McMoab to add to our growing collection of scars, we decided to head back east and sample what is billed as the jewel in the crown of the 7 Stanes: Glentress. The Hub at Glentress certainly is a model venture. Despite the rain, the carpark was full on both days and in the evening for the weekly nightride. And no wonder. We did the black run on the first day, and despite the slightly tiresome peddle up to the top of the hill, it was worth it for the continuously interesting downhill, from the first fast and furious downhill section Shane McGowan to the final roller coaster back into the centre. The next day, with only half a day to spare, we did the shorter red route which was every bit as good as the previous days riding and we even came across people doing laps on it, it was so much fun.

Sadly time out, we didnt get to the weirdly named Forest of Ae or Newcastleton. What we did do though was more than worth a few hours on the M6 and hey, plenty of reasons to go back up for more.

For more info on mountain biking in the 7stanes, check out:

Southern Scotland & the 7stanes, selected mountain bike rides

The official 7stanes website